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26 Aug 2022

Mattress sleep trials: which brand offers the longest trial period?

A mattress sleep trial could give you the confidence to try something new, but watch out for the fine print

Lisa Galliers

Simba and Silentnight are jumping into bed with Nectar and Eve Sleep by also offering a year-long sleep mattress sleep trial when buying a mattress. But when you take the returns fine print into account, which deal is the best overall?

These sleep trials are some of the longest available on the mattress market at the moment, and are getting on for twice as long as the sleep trial offered by Emma, the most popular mattress brand, according to the latest Which? mattress survey. So, before you head to the bank holiday mattress sales, check out what you need to know about sleep trials.

Need a new place to rest your head? Go straight to our best mattress deals for the bank holiday or read more about the Best mattresses we've tested.

What is a mattress sleep trial?

Sleep trials, commonly offered by online-only, bed-in-a-box mattress brands, allow you to try out a mattress to see if it is the right one for you. If you don't like it, you can return it within the specified trial period. This can be perfect if you want to try a different type from your usual mattress but aren't certain it'll be right for you.

With the launch of their full-year trials, Simba and Silentnight join only a handful of brands to offer such a lengthy try out. Mattress sleep trials from other brands and retailers start from just 30 days.

Unlike mattress warranties and guarantees, which cover faults, a mattress sleep trial lets you do exactly that - sleep on the mattress, in your own home, so you can see if it’s a dream to sleep on or if it will turn your slumber into a sweaty nightmare. If it’s not for you, you can simply return it within the trial period - as long as you abide by the rules.

Which brand offers the longest mattress sleep trial?

Before you head to the shops, or online, check out which brand has the longest sleep trial on offer. We've also given brief trial details below, but don't forget to check the small print to see what conditions apply.

Mattress brand	Sleep trial length	Type of mattress available	Trial details	Mattress warranty
Eve Sleep	1 year	Foam, hybrid	No minimum nights, free delivery/collection, full refund	10 years
Simba	1 year	Hybrid	No minimum nights, free delivery/ collection, full refund	10 years
Nectar and Dreamcloud	365 nights	Foam, hybrid	Try for at least 30 nights, free delivery/collection, full refund	Lifetime warranty, 10-year replacement guarantee
Silentnight (Just Sleep range)	365 nights	Foam, hybrid	Try for at least six weeks, free delivery/collection, full refund	10 years
Emma	200 nights	Foam, hybrid, pocket sprung	Try for at least 28 nights, can swap for a new mattress, higher price difference needs to be paid, no refunds on lower-priced mattresses	Three and five years - depending on the mattress

Got a problem with your mattress? Find out how to return a mattress

Watch out for mattress sleep trial small print

Even putting length aside, not all sleep trials are the same. Some come with a list of terms as long as your night-time snooze, while others are a dream to take advantage of.

Conditions to watch out for can include:

You may have to use a mattress protector.
Only being able to exchange, rather than return, a mattress.
Some brands will refund you, but others will only let you exchange instead and you may have to pay extra for a higher-priced mattress.
Having to pay to return the unwanted mattress.

How to complain if you’ve been misled by a sale or special offer

Do you really need a year-long trial?

You might assume that a full year is far longer than you need to work out if a mattress is right for you. And in some cases, it may be obvious far sooner than this that a mattress is just not cutting it.

But extra-long trial periods do have a couple of advantages:

They let you try out a mattress across all seasons of a year. You may find, for example, that a mattress which feels cosy in winter becomes uncomfortably hot for you in the summer.
A long trial also gives you time to adjust to a new type of mattress, particularly important if you're switching from springs to foam.
If you suffer with back pain, or a sore back, for example, it could take quite a while to adjust to a new mattress, so a lengthy trial can help see if it's better for your back.

Emma, Eve or Simba? The best boxed mattresses

What happens to returned mattresses?

In our latest mattress survey, 5% of mattress owners said they had returned a mattress as part of a sleep trial. But what happens with the returned mattresses?

Emma says mattresses which are returned throughout its 200-night trial period are either cleaned and sold as refurbished mattresses or are donated to charity. Any that are damaged or have defects are properly disposed of.

Eve Sleep told us: '...we either refurbish it for our eBay store, donate it locally or recycle it. If your mattress is recycled, 94% of it will be made into things like dog beds, carpet underlay and car insulation. The other 6% will be used for energy (see ya, fossil fuels). We want to make sure all mattresses get a new lease of life and nothing gets wasted...'.

Simba told us: '...mattresses that are returned - they receive a second lease of life and are either recycled, or refurbished and redistributed through an Ebay outlet'.

Nectar says any old and returned mattresses are donated to the British Heart Foundation to avoid landfill waste, to give the mattress a new home and raise money for the charity.

We've contacted Silentnight, but are awaiting a response.

Need to dispose of your old bed? Find out How to dispose of a mattress responsibly.