Warning!

And now I lay me down to sleep...

In that age-old prayer we recognise our vulnerability while we sleep and ask god to keep us safe

Toxic products, bad post-sales service and prejudice?

What if you discovered your purchase of a new bed had placed you and your children at risk of serious health hazards not just while the bed is new but for your entire lives?

Imagine discovering staff were aware of the risk and being stonewalled by the entire corporation or even arrested when you demanded your rights.

SLEEP CITY

The author feels that the best way to tell this story and drive these concerns home is to refer to the emails sent by one customer to the store's head office. They are long-winded and might seem disorganised and desperate but you will understand as you read through them why we think them important. We have edited out a number of names and organisations as well as situations not directly related to the one of Sleep City's behaviour

I just want to thank you for your prompt reply to my complaint and request for assistance.

In 1980 I was injured in a motorbike accident and lost 30% of the use of my left leg and shoulder and was left in constant pain. Ixxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx contracting hepatitis C and later contracted diabetes.

Another more recent series of accidents saw me with spinal injuries and damage to my right shoulder.

My lungs were damaged during a period of working on a rock-crushing mill at a quarry when I was sixteen and I developed a chemical sensitivity from unprotected contact with dangerous chemicals during a term of employment when I was about seventeen and later.

In the period between 1990 and 2000, despite being severely disabled I attended university and TAFE earning various academic awards including a Bachelor of Fine Art, Certificates in Graphic Design . During this time I was regularly hospitalised for exhaustion and malnutrition. Going to university was very expensive

I worked as xxxx xxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxx     until my health collapsed and I lost everything. I have set up and still run xxxxxx, a non-profit magazine.

I have worked for charities and when my health allows still act as a lobbyist for various social justice and environmental causes.

For the last few years I have been in desperately ill health and under the care of a community disability support service. They have been concerned because I am so ill and fighting constant pain and am sleeping on an old mattress on the floor which at times I am unable to rise from without assistance. With this in mind they convinced me to accept their offer of a new bed. I apologise for purchasing that bed from you.

According to the police who came to arrest me yesterday I have one of your staff so frightened she is in fear of her life and that, or another, staff member informed the police that I am a bludger who was has rorted some vulnerable community group onto giving me a bed for free. Apparently I am unworthy of such sterling charity.

In order to get beyond the end of my street I use a battery propelled mobility device. I often require assistance from a community worker to buy groceries. The outing to get the bed took me almost a year to arrange. I insisted on checking pamphlets and online looking at beds to see what I like because I rarely leave the house without assistance. I have so little money that this expense was a huge matter and I needed to get it right. My mother flew in from Queensland for my fiftieth birthday and for a gift assisted me to get to Tuggerah to look at bedding stores including yours. I was so ill after visiting the shops that day I had to be helped to the car. 

When I found something I informed my case worker and it took another month to organise community workers to assist me to get about and make the deal. I spent some time trying to make the sales person aware that I had problems with my lungs and would be affected by chemical fumes. I also made it clear I was in considerable pain and needed a soft bed. I was informed the wool mattress was fume free. It certainly was in the store but when a unit was delivered it made me very ill. The fumes were strong.

I contacted staff who proceeded to tell me, yes, the fumes were strong, their children would suffer terribly on a new bed as they had asthma too but I would just have to put up with it as they would not help. When I asked to have my complaint directed to management they refused, told me more stories about how they coped with new furniture fumes. I got very angry and told them off.

I was contacted by my case worker and informed that I had threatened a staff member personally and there was nothing anyone was prepared to do to assist me after such foulness. I again contacted staff to demand they contact head office and get someone to talk to me. I did this several times and was delighted to actually be hung up on several times.

Two very angry police arrived at my door and slamming me against the wall told me what they would do to anyone who treated their sister (?) in such an evil manner. They claimed I was a bum who was ripping off charitable people and they were going to arrest me. You may find it hard to imagine their confusion when they realised I could barely stand. In the corner of my tiny bedroom is a ripped and ancient mattress sitting on the floor. The new mattress was in a sealed bedroom and quite obviously filled the room with strong chemical fumes. They informed me that I was hassling and threatening staff who were only trying to help me by retrieving the bed. You will note I did not mention bed retrieval. Perhaps because that is not what was happening! Their distress at my condition was obvious and they shook hands and apologised as they left. You will be delighted to know that slamming someone like me against a wall causes a lot of pain and old wounds to my neck and back are now alive and well after such a long absence.

I. The case worker insists that I cannot go on sleeping on such a pitiful and distressing (for me) old mattress but I really prefer the pain and difficulty to any more nastiness and lies and I really don't feel I have any reason for the community to give me anything. I am just a cripple after all, and worth nothing to anyone.

 I wanted to thank you and your great staff for reinforcing that realisation with such gusto! I have a few other items this charitable organisation has seen fit to assist me with and as soon as I can find the money from my disability pension to replace them I will return the items. You have done the community a great service and the trauma that sees me sitting up in the middle of the night wrapped in pain and too upset to sleep will assist to remind me of what a creepy and insensitive creature I have become to good working people and their corporations

Warmest regards

xxxxxxx

Page one... service with a sneer

Page two... product warning!

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