| Is
there a warranty?
Each mattress set has a warranty. Most carry a
10-year, prorated warranty for manufacturer's
defects.
By
definition a warranty is the manufacturer's statement
that the product will be free from warranted defects
in materials or workmanship for the warranty period.
This is different from the useful life of a product.
The useful life of most innerspring mattresses
is 10-12 years.whereas premium latex will last
twice as long. Some manufacturers choose to lengthen
the factory warranty in an attempt to gain credibility
with consumers. Responsible manufacturers understand
that they have an obligation to be completely
honest with consumers. Using the common sense
approach, it is not hard to see that "lifetime"
or 20-plus-year warranties are inflated and unrealistic.
Many companies issuing such warranties have not
been in business as long as their warranty.
·
The consumer and, most salespersons generally
misunderstand warranties of mattress products.
Warranty means the product is expected to give
service for a specific length of time under normal
circumstances. It does not mean the product will
give the same level of service during that time,
for all products wear out and must be replaced.
· Warranties are used to protect the consumer
from products that break down long before a reasonable
use has been derived; again under normal conditions.
· Most mattress salespeople use the warranty
as a means of closing a sale and, are often misleading.
Warranties above 15 years, and as high as 30 years
can only be associated with very expensive mattresses
made with the most expensive components. There
are very few mattresses that can claim a 20 year
warranty and any claims of warranties above that
are not only misleading, but in my opinion fraudulent.
· Several years' back all major companies
went to the 10-year maximum warranty program.
The variable, within the warranty on different
products, being prorated and non prorated portions.
Thus, as the consumer moved up the ladder in quality
and price a greater portion was non-prorated.
One of several reasons for trying to uniform mattress
warranties was to combat small off brand mattress
manufacturers from promoting longer warranties,
which in the consumer's mind meant better quality.
|
