Send Ben: ‘They ghosted us,’ says local couple about online mattress company

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Action News Jax Ben Becker is investigating an online mattress company that has one local couple losing sleep.

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“This has been a long ordeal?” asked Becker.

“Yes, it has been close to a year,” says Brenda Pirone who spent time in the hospital. “I’m just getting over some surgeries needed a nice bed to recuperate in.”

Pirone and her husband Joseph went online and ordered an adjustable bed from a company called GhostBed.

You may have seen the ads featuring tennis legend Venus Williams, that promise “high performance sleep.” But, the Pirones say GhostBed had performance issues when it came time for delivery.

“They ghosted us, good way to put it,” say the couple.

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The Pirones paid $2,898 for the bed and accessories on May 30, 2021.

The website says that “many customers receive their mattress within just 2-5 days of placing their order,” but that didn’t happen for the Pirones.

On June 9, 2021, the Pirones received an email from GhostBed that said “sorry for the delay with your order,” which led the Pirones to cancel it, only to receive a refund for $1,993,98.

The reason why?

The Pirones were charged restocking and delivery fees.

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“How do you ship something you don’t have in stock and how do you restock something you don’t have in stock to begin with,” Joseph Pirone asked rhetorically. “They even charged a non-refundable delivery fee even though they never delivered it.”

But the customer service representative email didn’t tell the Pirones that according, to FedEx, the bed was sent out on June 2 but vanished for 10 days until June 12. Eventually, it showed up in Jacksonville on June 18, after the Pirones canceled it.

“It seems reasonable for the buyer to ask for a full refund,” says Action News Jax law and safety expert Dale Carson.

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The GhostBed website does say “Orders are processed immediately to ensure we can ship within 24 hours. Because of this, we are unable to make any changes after an order has been submitted. If an order is refused, cancelled or returned, it will incur a 15% restocking fee plus applicable shipping charges deducted from your refund.”

Carson doesn’t believe that should apply in this case.

“You can sue them in small claims court for the balance,” says Carson.

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According to the Better Business Bureau, GhostBed has an “F” rating and had 214 complaints in the last 12 months, many regarding returns and refunds.

The Florida Attorney General’s Office tells Becker it has received 23 complaints about GhostBed in the past three years.

Becker wasn’t spooked and called GhostBed. He was told by a spokesperson that the company wanted to help the Pirones and as a courtesy, would refund their money.

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A few days later, the Pirones, who had already gotten $199, received the remaining $705 they had been waiting a year to recover.

“So you can rest easy now,” said Becker, who asked the Pirones what made them reach out to him.

“I like the results you get when I watch the news,” said Brenda Pirone. “I kept saying we got to call Ben.”

If a bed company has you restless, don’t sleep on it. Email SendBen@actionnewsjax.com.

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