Sleepless nights and no satisfaction: Buyers get run-around returning GhostBed mattresses
CBC
When online ads for a new mattress started popping up on Peter Learn's Facebook feed last January, it didn't take much to convince him he needed one — he and his wife had slept on their current mattress for 20 years.
"It looked very appealing," said the Kelowna, B.C., man. "I kept telling my wife we had nothing to lose."
The ads were for GhostBed — a company that hit the competitive world of online mattress sales seven years ago — trying to woo customers away from competitors like Casper, Endy, Purple, Leesa, Nectar and Saatva.
Some of the ads featured tennis pro Venus Williams, talking about the importance of a good sleep and how her team has co-designed a line of mattresses "built for champions."
GhostBed promises that customers can try a mattress for up to 101 days — three months — and return it "hassle-free" if not satisfied.
So Learn and his wife Paula ordered a medium-firm king mattress for $1,329.
It arrived quickly, but it was the beginning of months of sleepless nights.
"We woke up feeling quite sore because there was no support for our backs," said Learn.
"You try sleeping on your side. Your back. If you slept on your stomach, you'd probably drown in the sponge. It didn't work in any position."
When he tried to return the mattress, the company's "hassle-free" promises evaporated, he says.
He soon learned the Florida-based company has hundreds of complaints filed against it with the Better Business Bureau, and that he was expected to do all the heavy lifting — literally and figuratively — if he was to get any money back.
A spokesperson for GhostBed declined an interview request.
In a statement to Go Public, he said the company takes customer service and satisfaction seriously but that when customers don't get the resolution they seek, they often "blame the business" and feel the company's policies "are unfair."
Mattress sales have boomed as the pandemic has reoriented people's budgets — from spending on travel to making the home a comfy nest.
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