Warning amid a rise of mattress scammers online...

Here at Bradford's in Evesham, we have been alerted by our customers and seen a rise in mattress scammers advertising in the Worcestershire Facebook Marketplace in the last few weeks. It's been going on for several years all over the country but these rogue traders are now targeting social media channels like Marketplace in our area to sell dodgy mattresses. 

They have a range of lies in the sale descriptions, like that they say cancelled order that they don’t want to take back to the factory or they’re surplus stock or from a show-house or from a business that is closing down, or a hotel has a surplus because of Covid. Promoted as brand new 'Hotel Grade' or 'Luxury Harrison Beds' maybe even geltex, memory foam or orthopaedic mattresses are also claimed by the scammers, with photos of the mattress too. All completely untrue of course! We recently saw rogue mattress sellers via Things for Sale. In areas such as - Redditch, Evesham, Pershore, Worcester and Stratford Upon Avon.

Some of these dodgy traders also turn up on your doorstep. The chances are they’ll be coming to your area, stopping you in the street or knocking on your door, offering you a “quality memory foam mattress” at a bargain price.

They are extremely convincing, often driving a white or silver van some with a company name written on it and even look professional with branded workwear. Some even have company names that are very similar to well-known mattress brands or bed retailers, like Harrison Spinks. 

So they may look the part, and the price is very tempting, the mattress sounds like when they claim that the mattress should be £800 or £1000 but to help them out you can buy it for a bargain price of a couple of hundred pounds or less. The mattresses or the plastic bags covering them will have printed labels displaying recommended retail prices. Please do not be fooled! Anyone can print labels and stick them on a mattress.

The chances are that the double size mattress you’ve bought was made for around £50 so if you pay the bargain price of £150. At best, it will contain a new but basic spring unit with a polyester fibre pad or a layer of cheap foam, all covered in a cheap outer covering material. It may display the small blue, white and black label with an image of a cigarette and flame on it but again, it’s easy to buy the labels to fix the mattress.

Worst case, the mattress may contain an old, used spring unit along with dirty fillings. We've heard of some of the worst cases where the rogue trader has simply placed an old mattress inside a brand-new cover and passed off the product as new!

What to do, how to report it. From the National Bed Federation:

The advice from the National Bed Federation is not to buy a mattress from these types of traders and to only buy from reputable retailers and internet companies that you’ve either heard of or can check customer reviews. Ask yourself whether any reputable business would be selling mattresses in this manner, using underhand techniques to persuade people in an opportune way?

If you are approached by a man in a van selling mattresses, politely decline and try to make a note of any details – a company name, phone number and ideally the registration number plate of the vehicle.

Report it to the Citizen’s Advice Consumer Service on 0345 40 40 506.

Report scammers directly to Facebook here.

Please share feel free to share this news with family and friends, or comment below to help warn our community if you have experience with these rogue traders in our area.

Credit to NBF and the Bed Advice.