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Mattress Warranties: What You Should Know → Based on Data From Over 750 Actual Owners
Page last updated April 12, 2010.
Below is information to remember regarding mattress warranties that is based on hundreds of collected owner experiences.
Sagging Depth
The main complaint -- by far -- people have with their mattress is sagging, especially in regard to innerspring beds and to a lesser extent memory foam and latex mattresses.
Owner data suggests that even moderate sagging can and often does result in less comfort and support, and may even cause pain, such as back pain.
As a result, as a mattress shopper you should pay special attention to how sagging issues are covered by the warranty.
Most warranties will cover sagging only when the problem becomes severe enough, that is, when it reaches a certain depth. It is in your interest to have a warranty that is generous in regard to what it defines as "severe."
For example, innerspring mattress warranties will often provide coverage for sagging beginning at a depth of 1.5 inches. By contrast, some memory foam mattress warranties, namely Tempurpedic, will provide coverage for sagging beginning at a depth of .75 inches. In other words, innerspring warranties often require twice the depth of sagging that these memory foam warranties require before coverage kicks in.
Sounds Impressive, But...
Many mattress owners realize too late that their warranty sounds more impressive than it actually is. For example, most airbeds have a 20-year limited warranty. This causes many owners to wrongly believe that if any manufacturer's defect pops up in the next 20 years, the problem will be covered at little or no cost to them.
The whole story is that non-prorated coverage often ends after just a few years. If something goes wrong after this time, the owner will often need to pay at least 20% of repair costs.
Make sure to read the fine print of a mattress warranty.
Divide By 2 Rule
Our research strongly suggests that you should not believe that your mattress will last the length of its warranty.
Sleep Like The Dead compared how long over 750 owners said their mattress lasted with the length of warranties.
The result of this analysis suggests that how long a mattress will remain comfortable and usable can be determined by dividing the warranty period in half.
For example, a mattress with a 20-year warranty will often last about 8-12 years before normal wear does it in; a mattress with a 10-year warranty will often last about 4-6 years. (Normal wear, by the way, is not covered under warranty.) This is only a general rule, however; individual brands may do somewhat better or worse, and you may get more or less life relative to the warranty period from your particular mattress.
Of course, this rule implies that there is indeed a correlation between warranty length and quality / durability / longevity of a mattress. In other words, good mattresses usually have longer warranties, while not-so-good mattresses usually have shorter ones.
Avoid The Void
Mattresses can and often do have their warranties voided by such things as stains, soiling and fluid penetration. Even if a stain is not near a problem area, such as sagging, the warranty will probably not cover the sagging because of the stain. A way to help ensure that your warranty is not voided is to use a mattress protector from the first night onward.
In addition, a warranty can often be voided by not using a foundation or an improper one. Read your specific warranty carefully in regard to what is an acceptable foundation.