‘New’ mattress actually old bed bug infested mattress wrapped inside new mattress
Phoenix, Arizona mom, Alison Kiefer, purchased what she thought were two new twin mattresses for her kids. But, she was in for a big surprise later when she encountered a bed bug problem.
In November the mother of three went to the store, Mattresses 101, to purchase twin sized bunk bed mattresses. She told KRVK 3 On Your Side, "The mattresses were fully covered, padding I mean, like a brand new mattress. They had plastic coverings all over them.” She made the $178 purchase that came with a three-month warranty. Then, two-and-a-half months later, she was up in the middle of the night with her baby and “freaked out” when a bug crawled across her bed. Kiefer called an exterminator immediately.
Brent Agee of MasterTech Pest Solutions answered the call. While searching for the source of the bugs, and made a disgusting discovery. He says that he found an old mattress stuffed inside a new one. "A mattress inside a mattress, and actually that's the first time I actually heard about people doing that. But that's usually where you find bed bugs, is the mattresses," said Agee. “When we were trying to pull them off this bunk bed they weighed about 100 pounds. Usually a mattress that size doesn't weight that much."
The MasterTech team found bed bugs in several locations in the house. Ms. Kiefer said, "They went through my entire home, ripped everything up and found some in my room and in the kids' room."
Representatives from Mattresses 101 declined to speak on camera. However, in several emailed statements to 3 On Your Side, Neel Chotoki of Mattress 101 said the store has never received customer complaints about bed bugs and wrote, “We categorically state that this store does not have bed bugs.” They also asserted, “We purchase and sell brand new mattresses only.”
While the store has no explanation for how Ms. Kiefer wound up with the ‘refurbished’ mattresses, out of goodwill, they did offer to refund her $200 plus pay her an additional $200 to cover her cleanup bills. Kiefer has yet to receive the money.
Video and more info: KRVK
