Casper went to war with popular mattress review site, then financed its takeover
recode.net
recode.net
Later, the site owner mentioned he was in a legal battle with Casper and fully intended on going to war until the end. It was all over his site, blog posts and everything.
I was ready to buy a couple weeks ago so I checked sleepopolis.com again to check in and make a final decision. His site had been sold, all his posts about the legal stuff were gone and I remember feeling like the valuable “human-perspective” opinions of the writer were gone.
I would love to hear the perspective of the original Sleepopolis writer/owner - he built a valuable thing. Likely his deal prevents him from ever speaking about it publicly.
Side note: I bought a Leesa and it’s very firm compared to the W bed I bought a decade ago. It’s a few hundred dollars cheaper but we will probably return it before 100 days and buy W again.
https://ideamensch.com/derek-hales/
Here is a cache of his perspective:
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:F3VoYT...
“Casper filed the lawsuit against me in April, 2016, on the same day that it sued two other websites that review mattresses. The suit makes a number of different allegations, but they are primarily focused on my Casper mattress reviews and how I inform my readers about referral links. I am currently fighting the lawsuit and pushing for it to be dismissed with prejudice.
It is my opinion that this lawsuit is nothing more than an attempt to silence my voice and infringe my first amendment right. When my lawyer asked Casper what it would take to resolve the case, Casper’s settlement demand was that I take down my reviews of Casper’s mattress and never write about Casper again. I don’t think Casper is concerned about my referral link disclosures at all – they just don’t like criticism of their product.”
I’m rather sad that the owner sold the blog, likely knowing where it was going, but when you are embroiled in a legal battle like this and have the option to take a decent paycheck and have it all end, I can see why they took it. I can sit here from afar and say that I would have told them “no, fuck you” and fought to the bitter end, but who can truly say they would do that until actually presented with such a decision?
What Americans, and other Western cultures, have a problem with is an obsession with consumptionism - the belief that you can always buy a solution for everything, the belief that the best solution comes from those who advertise most, the belief that they even care about you solving your problem. The gullibility to buy "space-tech" widgets with "new QuantumPower formula" that is obvious bullshit, from people who obviously have zero incentive to help you, and all the incentives to take your money.
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[0] - I mean, what else is there? Magic? Hoping for divine intervention? Pretending a problem doesn't exist?
It is a whole market fuelled by fear.
Perhaps I've been corrupted by the mattress salesman talking points, but it seems sensible to optimise spending money by the time spent doing certain activities.
For me that means that spending on a comfortable work area - desk, chair, monitors, keyboards - comes first. Then maybe sleeping areas. I have avoided upgrading the bedroom only because of the confusion of understanding what is good value for money so far, as there are no returns or free trials of mattresses here.
In comparison, most people way overspend on their cars, which they might use only one hour per day.
Also, "need" is a poor measure. Very little we consider fundamental in rich, developed countries is about "need". Take indoor plumbing, running hot water and flushing toilets - do we really need those? There are people alive today that grew up without those (in rich countries), and they did fine.
Yes, a good mattress is a bit of a luxury, but you're spending a third of your life on it, so it's hardly frivolous to invest in good, comfortable one.
Sure all the technology stuff is fake- we call that marketing. Do you need the latest in shoe technology to walk down the street? You do not. But people buy Nikes nevertheless.
Ya think that when 1/3rd of your time is spent (or roughly should be spent) on a mattress the quality should matter??? Not to mention back problems from not sleeping correctly or on the right position.
So, yeah USA is 200% correct in debating mattresses, just as HN crowd would be about debating about chairs, tables and keyboards.
Science moves on, so maybe "cotton-filled mattresses" aren't the best anymore. Personally I can attest that homemade sheep wool mattresses clump together, I can't see cotton do any better. $1000 is NOTHING to get a better nights sleep, Americans spend a lot of money for fancy coffees, just to start
My son can sleep soundly on concrete.
I'm tall, wide-shouldered, heavy-ish. So I should sleep on my back. But then my arms fall asleep. So for side-sleeping, I need at least a spring mattress.
I've had a few memory foam mattresses. They wear out (get divots) when the tiny air pockets get compressed and don't reinflate. So roughly, foam density is the key, denser is better.
Ignore any review that doesn't explicitly mention density. Shipping weight is a good proxy. Heavier beds, like the Tempur-Pedics, higher density, should be more expensive (cuz more material).
Light-weight people will probably be happy with the cheapo (under $1000) memory foam from Costco or Amazon.
I now recommend a good quality, flippable, plain (no pillow top) spring mattress and a disposable memory foam topper (3" to 5", depending). Best bang for buck, life span. I've done this a few times and it's as good (for me) as a full memory foam mattress and doesn't divot so fast. So my next bed will probably come from IKEA and whatever topper Costco's selling that week.
I haven't tried latex foam, so can't comment.
Ideally, I'd have a cocoon chair, or adjustable hospital bed, where I'm partially upright with arm rests.
I recently bought one of the newish high-tech foam brands (not saying which one so no one accuses me of shilling), but only after going into one of their showrooms and spending a couple of hours testing out the various options.
The only thing I looked at reviews to determine was what the return process was like, and for that you really need to look for user-generated content sites like Yelp rather than people with their own review sites since the return process for a demo model won't be representative.
Brought to you by Carl's Jr.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/02/technology/silicon-valley...
Obviously check reviews and everything, but I've found that as helpful as the reviews are, nothing is even close to your experience with the mattress and how you sleep on it. So if there is some brand of a bed that interests you, you should just get it and then return it if you don't like it.
One note though: The return process is easier if you buy it directly from the company and not through Amazon.
The only issue (and it's a very slight one at that) is the weight of this pillow. I think the shipment said it was just shy of 10lbs. The best way I can think of to describe this pillow is that it's like a sack full of ass fat.
I'm still not entirely sure what differentiates its material -- which it calls Air Foam -- from memory foam, because it feels very similar to other memory-foam mattresses. And the website doesn't do a very good job of explaining precisely how the materials differ.
It hasn't seemed any warmer than our old spring mattress, though, so I guess its "100% temperature neutral" claim holds up.
But as OP's post points out, the mattress review sites are very little help. It seems like they're all affiliate-link driven. I spent a good long while trying to find a review site that seemed trustworthy and that didn't make its money through referral links, and I finally gave up and decided I'd just have to try my best to evaluate each company's claims on my own.
Speaking of referral codes, it seems as if for Nolah, there's an almost constant $100 off code that is advertised on the site itself. Nolah also runs a customer referral program, where if you use my referral code, you get $75 off and I get $100 for the referral. Which is crazy. Why would you ever choose the $75 discount instead of the $100 discount? It's almost like you have to be willing to screw your friends over to participate.
That said, if anybody wants to PM me and obtain my $75 referral code, I will be donating any proceeds to the Trappist Caskets Child Fund, which provides caskets free of charge to families who have to bury a child: https://trappistcaskets.com/child-fund/
https://33ao321eg6ir3l6jee4fcxzi-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-...
Bottom line takeaway, and many might disagree, you can get a perfectly sleepable great mattress for less than $500 and anything more than that is straight up marketing cost or at the very least severe diminishing returns on your value.
The telling aspect of their marketing/FAQ is they actually tell you to expect this: they claim that years of sleeping on poor mattresses has conditioned your body to the wrong position and so it will be painful for 1-2 weeks while it corrects to their one true mattress. This seems like a load of bs. I've slept on hundreds of mattresses across the spectrum, from quarter inch closed-cell foam pads on top of rocks/roots to various hotel luxury mattresses and everything in between - and never experienced this level of painful need to "get used to a good mattress".
Nest finally sent out a guy to pick the mattress up, but after going over it with a Maglite he declared that the side that was touching the bed frame was dirty, and thus the mattress was unreturnable. Complete scam. I eventually wound up paying someone else to take it to a charity, and the charity had no problem with it.
In comparison, my return with Purple was easy and hassle-free. I didn’t like their product, but at least I have faith in the company.
Bought a mattress from them two years ago. Liked it. Last month there was an odd bump that seemed to be a defect. Called them, emailed some pictures, and within a few days a new one was delivered to my home, and they took the old one to donate for me. Painless.
I have no affiliation. Just a happy customer.
the surreal thing was the CEO of Nest emailed and called me. Ordinarily a CEO calling to provide customer service would be great, but this guy was a jerk, and went on and on about what a stupid decision I was making. The customer service folks were nice and helpful, but it would be better for the company if CEO just hid in his office and didn't talk to customers.
That said: I have friends with Casper and Tuft & Needle mattresses - they all seem pretty great
If you find a substantial seeming coupon that's valid then that's a major positive feeling that encourages completing the purchase.
Anyway, the other mattresses I bought for my dwelling in Toronto was from Queensway Mattress Warehouse across from Ikea in Etobicoke. Double size that is completely organic cotton with individual coils with a thick pillow top and box spring for $600 CAD. It is the best mattress I have eve purchases in my life.
My primary dwelling in DFW has mattresses that cost 3 times as much and are half as comfortable. I have come to realize that there are only 2 or 3 companies that sell mattresses in the USA and that is why they are so expensive. Total ripoff in America when it comes to mattresses.
Casper doesn't seem like anything special since anyone can buy from China and mark it up and sell it in a market like the US for a big profit since there is no competition really.
Casper just has good marketing.
http://www.thefoamfactory.com/mattress/memorymattress.html
Will sell you the foam to size, as a mattress or a topper, in different densities, etc.
I've bought their memory foam mattresses and latex toppers, I thought they were fine.
Casper: "we’ll send a courier over to remove the product from your home and either donate it to a local charity or have it recycled." (https://casper.com/faqs/returns-exchanges/tell-me-more-about...)
Tuft & Needle: "Instead of shipping it back to us, we'll work together with you to donate the mattress to a local charity or non-profit organization. Upload or email us a scanned or photographed copy of your donation receipt and we'll process your full refund. If no charity is available nearby for donation, we'll arrange a 3rd party pickup for the mattress." (https://www.tuftandneedle.com/faq/#category:3)
I have. I bought a Casper bedframe and I didn't like the height of the bedframe, so I opted to return it. Casper sent some guys from GOT-JUNK to pick it up from my apartment and refunded me. No haggling on the phone either
Good marketing, not so great of a product.
Now it seems the market is all about overpriced mattress stores with sleazy salesmen or start-ups selling fabric covered foam.
MattressFirm was even worse. They wanted over $1000 for mattresses that felt like junk and were $500 elsewhere. Sleepy's was great before they were bought by them.
https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/nat...
https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/ftc...
I really don't understand the benefit - if you ever move in your sleep then you will be uncomfortable.
$1027 delivered + removal of old mattress.
I don't know if this is the case here, and it's difficult to assess this even with side-by-side testing in a showroom. What you really need is years worth of data from genuine reviews.
As this article indicates, genuine reviews are hard to come by.
Zinus is 30 days. Majority of the others are 100 days to 1 year.
great SEO at the time, probably still is.
the moral of the story is that this article is probably affiliate marketing for sleepopolis and leveraged buyouts
I'm not saying anything is untoward.
I'm just saying that when someone mentions how many hours they slept on a mattress I can immediately see a sales rep or marketer pattering. Also reminds me of when audiophiles talk about their kit.