Crime & Safety
Southwest Atlanta Mattress Business Under Investigation
Southwest Atlanta mattress business under scrutiny according to an undercover story by CBS Atlanta.
A Southwest Atlanta business, American Mattress Factory, owned by Kamal Shelbayah, is the focus of questions from Representative Ralph Long III as well as angry customers, according to a Wednesday report on CBS Atlanta's "Better Mornings."
The owner of the mattress business, 1899 Metropolitan Parkway, admits to filling mattress frames with used, unwashed materials and then covering them with new mattress covers for resale. The report confirmed that Shelbayah has Georgia law on his side.
According to the story by CBS Atlanta investigative reporter Jeff Chirico, while it is legal in Georgia for companies to reuse and resell used mattresses, the mattresses must be labeled as used with a special tag.
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The mattresses featured in the investigation, sold out of the Mattress 4 Sale store in Forest Park, were not labeled as used, and according to undercover video from CBS Atlanta, the salesperson assured customers that they were, in fact, new.
Angered by the news report, Long—who represents the area where American Mattress Factory is located—immediately called its owner to the state capitol for a meeting and vowed to get to the bottom of how and why owners like Shelbayah are allowed to sell mattresses filled with moldy and soiled materials to his constituents.
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According to the CBS Atlanta report, Georgia repealed a state law in the 1990s, requiring reused mattress parts to be cleaned before being placed into new frames and covered with new material.
The Governor's Office of Consumer Protection states on its website, "Although federal law does require any mattress that contains used stuffing to bear a tag or label saying so, Georgia law imposes no requirements for labeling or sanitizing a mattress that has been used before it is resold. This is true whether the seller is an individual, a second-hand store or a retailer. So let the buyer beware!"
Consumers who believe they have been unknowingly sold a used mattress that they were told was new, can file a complaint with the state and with the Federal Trade Commission.