PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. – Never has there been a "Call Christina" investigation that has generated as many viewers contacting the "Call Christina" hotline via phone, e-mail, and social media as this one.
Last month, Local 10 News began investigating complaints filed against Mattress One after four viewers reached out to Local 10 News investigative reporter Christina Vazquez.
Immediately after the story aired, 10 people called in just two minutes claiming they were also having issues pertaining to a Mattress One product, service, refund or warranty.
Those calls continue to come in.
The four initial viewers who reached out did receive a resolution to their Mattress One problems courtesy of district manager Greg Bell. Kelly Benson received her mattress, Mary Roca received a new box spring and Frank Boynton received a refund. A fourth viewer received a refund of more than $2,000.
When new calls come into the "Call Christina" hotline regarding Mattress One, our team gathers information about the transaction, the reason for the complaint and the desired resolution for the benefit of both the consumer and the company's customer service team.
Local 10 News has been sending your concerns to the company so they might be able to work out a resolution with each individual caller.
You can also file a complaint with the Florida Attorney General's Office, The Department of Agriculture and Consumer Protection and the Federal Trade Commission.
The owners have yet to respond to Local 10 News' repeated invitations for an on camera interview or written statement addressing the complaints.
After the story aired, Local 10 News was contacted by a man identified as a store manager in Central Florida.
"I said, 'Oh my God, it's happening everywhere,'" the man said. "I thought it was just our immediate region, but it was not, it's company-wide. "
Worried about losing his job, he agreed to speak with Local 10 News if his name or identity was not revealed. He said complaints that mattresses are "saggy" or "soft" may relate to how they are sometimes improperly stacked in distribution centers.
"We deal a lot with warranty claims, delivery issues and refunds," the manager said. "Customers are just so frustrated with the process and nobody's hearing them and nobody is really getting through to resolving these customer issues."
He added that they are "short staffed" at the corporate level, specifically when it comes to customer service.
He also offered this insider's perspective: "What I have been telling customers if they have a problem (is to) just come on into the store and if you don't like what you are hearing at one store just go to another store and see if you can find a person that could be a good match for you to get your issues resolved. Because that is the best way to get it done at Mattress One is actually going to a store and trying to find somebody."
He added that he thinks company owners "miss" the importance of customer service, product quality and delivery reliability.
"They don't get it. The only thing they think is, you bought a mattress, my job is to give it to you and they don't care about the condition or the condition of how it gets to you or those kinds of things. I think they miss out on that," he said. "There's a miss, there's a gap that hasn't been filled. They are running as one general business. They are just not very good at running customer service. I think they lack the understanding of what Americans want. We can't be running around delivering broken mattresses to customers. They don't understand."
The Attorney General's Office is taking a closer look at complaints against Mattress One.
The Florida Attorney General's Office told Local 10 News it has received at least 100 complaints about Mattress One since 2008.
In the past three years, 69 complaints against Mattress One were filed in Miami-Dade County, The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and the Federal Trade Commission.
Another 86 complaints were filed with the Better Business Bureau against Mattress One, Inc.
Sixty-five percent of those complaints the BBB listed as "Unanswered- the business failed to respond to the dispute."
BBB said in seven cases, Mattress One did respond to the dispute, "but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it."
According to state records, the owner of Mattress One, Inc. is Mohanad Salem.
After the investigation aired Salem disputed the BBB's complaint record indicating that they had the wrong contact name on file for the company and said he would be working with the BBB to address the outstanding complaints.
Local 10 News checked in with the Better Business Bureau Friday. They said they contacted four employees Thursday and confirmed the company's best email to ensure they have received all the complaints and had the ability to address them. The BBB went on to explain that the company has the ability to view and respond to every complaint, at any time they desire, via the internet.
They said to date Mattress One, Inc. has yet to address any of the 57 unanswered complaints.
Over the phone, Salem said he could only address complaints in the Miami-Dade County area since his company, Mattress One, Inc. owns stores in South Florida and relatives own other stores in other markets of the state under different LLCs.
Consumer advocates said that is irrelevant from a consumer's prospective given that all complaints are filed under the brand name "Mattress One" and all stores share the same website, customer service phone number and customer service e-mail.
Salem said he would be working to address any unresolved complaints.
"We are investigating all complaints related to this company," said Office of the Attorney General Director of Media Relations Whitney Ray, "Regardless of whether other family members may own some of the stores."
Operations Manager Amin Ebrahimi, spoke to Local 10 News briefly.
"I'm just here to let you know that if you know of any customer complaint that I don't know about, I'd love to take care of them," Ebrahimi said.
The Call Christina team reached out to Nova Southeastern University Law School Professor and former Washington State Attorney General Michael Flynn, who specialized in Antitrust and Consumer Protection Laws.
WEB EXTRA: Attorney Michael Flynn on warranties
"The only way you attract and keep consumers and get them to purchase is if in fact you're running a company that is consumer friendly. If it's not, people will know about it," said Flynn.
"If there is some kind of warranty involved, you must read the fine print," said Flynn.
Follow Christina Vazquez on Twitter @CallChristinaTV
Follow Local 10 News on Twitter @WPLGLocal10