His bed arrived in pieces. Can he get a refund from Amerisleep?

Todd Brown’s mattress order arrives in pieces from Amerisleep. After waiting months, he just wants a refund. Is that allowed?

Q: I ordered a king mattress and frame from Amerisleep and paid $3,400 almost three months ago. After multiple delays from the stated two-week delivery, I received the mattress and one twin frame about a month later. I was then told that another twin was on the way to “create” a king. I never received the second twin. Amerisleep then offered to upgrade to its premium frame a few weeks later. I accepted the offer.

After multiple assurances that the frames were on their way, they were never shipped. FedEx picked up the single twin, then dropped it back off. I don’t have a frame that fits the bed.

At this point, I just want a refund for the entire bed. Amerisleep’s response was to authorize a refund for less than half the total price ($1,680). That was a month ago and still no refund. There was no itemization for the credit nor a response to the other requests. Separately, another Amerisleep representative told me the bed frame is not returnable. The representative asked me to send a photo of the warranty tag and that they will arrange for either a pickup or allow me to donate the mattress to a local charity. I have not heard from them since.

Can you help me get a refund?

~ Todd Brown, Gainesville, Florida

A: Of course, Amerisleep should have sent you the mattress and frame when it said it would. A three-month wait is unacceptable. I’ve reviewed the correspondence between you and the company and it isn’t clear to me why the company didn’t deliver the frame when it said it would. Instead, it made promises it didn’t keep, leaving you frustrated and sleepless.

It looks as if you tried to send emails and initiated a chat through the Amerisleep page.

Amerisleep offers a guarantee on its products (“Sleep easy, we’ve got your back”) that amounts to a limited 20-year warranty, but that assumes it has delivered the mattress and frame. There’s no guarantee it will get the bed to you in a timely manner, only a vague assurance that your mattress and accessories will “usually ship within 3-5 business days.” Maybe there should be a delivery guarantee.

You could have appealed this service breakdown to a manager at Amerisleep. I list the names, numbers and email addresses of the Amerisleep customer service managers on my consumer advocacy site, Elliott.org.

I contacted Amerisleep on your behalf. More than three months after your initial order, Amerisleep contacted you to arrange to have your mattress taken away and promised to refund your money.

Christopher Elliott is the chief advocacy officer for Elliott Advocacy. Email him at chris@elliott.org or get help with any consumer problem by contacting him at http://www.elliott.org/help

© 2021 Christopher Elliott