Verified Company
Stearns and Foster Doesn’t Stand Behind What They Sell
My review is out of complete frustration and disappointment with Stearns and Foster and their failure to stand behind what they market as a premium product. Roughly 9 months ago, I invested over $4,000 in a Stearns and Foster Lux Estate mattress, expecting top-tier quality and long-lasting durability. Sadly, the product has not lived up to those expectations.
During a recent move to a new home, one of the mattress handles ripped off — something that should never happen with a so-called “luxury” mattress. This was not caused by misuse; it was clearly a defect in the product’s construction. When I filed a warranty claim, I was shocked to learn that handles aren’t covered under Stearns and Foster’s warranty. Let that sink in: a part of the mattress that is essential for safely moving it is not even covered. That alone speaks volumes about how little confidence the manufacturer has in their own build quality.
Hoping Stearns and Foster would take ownership, I reached out directly. Unfortunately, I was met with the same dismissive response I had already received from the retailer. Stearns and Foster refused to take accountability and passed the issue off to Mattress Firm’s corporate warranty department — pushing responsibility back onto the seller instead of standing behind their own product.
In the end, all I was offered was a 50% credit toward a replacement — meaning I’d have to spend another $2,000 just to fix a problem caused by poor craftsmanship. That’s not a solution. That’s a slap in the face to a paying customer.
As someone with over a decade of experience in retail management, I know that companies can — and should — make exceptions when a product is clearly defective. Instead, Stearns and Foster chose to hide behind the fine print rather than honor the premium image they promote. Telling a customer “we’re sorry this happened” without actually doing anything meaningful to make it right is nothing more than empty PR talk.
This was my FIRST and LAST time purchasing from Stearns and Foster. A company that charges thousands for a mattress but doesn’t stand by the basic integrity of its product is not a company I will ever support again.
For anyone considering a Stearns and Foster mattress — BUYER BEWARE.
Date of experience: 25 August, 2025
Date of experience: 25 August, 2025
Worst mattress ever!
Buyer Beware: Stearns & Foster Does Not Stand Behind Their Products
I purchased the Stearns & Foster Estate Firm Pillow Top mattress less than seven months ago, expecting a premium product and premium support. What I received instead was a deeply disappointing experience that I feel obligated to warn other consumers about.
The mattress developed a tear in the cover—a defect I discovered while changing bedding. This was not due to misuse or abuse. The mattress has been protected since day one by a 5-inch thick topper, so it has not been exposed to friction, weight, or wear beyond normal, responsible use. Despite this, Stearns & Foster refuses to repair, replace, or stand behind the damage.
Even worse than the denial itself is how the company handled the issue:
• No one from their executive team has responded to my direct outreach—despite my repeated messages.
• The few staff who do respond have been patronizing, dismissive, and robotic in their communication.
• They refused to offer any advice or guidance when I asked how to prevent the tear from worsening.
• Their repeated refrain is that because the damage “doesn’t affect structural support,” it’s not covered. That’s a loophole, not a warranty.
Let me be clear: this is not a luxury product and this is not a company that believes in customer care. Once they make the sale, your chances of getting any meaningful help are over.
If a cover tear on a luxury mattress within 7 months of purchase isn’t considered a quality defect, what does that say about the materials used? Or about how little faith they have in their own craftsmanship?
I feel cheated, and I would never purchase from Stearns & Foster again. If you’re considering one of their products, proceed with extreme caution.
Matthew
Purchased Sterns Foster King Lux Estate Luxury memory mattress May "24. By October '24 the sagging became obvious at over 2". This is our second Stearns and Foster mattress. The first one we purchased a queen size Euro plush back in 2009, and it is now in our guest bedroom. It still feels nice and comfortable just like the day we bought it. This new one must be built completely different because we are not heavy people. My husband is 5'10" at 160lb and I'm 5'6" at 135lb. For the mattress to show sagging so early in its life would mean that it's not going to age well at all. When we noticed the sagging at first, we didn't quite know what is going on, but as the time went on, we realized that the foam portion is not recovering back, and the indention became obvious. It's now over 2" and at night, it feels like your body just naturally wants to roll right into that indented spot. Warranty took over 40 days to approve. They are charging $175 fee for handling and expect me to purchase a new mattress from them, pay for it in full, and then they will refund once they receive the original one back. Seems unreasonable and should just be a simple swap under warranty. Way too many caveats that leave for Sterns Foster to tackle on additional charges just like the undisclosed handling fee of $175. Warranty is warranty, and should not cost a customer anything, especially when the mattress is only 6-month-old. I'm more concerned about the quality issue of this brand in general considering that this is a $4,000 retail priced mattress and it's experiencing sagging from a less than average weight in such a short time. I would not purchase this brand mattress again and would steer any potential customer to consider other brands.
I was told that Stearns and Foster was one of the best mattresses made. I bought the pillow top since I was having problems with my previous mattresses. After having the Stearns and Foster mattress for a couple of years I am not happy with it. It cost me a lot of money which I could not afford. My comfort at night was important so I purchased the mattress. I still have hip and shoulder pain.
This was THE WORST purchase of my adult life. I've always had a full size bed, and I was overjoyed to have my first "big girl" bed - and I was 46 years old. After the first week, I began to "fall" into the center sag - and I weigh 103 lbs. I've tried everything - even supporting the center with 2x4s. I have chronic neck and back issues, and I have never been in as much pain as I was sleeping on over $2000 of garbage. I saved for over 2 years to buy this bed. Highly dissatisfied and would return it if I could.
Sags in less than a year, and we would like to get our money back. We purchased it at Sit-n-sleep. We did not buy the foundation, but why would it be great at first, then sag after six months...? Also, we do have a base, but not one from Stearns and Foster. Therefore, how can their base be better than the one we have?
They delivered the mattress, obviously took my old one, I don't have any other mattress now. So I had to go buy another one. Because I received from Stearns & Foster...A dirty, torn, sagging, creaky mattress. I immediately called and was told they would pick it up at no charge, then they said I was going to be charged, now they say I'm not going to be charged!!! WTH. I have been waiting 21 days for someone to come pick it up....All I get from the "escalations team" of customer service is that they will "make it a priority". TO HELL WITH THEM....I've since contacted the AG of my state and my credit card. THIS COMPANY SHOULD BE SHUT DOWN, THEY ARE HORRIBLE!!!
I had one c and it was phenomenal back in 1980s. My less than 2 year old mattress is GARBAGE. I was expecting the same quality but boy was I wrong!! I could copy and paste ANY of these bad one star reviews, and echo the sentiments of every customer. They sell SUB-QUALITY MATTRESSES & defective product, clearly not what it was once. I will never purchase another one as long as I live (or SAMSUNG). I want to FULL REFUND-for this one. It’s hard to believe that I spent so much time looking for a great mattress for my new condominium to wind up with his garbage. I did better when I ordered Beautyrest from HSN having never seen it; lasted longer and was more comfortable than this less than two-year-old $$$$ Stearns & Foster. Please save yourself the money and don’t make this mistake as too many of us all have. Heed the warning‼️
I could cry that my Stearns & Foster Samantha Faith mattress that I had for 12 years was finally sagging and I had to get a new one. I am getting PTSD from this new model Stearns & Foster Lux Estate Medium that was supposed to be comparable. I returned it once and a furniture tech is coming next week for this replacement Mattress I purchased from Mattress Firm. I think the first one they delivered was a plush and not medium. I sank so deep in it at night I could not crawl out while half asleep and repositioning myself. The medium is also sagging in the night and I end up slanted in the morning. If you move around you need to wake up to get out of the indent. This did not happen in the store when I tested it. I wake up with back pain every morning. I hope they correct this for me as it was over $2,000.
I purchased a Stearns and Foster lux estate pillow top medium firm queen size mattress for $3300.00 two months ago. It is a 2024 model. The middle of the mattress sag so bad and I feel the spring hitting my back. I never had back pain before this mattress. I have been trying to resolve this issue for weeks with the distributor and getting nowhere. Distributor is working with the factory rep and all they are doing is asking me send them photographs. I have already send them 15 different pictures in last two weeks. This mattress has a 10 year warranty and it is only little over two months old. I have had mattresses under $1000.00 ten times better than this. Would this ever get resolved, waiting to see. I would never recommend anyone to buy their mattress.
Bought the lux for $3k. Had to return it back in two months under the comfort clause. Got the firm and doing the same thing again in the middle after a month. Sinks in the middle like sleeping in a dent. Terrible. Terrible product. I would like to start a class action against Stearns & Foster. I can buy a 1K mattress and get better sleep. They mail a stupid string kit but with the plush tops this will never work for the consumer. They are selling defective mattresses.
On February 12, 2023, my husband and I picked out the Stearns and Foster Lux Estate 16 inch Medium Euro Pillow Top Mattress in a Queen Size after testing it out at The Mattress Firm in Dale City, VA. We purchased and paid for the mattress in full that day. It was scheduled to be delivered on February 18. When the mattress arrived, the driver alerted me that the factory plastic had been ripped off the bottom of the mattress during transit, and it had gotten soiled. He also said it looked like something heavy had been placed on the mattress. I immediately notified the salesperson at the Dale City, Virginia Mattress Firm store. She told me to accept delivery, but to note the problems with the driver, and she would arrange for a replacement, which I did. The replacement was to be delivered the next week. However, the night before, the warehouse called me and said the second mattress had been damaged in delivery from the manufacturer and could not be delivered. I again coordinated with the salespeople at the Mattress Firm to schedule another delivery for March 1. Well, this time the mattress was sealed in the original factory plastic, but it had about a quarter to half dollar size yellow/brown stain on the top, so I refused the mattress. After deciding to request a full refund, a different salesman convinced me to try at least one last time and gave me an additional discount. Well, last night, March 8, the mattress was delivered. It had the worst stitching job of any mattress I have ever seen and it had two small snags/holes on the top with stuffing exposed. I showed the driver, and he took pictures. I noted this on the delivery paperwork (digitally) as well. I should have refused shipment, but at about 7:45 to 8 pm I was exhausted and did not think clearly and was just tired of the whole process. The driver left. So after looking more closely at the mattress and seeing that the stitching job was bad in places on all sides and that the snags were worse than I first realized, I decided to call The Mattress Firm this morning, March 9, and request a full refund. Well, both salespeople who were familiar with the situation were off today, so I talked to a third man, who apologized but was not helpful at all. He suggested I call back tomorrow and request the return/refund. I am planning on doing that. I have also reached out to two people at the HQ for Sealy/Stearns Foster/Tempurpedic and informed them that in my opinion they have a major quality control issue at the factory that needs corporate level attention. Although The Mattress Firm salespeople were nice and tried to be helpful, the bottom line is that I have a second or third rate mattress that I need to return that I paid a big price for, and I have now lost faith and confidence in the Stearns and Foster brand. Although I use a mattress pad, I am afraid that if I keep it that the stitching will unravel around the whole top of the mattress and the company will not honor the warranty, and I will be stuck with it. Plus at this price point, I am actually angry that it was made so poorly and delivered to a customer in that condition. I will see if corporate at Stearns and Foster gets back to me to offer any assistance or show any concern. I am not holding my breath but will update this review if they do. I did take a video and numerous pictures to document all of the issues shortly after the mattress was delivered. It should not be this hard to purchase a mattress and receive a first quality product when the product is regularly priced at over $3000. It is very disappointing and frustrating to say the least. Unless Stearns and Foster reaches out, this mattress goes back, and my mattress search starts over again, but I know which company I will not be purchasing from in the future. The company states that its master craftsmen are trained for 6 months and personally hand stitch and then sign each mattress. I cannot believe anyone would have signed this mattress, but he/she did.
For years I've been sleeping on S&F mattresses, and so have family members. Time to buy new ones. I was stunned to find out that if you purchase from S&F directly, they charge more than any other retailer for their product. It is supposed to be just the opposite. When asking S&F about this today, their idiotic response was, "we offer a warranty". So does everyone else who sells them! If your goal is to throw your money away, go to Stearns & Foster!
Stearns & Foster Hurtson Estate Luxury Cushion Firm: Top pad of mattress does not match floor model at Raymour and Flanigan, Horseheads, NY, at all. Floor model top was full of soft loft; mine feels like tight polyester. Floor model covering felt like very soft, like jersey cotton, or the way Tencel is described -- softer than cotton; mine feels slick, shiny, even scratchy, like plastic. Also, feels like sleeping in a hammock (month #1). Big dents when I'm in it -(130 lb). Normalizes when get out of bed, so level does not show sagging. Further, sent in info for the $200 rebate -- nothing. Sent in info for the warranty -- received no confirmation. Horseheads, where I bought it, does not have a tech, so the tech came from Binghamton and felt the floor model there -- useless. No one would come feel the Horseheads floor model vs. my mattress. S&F really does not care about your mattress or experience. $3000 down the drain to the CEO.
Purchased an Estate mattress for over 3k. Was great for the first year, then quickly started to decline. I thought investing this kind of money into a mattress would get me a good 10+ years. I would’ve even been accepting with 5 years honestly. I’ve had two mattresses in my entire life that were substantially cheaper. My first mattress was probably $500 and lasted from age 5-19. Replaced it with an $800 mattress and used it from age 19-24 when I moved out of my parent's house lol. Neither of them were even close to as bad as this Stearns and Foster. Bought additional warranty and they still won’t help. So so soooo bad. Please don’t buy this brand.
I purchased a Brand New King Sized Stearns and Foster Pillow Top mattress for over $3,000 and it Sags in the middle causing me lower back pain and awful tossing and turning at night. The Company has all kinds of Loop Holes in their Warranty and so far they will not Honor the Warranty. DO NOT BUY anything from Stearns and Foster.
I’m a 125lb 5’2” Female single sleeper. Purchase a S&F McKee mattress with confidence this firm mattress would last me over 10yrs! Five years later experiencing sag down the middle. Not good especially for a single sleeper. Can’t sleep on sides as I roll into the middle. Edges are the only place that I can find what’s left of any firmness but sleep with slant towards middle. My bed frame had great support which wouldn’t be cause for this mattress defect.
Spent a fortune a year ago on this firm mattress - since purchasing it - horrible low back pain and my husband is having neuropathy in his arms. It says in the middle and we aren’t large people - worst mattress I have ever owned and it’s only a year old. I will file complaints with government agencies as well as file a lawsuit if they try to tell me there is nothing wrong with this mattress - one would think for almost 2,000 dollars that this would not happen- whoever engineered this mattress - bad design - it’s super heavy - maybe it collapses under its own weight - I will not let this go because it’s affecting our health and we are seniors.
Our experience is nearly identical to other folks who, like us, made the terrible mistake of purchasing a Stearns and Foster Lux Estate “pillow top” hybrid California king mattress. We bought it Mattress Firm. We discovered how bad our first one was and had them deliver a replacement. The 2nd one was just as bad so we “traded up”. It is a lengthy story so to “speed it up a bit” we ended up spending $5600.00 on their best mattress within this category of mattress. Like the previous others the mattress sagged downwards on the side that my wife sleeps on. It created so much back and hip pain that she couldn’t sleep more than 4 hours a night. We had the store manager and well as “Stearns” technician examine it and they couldn’t, they said, find anything wrong. The tech from Stearns suggested we get a blanket and fold it over until we had raised the mattress about 2 inches higher the length of the bed to compensate for the slant. Now my wife weighs a whopping 107 lbs at 5’ 3” tall so her weight wasn’t a factor. My side of the bed was actually worse. The edge of the bed was so broken down that I couldn’t sit on it. I actually fell out of bed several times hitting my nightstand and damaging my lamp and various other pieces not to mention the bruises I sustained. Every time I visited the Stearns warranty website or viewed comments from other people with the same issues I became so disheartened that I didn’t follow through and file a claim. It isn’t the $80.00 fee they charge to send one of their warranty people out to look at it but I’ve never had to pay a company to check a defective product before. That, and the experiences of people who did and rarely, if any, received the “defective” product judgment and a replacement mattress made me feel like “what’s the use!” Even if we got a replacement I think we’d only be getting the same “piece of junk” like we did on the previous two occasions. I never did my due diligence before buying because we has owned a Stearns and Foster mattress many years before and it was a quality product. Of course that was before the company sold out and merged and began cranking out the inferior products g they call mattresses. Times are tough for most folks today and as seniors on fixed incomes we are no exception. Together, with all the health issues we have to deal with and a mattress that has made our spines feel horrible, it would seem that the only option we have left is to go mattress shopping again. One thing is certain, it will not be at Mattress Firm and may our eyes never gaze upon another Stearns and Foster product again. Take our advice and stay clear unless you’re willing to spend tons of money on a really terrible product with a warranty that isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.