The Business Lesson I Learned From Buying a Mattress

30 Jul 2025 #misc

“Sorry, it’s too late. There’s nothing to do,” a salesgirl told me.

The mattress

Earlier that day, the mattress I had ordered was delivered. I was told I should get it assembled and ready to use. But the delivery man told me, “I was hired only to deliver this to you.”

I tried to contact the company by dialing the phone number on the invoice. It didn’t work. It was either wrong or constantly busy. I checked their website for a phone number. No luck!

Then I rushed back to the mall where I bought it. The salesgirl called her supervisor. I wasn’t the only one receiving a mattress in pieces that day.

“If you had called me right away, maybe I could have done something,” she told me. After telling me it was too late, she explained that my mattress was delivered from another city via another delivery company. “Hey, but it isn’t that hard for you to assemble the mattress. It has some instructions inside.” Arrggg!

The lesson

If you promise something on your sales pages, deliver that promise. And make sure everyone involved understands what they need to do to make it a reality.

Imagine KFC handing you raw chicken and telling you, “You can fry it on your own. It comes with a step-by-step. It’s not that difficult.” You would never visit that restaurant again. Just like I’ll never trust that mattress company again.

There’s no secret to business, just promise, then deliver.