Is the Nectar Mattress Worth It? The Trial and Forever Warranty Explained

Nectar sells an all-foam mattress-in-a-box with a memory foam top, a year-long home trial and a warranty the company calls “Forever”. Those two promises do a lot of the selling, so they are worth reading closely. This report sets out what published testers found about the mattress itself, what the trial and warranty commit Nectar to, and the two regulatory actions on the record. It covers Nectar’s standard memory foam mattress. We did not test it.

How serious are these problems?

They are matters of fit and expectation. A foam bed that is the wrong firmness for your weight, or too warm for you, shows itself within weeks, and Nectar’s trial is long enough to find out in more than one season. The point to hold on to is the gap between the expected life of the mattress and the language of the warranty, which the next two sections explain.

The 365-night trial

• Length. Nectar says the trial runs for 365 nights from delivery.
• Breaking it in. Nectar’s FAQ encourages buyers to give it the first 30 nights. The Sleep Foundation’s review describes that as a required break-in period before a return. Assume you will be asked to wait a month.
• Returning it. Nectar says it refunds the purchase and works with you to have the mattress donated or recycled. The review says return shipping is free in the contiguous United States.

We could not open Nectar’s full returns terms, so treat this as a summary and read the terms shown to you at checkout. A purchase from another retailer follows that retailer’s policy.

The “Forever Warranty”

Nectar says the warranty lasts as long as you own the mattress and covers defects in construction, materials or quality. The details, as Nectar’s site and the Sleep Foundation’s review describe them:

• First ten years: a defective mattress is replaced at no charge.
• After ten years: Nectar repairs or replaces it, and charges a transport fee that is waived if a defect is confirmed.
• Sagging: an impression has to be at least 1.5 inches deep to count as a defect.
• Not covered: physical damage and normal wear. The warranty is for the original buyer and cannot be transferred.

So “forever” describes the term, not the cover. A mattress that has softened and grown less comfortable over seven or eight years, without a 1.5-inch impression, has worn normally and is outside it. Our guide to what a warranty covers makes the same point about lifetime warranties generally.

Two matters on the regulatory record

• The FTC, 2018. The Federal Trade Commission charged Nectar Brand LLC with claiming in its promotional materials that its mattresses were “Designed and Assembled in USA” when, according to the FTC’s complaint, they were wholly imported from China with no assembly in the United States. Nectar agreed to a proposed consent order barring unsupported claims about where its products are made. That was about marketing, not about the quality or safety of the mattress.
• A recall, 2022. About 700 Nectar Premier mattresses made on two dates in September 2021 were recalled because they failed the federal flammability standard. Buyers were offered a free replacement or a refund, and no injuries were reported. The Premier is a different model from the standard mattress this article covers, and Consumer Reports says a Nectar Premier it tested passed its own flammability screening.

Our article on fiberglass in mattresses explains how to read a mattress label, which is where the manufacturing date and materials are listed.

What to check before you buy

• The returns terms shown at checkout, including any waiting period and who collects the mattress.
• The law tag when it arrives. Keep it attached; warranty claims usually depend on it.
• Your bed frame, since foam mattress warranties commonly require a solid or closely slatted foundation. Check Nectar’s requirement before the trial starts.
• Which model you are looking at. Nectar sells several, and test results for one do not carry over to another.

The second and third points are our own advice, based on how mattress warranties are generally written. If your current mattress is sound and you only want a softer or cooler surface, our mattress topper buying guide covers a cheaper route. We have also looked at whether the Purple mattress is worth it.

How we researched this

This report is based on the Sleep Foundation’s published review of the Nectar mattress, Nectar’s own FAQ and product pages, the FTC’s 2018 announcement and complaint, the CPSC’s 2022 recall notice read as a search excerpt, and Consumer Reports’ listing. The Sleep Foundation is paid commission on mattresses sold through its links. We did not sleep on or test the mattress, and without an owner survey we cannot say how often any of these complaints arises. If Nectar wishes to respond, we will publish its response.