Here’s What We Think About Costco Mattresses

A big-box warehouse store like Costco may not be the first place you think of when looking for your new mattress. However, you can be certain that they are one of the largest retailers of mattresses in the world. Most of us know them, love them, and have a great deal of confidence in them, but does this make them the best place to buy your new mattress? Can a store that sells everything be the perfect place to find and buy your dream bed? Should we be okay with simply pulling one off a shelf and in doing so would you want to spend one-third of our life in it? Read on to see what we think about Costco Mattresses.

Just like a carpenter who must have the proper tools to do the job, when trying to get a quality night of sleep, a mattress is an essential tool for supplying us with proper support, comfort in the rejuvenating sleep for our bodies. This begs the question, does Costco give us the necessary tools to accomplish these tasks? Can you try it before you buy it? We there be someone to help us pick the right one? Is there someone that can explain the complicated details and differences between each bed and their prices? The answer was no when we secret shopped them.

Picking The Right Mattress Off A Shelf

Costco mattresses are not mattresses made by themselves. They carry four recognizable brand names which include Spring Air, Sealy Posturpedic, Stearns, and Foster. Stearns and Tempurpedic. Sealy and Stearns & Foster were recently acquired by Tempurpedic, a company who recently went through some controversial antitrust concerns due to this acquisition. Costco’s selection is very limited and while you wouldn’t normally think of this as a problem with a store like Costco, we found that each line does not give consumers the wide variety of models to choose from. Comparison and big selection at various price points are not often an issue found in dedicated furniture or specialty mattress stores.

While their staff is usually helpful and friendly they are not equipped with the proper training that is typically needed in your quest for comfort, support, and a well-rounded mattress educated. When we asked about differences between various models assistants didn’t have a clue. While they looked at the price tags for information they were uninformed what the difference was in two models we selected and why there was such a big price difference. We asked if someone might know the answer they told us probably not that we might be able to find out more online. Our suggestion does your research before you show. Know what features and benefits you would like in your next mattress. For example: Are you trying to minimize painful pressure points? Do you sleep hot? Do you have allergies or asthma? Not sure what you need in a mattress. Down load our FREE Benefit Here before buying a mattress anywhere, It will help you find the mattress that best fits your needs.

Brand Names Not All That They Are Cracked Up To Be

Most will agree on the three most important qualities when buying a new mattress. Mattress shoppers need to be able to educate themselves with knowledge about the quality of the product, how to get a fair value, and recognizing great customer service. A recognizable brand name doesn’t necessarily correlate to a high-quality mattress. While many models are just fine, online reviews and comments are concerning at websites like What’s The Best Mattress and The Mattress Underground.  This leaves us with serious questions about long-lasting comfort, support, and the durability of the so-called top brands. We found most models have different names making it hard to shop.

Customer reviews talked of mattresses that developed deep valleys called body impressions which regularly seem to occur in some one-sided no flip designs, cheaper foams, and other lackluster building materials that fall well short of their prestigious brand name expectations. Unfortunately, these recognizable brand names are essentially the only choices shoppers will find in nationwide box stores. We found that equivalent model and even superior mattress choices included higher density foams, more steel, and yes even double-sided mattresses that could be flipped over at independent small retailers for the same or less money with easy convenient delivery and installation. We were able to test rest heavy duty mattresses built like they used to be 20-30 years ago and were assisted in how to choose the correct mattress.

Take A Look At The Variety Of Mattresses That We Offer

Companies That Will Stand Behind What They Sell

We’ve researched Costco and are impressed in many areas, one of these being mattress returns. The company appears to have a good return policy because they make returns so easy. According to everything we studied, Costco will never accept a return beyond the manufacturer’s warranty. In the case of most mattresses, we are to assume this is 10 years. Mattress warranty complaints by themselves, if Googled, are often found to be less than stellar. Simply visit any mattress review site or forum like Sleep Like The Dead, What’s The Best Mattress, and the Mattress Underground. Please take note that warranties are often said to be very weak with little substance and excessively long. Because of such long warranties, we have found that Costco’s policy is quite easy to abuse as we found many instances where mattresses were simply returned 2,3 and even 4 years later.

We found abuses of their policy in many mattress forums, among comments with one website flaunting, “The Costco Return policy 7 ways to make it work for you.” After reading such abuses we believe it will be the demise of the mattress Costco return policy one day, leaving buyers without the option of return. Abuses like the return of empty bottles of wine that gave the lady a headache, a package of opened underwear, a used chicken coop, and a broken 15-year old pressure washer are just such examples of abuse. Mattresses have been abused in the same manner and are far more expensive. We don’t believe Costco will take those kinds of losses for very long.

One feasible way the company may deal with such issues is the tracking of all your purchase returns. We also believe that if they think a customer is abusing their return policy, Costco could be more likely to flag an account or perhaps could even maintain their right to revoke a customer membership.

Durability Issues Of Costco Mattresses

Novaform and Sleep Innovations are Costco’s private labeled mattress line which we are told is manufactured specifically for them. While having mattresses privately labeled for them sounds grandiose, there are some real drawbacks that could affect consumer’s durability, value, and bottom line. Large retailers such as Costco have the power to have mattresses made as they wish. Being Costco has its advantages and because their forte is NOT building mattresses, we and many others think mattresses are built more to increase profits. Costco does not participate in production lines found in national retailers like furniture and mattress stores, giving them a line they can call their own. This has been documented time and time again in mattress review websites, forums, and magazines like Consumer Reports.

One example of the shortfall is the grade of a C+ Sleep found on Sleep Innovations / Novaform mattresses. They received an overall 77% owner satisfaction on Sleep Like the Dead Mattress Reviews, Ratings & Comparisons. According to the other website’s mattress forums, durability has been a consistent issue. The lesson here is to do your homework and compare.

As mentioned Costco doesn’t make mattresses themselves and they retail only a handful of lines… The Novaform reviews consistently mentioned this as a problem, while potential drawbacks include possible durability issues, inadequate firmness options (especially for foam), and rather limited information on quality specifications that are very important.

Potential Drawbacks Of Buying From Big Box Stores

Test Resting

It’s difficult to test for proper pressure relief, spinal alignment, comfort, and other important considerations on a shelf or in the massive concrete isles of a warehouse. It simply is not a conducive place for picking the right mattress.

Mattress professionals encourage a trial or test rest of a potential mattress and we agree. Take your time to lay on it. Feel how it contours. Make certain it supports your unique posture and gives you proper pressure relief. The reason is that you will be spending an average of 6-8 hours a night on your new bed. You need to be certain it’s the right one. Box stores are famous for not having demonstration models or when they do they are often worn and look like they have been through the mill. Mattresses usually get 6-8 hours non stop use a night so worn samples that aren’t being used continuously for eight hours could be a telltale indicator of how it will perform.

Returning a mattress

Returning your mattress is not easy. It’s big and bulky, heavy. Taking one back is not like returning a shirt that is the wrong size. We will just leave it at that and let your imagination fill in the rest of the hassles in returning such a heavy and large item like a mattress by yourself. We found no information that Costco offers a service that will pick it up and take it back for you. We did find instances where people paid someone to do it for them such as friends or moving companies which can be inconvenient and quite expensive. Coordinating the return and the refund was also described as awkward.

Understanding Complicated Specifications And Details

Look at and understand construction and know the pros and the cons. Best Mattress Brand.org listed these issues

• Below-average durability/longevity.
• Difficulty moving on mattress.
• Firmness consistency issues.
• Above-average reports of off-gassing.
• Quality information may be limited.

Many people buy Costco Mattresses using their membership and are quite happy. The important thing to understand is there can be a few downsides and questions to consider like comfort, longevity, mattress education, and support. If you must return it remember this is not a letter you simply stick in your mailbox. The work and logistics of returning a mattress could be quite the task. Our personal feeling is this, don’t be surprised if you need a new mattress sooner than you expected and yes, while returns to Costco’s still seems to be a good viable option, laxness in the policy could one day shut this privilege down making your return more difficult or impossible.