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Sometimes Shoppers Need to Know the Fine Print

MrConsumer is about to do something that he has long warned others was a dumb move — buying a mattress online without having had the benefit of at least trying it in a store.

Who in their right mind does this unless you really don’t care how your bed feels and are willing to risk having a backache for the next 10 years?

In my case, it was the lure of getting a Tempur-Pedic mattress for $1,600 less than the going price at bedding stores. Keep in mind that Tempur-Pedic is a premium memory foam mattress at a super premium price. A mid-grade queen size mattress of theirs is $3,299 — and that is just the mattress not including a foundation. Add about $380 more for that. I’ve never spent more that $500 for a mattress.

Tempur-Pedic bedThe version I am considering is the Tempur-Pedic Supreme, exclusively available at Costco and nowhere else. It is $1,999 with a foundation, and when on sale, there is an additional $300 gift card rebate. Still, $1,700 for a bed is crazy high. Worse, Costco does not have this model on display, so you are buying sight unseen. Even crazier.

To make this a more reasoned purchase, I have been trying to match the specs of the Costco version with the closest model being sold in retail stores. That way I can try the bed in person instead of buying so blindly.

In particular, since memory foam mattresses are made of layers of various types, thicknesses, and densities of foam, I needed to know those particulars. Easier said than done. The Costco website only shows the layers in a diagram, but there are no specifics. And it has been pulling teeth to get a straight answer from the manufacturer, Tempur Sealy, which even has a dedicated helpline for Costco customers.

The first agent said the top foam layer is 2.55″ of Tempur-ES (that’s “Extra Soft”) and the second is 2.55″ of “Tempur material.” He thought the Costco version was most similar to the ProAdapt 2.0 in stores. The second said each of the top two layers was 1.6″ of “Tempur material.” Neither one knew the density (which is key to longevity and the traditional non-springy memory foam feel). I even climbed the executive ladder to ask their head of marketing, but got no response.

Then I found the Tempur-Pedic mattress buyer for Costco in their headquarters purchasing department. He provided the definitive measurements of all the varying layers of foam including that there were two 1.6″ layers of Tempur material on top. That is somewhat similar to the ProAdapt 2.0, which I have tried multiple times in bedding stores.

He could not, however, provide their densities saying that that information was proprietary. I questioned that because one large retailer in the Boston area provides it in their product listings. And in the early days of memory foam mattresses, companies were eager to boast how dense their foam was — often over five pounds.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Tempur-Pedic specs

As it turns out, Tempur Sealy told this Costco buyer that the Boston retailer that disclosed the specific density of the various foam layers did so improperly. Imagine… it is wrong for a consumer-oriented retailer to help buyers understand what exactly they are buying particularly in the case of a blind item like a mattress. Nonetheless those specs provide a valuable clue to the densities of the foam in the Costco version.

So, the quest for trying to be a more informed mattress shopper ends there, with only partial information.

Since Costco just put their Tempur-Pedics on sale in advance of Presidents’ Day, MrConsumer decided to be a purchaser. Let’s hope I don’t live to regret it. At least I am protected by Costco’s unlimited return policy, that according to Tempur Sealy, even causes them to waive their usual $175 return fee both during and after their 90-day trial period.

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18 thoughts on “Sometimes Shoppers Need to Know the Fine Print”

  1. Trying on mattresses in stores is not as useful as it sounds. Nearly every new
    mattress is short term comfortable so a 30 second to couple minute ‘trial’ isn’t telling you that much.

    I purchased a Tempu-Pedic years ago after trying it in one of their dedicated stores. I returned it. It was like sleeping on a wet slab of sand and my back was unhappy after a couple hours.

    Reply
    • Tom… I have been sleeping on a memory foam mattress from Sealy for the past 10 years, so I am familiar with the feel. But Tempu-Pedic is even more firm and supposedly won’t get much softer. It will be an adventure…

      Reply
  2. Better to see it, touch it, etc. know that mattresses and pillows, especially from china, may be vacuum sealed. Once you open them good luck trying to get them back in the box to return. AND buying from china, which you may not know before you purchase, may require return to china where shipping may be as much as three times the cost of the item. If you use amazon, that problem goes away.

    Reply
    • Ro… The Tempur-Pedic is NOT a boxed product. It comes just like any other mattress, but it might have some off-gassing issues, that eventually dissipate.

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      • Interesting. I purchased a King sized Tempur-Pedic mattress some time ago directly from a nearby Tempur-Pedic store. It was delivered by two nice young men who carried it upstairs to the bedroom and assembled the supportive base and placed the ROLLED mattress in position. That’s right. It arrived completely encased in a huge plastic “bag”, compressed and rolled quite small. It was secured into a giant but compressed roll of mattress. Once placed on the base after having removed the plastic bag, the young men said it would expand itself and lie flat in a few hours. I was skeptical, but they were correct. By the time we were ready to go to bed that night, the mattress was lying flat and ready to give us a great night’s sleep. Maybe not “boxed”, but rolled is not like any other mattress I’ve ever purchased.

      • I am surprised to hear that because Costco claimed the packaging was 35 pounds, which suggests a carton large enough to hold an uncompressed mattress. Did you have a problem with off-gassing?

  3. Of all of the places to buy a mattress online you haven’t tried, Costco is by far the safest. Their return policy is the most generous and hassle-free.

    I hope this works out well for you Edgar. I haven’t hit the $1,500 mattress step yet.

    Reply
    • Joel… I hope so too. I recognize this is going to take some time to get used to even though I have had memory foam mattresses before. The money part will only be worth it if it helps me get rid of my current backache and doesn’t cause a new one!

      Reply
  4. Before online, it was very difficult to determine if the stearns and foster you were buying at Macys was the same at Mattress Discounters or Jordan’s Furniture. The coverings were all different for the same quality mattress at each retailer and the names were all different. A Berkeley at Macys could be the same as a Brewster at Jordan’s etc. Historically, the mattress makers did this so you couldn’t price shop. In the end your back has to be the judge. The only problem now is that there are so few brick and mortar stores.

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  5. I got a tempurpedic 17 years ago, to help with back problems (I was 20 at the time). It was whatever the cheapest one was. It made a huge difference! I still have no issues with it. I recently tried sleeping in my mom’s bed while she was away (it’s bigger and I have dogs that like to spread out) and only lasted one night before going back to mine because of pain.

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  6. My cheap consumer solution (which may not be for you, dear reader): I have a pillow-top (hard bottom) mattress, purchased in ’09. So of course, it can’t be flipped in the old, traditional way. Several years ago, it developed the dreaded “canyon” in the center. I flipped it over (hard side up). I spent just over a hundred bucks on a queen size 3″ memory foam topper, to top off that hard side. It’s just the right consistency of firm but not hard, for me. No complaints.

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    • Frank… My next door neighbor had a Sleep Number mattress years ago and I remember she had problems with it. So I didn’t even look at them.

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  7. as others have said, you really can’t get a good test of a mattress at a store.

    Costco of course allows returns without question.

    Most other online mattress retailers have similar programs. I bought a “Brooklyn Bedding” mattress for heavy folks a few years ago… works well. After a couple of years I got a valley and called them…. They sent a replacement.. easy peasy. I’m sure returns would work just as well. (probably documented donation.. they don’t want it back)

    I’d say buying online or Costco is the *safest* way to buy a mattress.

    Reply
  8. Buying a mattress has always been a crap shoot, even when you can test it in person. I recently did the same thing as you, bought my first mattress without trying it first. It’s a Saatva hybrid, part inner spring, part foam. Did tons of research, reading as many professional and owner reviews as I could find just to get a decent level of confidence in the degree of softness or firmness. The price was right. Delivery and removal of old mattress is included, and you can actually test drive it for a full year and still return it. Very happy with it.

    Reply
    • Bob… I eliminated hybrids in my search for fear that they really would be little different from conventional spring mattresses that go soft too quickly. Good memory foam should retain its firmness. Interestingly, most mfr. warranties for conventional beds say the warranty is triggered for depressions of 1.5 inches or more. The Tempu-Pedic warranty says that depressions of only 3/4″ trigger the warranty.

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  9. dear Mr. Consumer (Edgar). i hope your mattress is everything you hoped for. we got a WINK mattress in 2021 directly from the manufacturer in Wisconsin. it’s got a lifetime guarantee, and had many choices for firmness…we got extra firm due to our combined size/weight. i kind of wish i hadn’t done that, but my husband is very comfy on it, and i’m ok. it’s a very good mattress in every way…combination of springs and foam. if you have to return your Tempur-Pedic, you may want to look into WINK. have a GREAT day. 🙂

    Reply