Advice about my new mattress

[Kai63]

We recently bought a new mattress from John Lewis (the Natural Collection pocket spring mattress with 1450 springs). We use it on a new sprung divan base.

It's advertised as medium support but it doesn't feel it at all. We've had it for four weeks and turned it as required but I wake up with lower back pain every morning and it just feels too soft.

We were advised to get a medium support mattress as both my partner and I are tall but slim build and relatively young.

My question is will we get used to it over time? We have the option of returning it but I'm not sure whether we need to give it more time. We are both used to sleeping on medium support mattresses but they have been cheap rental property ones (and still felt firmer than this one does).

Is it better to go for a small independent retailer and if so, what type of pocket spring mattress should we go for?

Any advice would be much appreciated!

I have recently changed to tempur and would never go back. It's amazingly comfortable and my back pain is miles better.

Hi there, I also bought the same John Lewis natural collection mattress (3000 spring version) and have the same problem! I bought the 'medium support' but it's way too soft. I wake up with pain in my lower back every morning. I've had it a week now but I really don't like it. I was about to buy the firm when the sales assistant persuaded me to buy the medium. I have the option to send it back too. Was wondering what you did and if you swapped it or got used to it? Did your back pain go? Thanks!

Hi there, I got my mattress from John Lewis also, for some reason I just couldn't get comfortable. A friend of mine recommended a memory foam mattress, I was dubious at first but I actually slept in one when I went on holiday to Spain. After I had tried it I was quite surprised. I bought mine for less than £200 for a double. Try www.memorysleep.co.uk I was very happy with their service.

We got a mattress from John Lewis that was similar to those above. After 6 months of it getting worse and worse JL are taking it back and we're going for a firm one instead. Medium was rediculously soft and back pain was getting silly. JL didn't hesitate to swap over saying it must be faulty though there was a little flafing about the manufacturer having to come to check it, but on challenging this we were able to go ahead.
Reading the comments here helped give me the confidence to return it even after 6 months.

An update for you. For a little while our backs did actually get better but then they got really bad! 6 months later, JL are going to take our mattress back. Their sales teams seem insistent that softer mattresses provide the support that most people need but judging by the response here, I don't think that's the case at all. The pre-sale service from JL has been fantastic but I wouldn't trust them to recommend the right bed to me again.

I second tempur. I have their very hard mattress and topper. Its called relaxation continental and included the bed as well. Only problem is um not sure if they sell that combination with the hard mattress in the uk,(I'm in Denmark). We bought it after my tall husband had a bad prolapse in his back and combined with physio it got him walking again. he only has back problems now if he sleeps on a different bed.

Hi all,
My wife and I bought a 13,000 spring bed from the company that make John Lewis' natural collection, and we can confirm all the same problems of lack of support that everyone here is talking about. We returned the mattress after it dipped dramatically, and it was replaced, but exactly the same thing happened to the 2nd and we fought for a full refund.

The manufacturer who makes JL natural collection is Harrisons Spinks, who also use the brand names Somnus or Spinks and Edgar. I'm surprised this is the only review page where people are talking about this.

It appears that their new design to pack in as many springs as possible is achieved by using tiny flat springs about the size of a 50p piece. They layer them and pack them to give these massive spring counts they claim is more comfortable, but it appears in our model, that this design simply doesn't offer sufficient support. The reason why it takes 6 months to deteriorate is because once the springiness of the fillings has compacted, the internal springs do little to provide support.

I'm about to buy a John Lewis natural collection mattress (3000 spring version) medium, but having read everyone's comments, I'm thinking I should get the firm (I'm age 59, 60kg, with aching hips and shoulders at night!).

Has anyone had experience of the 'firm' one - maybe changed from the medium to the firm? Would anyone recommend the firm?

Many thanks, Jeannet :-)

Personally i favour pocket sprung mattresses, rather than memory foam ones as they are just so hot, especially this time of year. Also, as i tend to wriggle in bed, having had a major spine operation last year, memory does not adjust quickly enough and leaves me uncomfortable. After trying loads of them at various retail outlets i knocked it down to my favourite and then looked online and found this great store selling the one i liked way cheaper than anywhere else. Having now had it for 3 months, i can highly recommend the mattress and company. Here is a link, should anyone be interested? www.mattress-matters.co.uk/king-size-mattresses/harmony-2000-king-size-mattress-189-detail

I bought the 3000 natural collection mattress from John Lewis in medium tension on advice from sales assistant according to my weight but though
it was comfortable it was so soft every day I had backache which I had never suffered from before. John Lewis replaced it with 4000 mattress which was on a special buy again medium but this is so hard I still have back ache. I think it must be the design of this mattress as I have slept on numerous other mattresses soft, medium, and hard with no problems so obviously it must just be this range. Also mattresses have a very strange smell even after airing for a few days.

Hello - interesting what you say @sheilapinky - I have had exactly the same problem - but the other way round. I started off with the Natural Collection Cotton 4000 Special Buy (was confused by the wrong photo on the website, showing it to be the same as the Linen 4000) and even medium tension was as hard as a rock. Now I've changed it for Natural Collection Cotton 3000 which is so soft I'm waking with different pains in my back as there is no support... I feel they have both really messed up my back too - I've been to physio and the exercises are helping, and yoga is too.

Which one did you buy after this? Any advice - as I'm really stuck now and the whole thing is driving me crazy! I just want a comfortable mattress. I have a curvy figure (hour glass) - sleep alone in a kingsize bed and am around 13.5 stone. I've spend hours in mattress shops now - and need to sort a replacement ASAP!

Hi, - John Lewis have a newer model of the 4000 cotton in medium tension (not on special buy) which according to the manufacturer has got springs
made of a different wire and an extra layer of filling to the special buy 4000 cotton and should be softer so I am going to try that - going to be delivered this Friday. If that is
no good I am going to go for the 6000 cotton mattress which unfortunately is £300 dearer but the manufacturer did inform me that the
6000 is firmer than the 3000 but not as hard as the 4000. I am just hoping that the newer model 4000 is indeed softer than the special buy one. I wish I had kept my old mattress as I had no problems at all with this but I changed it because I fancied a cotton mattress. They are no longer stocking the 3000 cotton mattress so I wonder if other people have had the same problems with no support.
Will post again after trying this new mattress.

Good luck with that Sheila! Are they letting you do that number of exchanges? Useful to know. I am thinking of going for a Vispring next, but we'll see! I just want to be able to have a lie in - at the moment I'm waking in such agony that I'm grumpy all day!

Have now got the new 4000 cotton mattress and although it is slightly softer than the special buy mattress still feels quite hard although I don't have any backache with this mattress. John Lewis have been very good about exchanges so far. Went back to store today and tried the new 6000 cotton mattress which seemed softer as it has Egyptian cotton and also tried the Vispring Dartmoor - salesman said Vispring are the best mattress and their medium tension would not be hard so I may forget about having a cotton mattress.

Hi - What happened next? I ended up returning my Cotton 3000 as it had no support. The woman at a Vispring dealer advised me that the cheaper Vispring were very hard - she felt like she'd been through a car crash after she slept on one - so I didn't get one of them in the end... so I got a Sealy Casoli 1200 from Mattressman in the end after spending 3 hours in their store and thinking I really can't do this anymore! It has a latex layer between the spring and the foam topping. It has really helped with the back ache and that is so much better. The bed is quite hot and I don't really like the feel of it. But the worse thing is that it has this crazy "unicase" or "uncased" design that means a block of something that feels like polystyrene is around the edge of the bed, and means the bed can't dip at the edge if you sit on it - but it also means my body tilts (right to left - twisting my hips) if I sleep on the edge of the bed, rather than in the middle.

I really can't face returning to the search, but I'm also not happy with having paid for a kingsized bed that means I can only sleep on in the middle of it on my own. I'm really not hoping to be single for the next 10 years! Any tips welcome! I've really gone crazy with this whole mattress search and can't face going in another mattress shop again in my life!

xx

Hey, how did you get JL to give you an exchange? they insist on getting someone to check for manufacturer's fault. I have had the exact same problem, it's the 12000 natural selection cotton medium, but it is SO soft that my husband and me roll towards each other at night! We have so much backpain since we got this mattress. I am so upset with JL as we insisted we wanted a firm mattress but they covinced us to get a medium one and now we cannot get an exchange. Their customer service is the worst. :-(

i even tried to post a bad review on their online shopping website, to warn other customers, but I got this response:
"Your opinion is very important to us and the John Lewis community. We appreciate you taking the time to write a review on John Lewis Natural Collection Silk 16000 Pocket Spring Mattress, King Size. Unfortunately your review did not meet our guidelines for posting on johnlewis.com."

We are having the same issue with a special 14000 silk mattress. At the beginning we thought it was very comfortable however we have both been suffering major back problems for over four months now. The mattress is just over a year old. It goes into hollows and seems to have a ridge down the middle like a small hill to climb. We seem to have to sleep on the edge. We have both been to the doctor, have medication, are having weekly physio and have even changed our arm chairs in case it was them thinking that a £2000 mattress wouldn't do that. Seems I was wrong. It's been a week now since we complained to JL. We have to have the inspection which the manufacturer says is an indecent inspector. I have been in again to JL who said they would chase this up and call me back, they didn't. I explained to them that if it was a regular item that I could just put to one side it would be ok but to know how much pain we will be in come the morning should mean sorting it out quickly is a priority. I know it is the mattress having spent a week away on business and holiday my back started to feel better. Now it has got worse again.

Oops, predictive text. That is an independent inspector rather than an indecent inspector

John Lewis have come good and swapped our mattress even though we have had it for 14 months. The independent inspection was a waste of time as there was no manufacturing fault but possibly a design fault. Anyway they did the right thing and we appreciate it. We now have a Tempur mattress which is very comfortable and the back ache is easing off even after only a few nights.

Did anyone find a bed? I'm desperate to find soft one that doesn't dip

I purchased a special 16000 silk mattress (King size) in August 2017 for £2,050 to replace my old Vi-Spring mattress (which I'd had for about 15 years). I went for the medium which was tension the assistant recommended for my weight. Like 'Tallguy', the mattress felt very comfortable at first - supportive but with a marshmallowy upper layer. I followed the instructions about turning it for 12 weeks etc; after that, you're supposed to turn it only 4 times a year. After 4-5 months of purchase, it was very soft, particularly in the middle. Sometimes when I sleep on one side and then move to the middle, I can feel that my body is at an angle because of the lack of support in the middle. I'm now getting lower back pain (when I travel, I don't have issues with other mattresses). It helps for a short while if I turn the mattress (no easy task even with a friend helping) but after a few days it's back to being too soft. I've logged a case with John Lewis and an inspector has taken a look at my mattress; I'm waiting to hear the outcome. Based on the comments on this site and my own experience, I wouldn't recommend a Natural Collection mattress and am hoping I can replace mine with another Vi-Spring.

In 2011 I bought my first John Lewis natural collection medium mattress in Kingsize. It was amazingly comfortable. Soft but supportive. Loved going to bed and never had a sore back or any other issues. Fast forward 7 years, I decided to get a new mattress. I bought another JL natural collection one. The last one in 2011 was £700 and the one I bought in 2017 was £1000. It became apparent really quickly that the new mattress was not nearly as comfortable. Less padding at top which quickly went flat leaving a hard lumpy feeling mattress. The process of the padding going soft also involved a "hill" in the middle of mattress developing which I had to lie on to flatten. I also can only lie in the middle of mattress as lying on either side means lying on a slope towards the middle. None on these issues happened with the 2011 mattress. After about 4-6 weeks my back started to get really sore at the bottom like there was just no back support at all. After investigating I found out my old mattress had under 2000 full sized springs whilst these current JL natural collections have 6000 full sized plus mini sized springs (which clearly do not work!). I started off with a new JL sprung base and changed it to the most expensive sprung base they had thinking that was the problem. Then I even changed the base again to a orthopedic non sprung one. The problem of lack of support persisted. Finally in desperation I bought another JL natural collection medium mattress this time costing £1750 (12000 springs). More padded feeling and luxurious (felt more like my old mattress) but again within a month, the padding had flattened considerably and the back support had vanished! Luckily I was still within the 35 day return period so managed to return it to JLewis as faulty. Phew! I have now had an independent mattress inspector out to look at the first one (currently cluttering up my bedroom like a giant useless white elephant). Waiting to hear if they will refund my money. In the meantime I have had to go elsewhere and buy another mattress as my back was so sore I could not use the bed. What a flippin palava. The old mattresses were amazingly brillant. Avoid these new ones with their wonder count springs at all costs! I'll update you all when I hear the outcome of the inspection though I have to admit I am not that hopeful even though the mattress is only 4 months old and was only used for 2.

Hi I was looking on here to see everyone's views on mattresses,I have found the perfect mattress for us!! I've invested in a zommos mattress bought of line and it lets me pick how firm I want my side of the mattress but also let's my better half pick how soft or firm he wants his so it's perfect for us even better if we dont like it we can return it free of charge and it came with free delivery and they installed it for free aswell ( iam keeping it I love it)

Very interestng to read all the reviews above on JL Natural Collection. I have a similar complaint that the mattress I purchased circa 5 weeks ago is TOO soft. After 3 visits and circa 5 hours in store, with extensive consultation from JL staff, I was recommended the Egyption Cotton 7000 (King size £840.00) medium support. I was advised that this seemed the best for me and moreover, it was soft in store because a lot of people had tried it but woud be firmer when I receive it. Not so! I sought further assistance with this problem and was advised to put the mattress on the floor and sleep for a day to see if it feels firmer. I slept this way for a week without any difference. I have been rotating the mattress every week since purchase (circa 5 weeks now) but still no difference. When I complained I was told they don't take mattresses back for comfort reasons! I explained that I purchased the mattress for comfort reasons and on advice of their consultants!!! I too have a back problem and the issue is not yet resolved. Can anyone advise me on how best to take this issue forward please? Thanks.