Online Mattress Nothing Like Described? The ACL Gets You a Refund

You bought a $1,100 mattress online. The website said “medium-firm”, “hotel quality”, “cooling technology”, “no sagging guaranteed”. Six weeks in, there is a visible dip where you sleep, it feels like a sponge, and you wake up sweating. The company’s response to your refund request: “Our 100-night trial requires you to try it for at least 30 nights first” (you have), then “the sag is within our 2.5cm tolerance”, then silence.

Their “trial” terms don’t matter. The law does.

Your rights don’t come from their trial policy

A “100-night trial” is a marketing promise on top of your legal rights, not instead of them. Under the Australian Consumer Law:

• Section 54 – goods must be of acceptable quality. A mattress that sags in six weeks is not durable.
• Section 55 – goods must be fit for any purpose you told them about. If you said “I have a bad back and need firm support” in their quiz or chat, they are bound by that.
• Section 56 – goods must match their description. “Medium-firm” and “cooling” are descriptions. If they aren’t true, that is a breach.
• Sections 259 and 263 – for a major failure, you choose refund or replacement. Sagging plus not matching the description is major.

Beat the “tolerance” argument

Companies love to say a 2cm dip is “normal”. Put a straight edge (a broom handle, a spirit level) across the bed and photograph the gap with a ruler. Also photograph the marketing claims on their site. If their own page says “no sagging”, a 2cm sag is a broken promise no matter what their warranty booklet says.

Beat the “trial conditions” argument

Trial rules like “must use a mattress protector”, “must keep the box”, or “returns only within X days” cannot limit your ACL rights. They can limit the goodwill trial. They cannot limit s 54.

Steps

• Photos: the sag with a straight edge, the tags, the order confirmation, the product page.
• Email once: “This is a major failure under ss 54, 56, 259 and 263 of the ACL. I elect a full refund. Please arrange collection within 7 days.”
• If you paid by card, lodge a chargeback for “goods not as described” in parallel.
• No refund? Letter of Demand.

Your rights against an online mattress brand

These companies run on reviews and returns data. A formal Letter of Demand naming the ACL sections and the tribunal is a signal that you are a customer who will cost them more to fight than to refund. A written demand gives them a clear deadline and a record if you need to go further.

Sleeping in a hole because a company’s fine print told you to is not a thing you have to do.

Claim Done drafts your Letter of Demand for $49. Done in about 5 minutes. You approve it before it is sent.