What's inside the Sloane's Furniture "new" mattress?



MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- You've heard the saying 'never go to bed angry,' but what if your brand “new” bed is making you mad? FOX6's Contact 6 was sold a “new” bed from Sloane’s Furniture near 12th and Vliet, but what was delivered was simply GROSS!

Using a hidden camera, a FOX6 employee entered Sloane's and made it very clear he wanted a new bed - no floor model.

Sloane’s Vern Dahl said it would be new and wrote and circled on the receipt the word “new."

Customer Shamika Browne told Contact 6 she, too was told the mattress she purchased would be new, even though her receipt doesn’t show it. When Sloane’s delivered a box spring and mattress that was torn and dirty, she called Contact 6.

“I have kids in here! It could have bed bugs or anything! I'm not taking no old mattress, plain and simple. I'm not taking no old mattress, " Browne said.

Another person sent Contact 6 video of workers unloading the mattresses -- some without plastic covers.

Then, Contact 6 took a hidden camera into the store, and found mattresses outside with nothing to protect them from seagulls overhead.

Meanwhile, Bedding Expert Bobby Cleveland ripped open a mattress Contact 6 purchased to see the inside.

"You can just smell the mattress. It certainly does not have a fresh, new mattress smell to it. The must that's coming out of this is atrocious," Cleveland said.

Inside the mattress, Cleveland found some hair and serious stains on every level of padding.

"There are real sanitary issues with sleeping on something like this. Not only do you have to worry about the mold growth and spores and bacteria and all that stuff, but if the person had any kind of sickness, flu. Yeah, you can see how disgusting that is," Cleveland said.

FOX6's Contact 6 called Sloane’s Furniture and told owner Vern Dahl he needed to see this bed.

He agreed and admitted, “Oh, that one is definitely -- oh good Lord. That's disgusting."

Dahl said he's been selling mattresses to the public for years and never knew what was inside.

"Well there is really no good excuse because we go by what the manufacturer tells us," Dahl said, although the mattress Contact 6 received had a tag on the outside that reads "Secondhand -- Contents Unknown."

Dahl told FOX6 News he won’t do business with that manufacturer anymore and refunded the money.

Contact 6 only paid a $147 dollars. So did we get what we paid for? For some people, that's all they can afford.

Contact 6 got in touch with the State Consumer Protection Office about this case because it's a violation to sell a refurbished bed as new.

Again, this bed was clearly marked "Secondhand -- Contents Unknown," so FOX6's Contact 6 advises checking the tag before deciding to sleep on it.