What You Need to Know About Returning Mattresses from Koala, Sleeping Duck, Ecosa & More

Apart from competitive pricing, one of the most attractive offerings of buying a mattress-in-a-box is the return policy.

Most popular mattress-in-a-box brands like Ecosa, Emma, Koala and so on offer a very persuasive money-back guarantee: trial the mattress for 100+ nights and if you don’t love it, you get your money back – no questions (although we’ve come to find there are some questions you need to answer).

Don’t Love It? Return It! 

When you spend a third of your life sleeping, you want that mattress to be good. In the past, you’d go to a dedicated mattress store, try a few for a couple of seconds each, decide which one you liked best and go home to actually sleep on it.

The next morning you wake up and realise you’ve made a terrible mistake and the mattress that felt pretty good in-store isn’t actually so good.

And that’s one of the main points of difference and what makes buying a mattress-in-a-box online so appealing – you get about 3 months or slightly more to sleep on the mattress and decide if it’s a good fit. If not, you can get the mattress provider to come to pick it up and give you a full refund.

But otherwise, if your mattress is in good nick and you decide it’s not right for you, it’s simple enough to return it (but does require some effort on your behalf). It’s worth noting most providers will request you sleep on it for a minimum amount of time (two weeks or more) before returning it so you can really get a good feel if you like the mattress or not. 

We put our investigative hats on to find out what it’s really like to return a mattress-in-a-box. Let’s get to it!

How to Return an Emma Mattress 

What the website says

When you want to return an Emma mattress, you can use the online Returns Portal to do so and someone from customer service will be in touch. 

Emma will initiate the return for you, and their charity partners will call you within 8 business days to confirm your preferred collection date and address. 

As soon as Emma’s warehouse confirms the return of the mattress, they will then process your refund. It may take up to 2 weeks or longer for the refund to reflect on your account depending on your bank.

What it’s actually like 

Once you initiate a return on the online Returns Portal, you’ll receive an email from Emma asking for photos to ensure the mattress is in good condition.

One of the mattresses we wanted to return had a few paw prints on it from a pesky Labrador who likes to jump on the bed, and in this instance, Emma would not accept the return.

You can see from the photo below the small amount of dirt present on the mattress, but that was enough for Emma to not accept it.

Our other Emma mattress was in good condition, and Emma accepted the return and sent us this email:

“Thank you for sending us the photos and letting us know that the mattress is in good condition.

We have begun the process to return your Emma product and our partner organization has been informed to proceed with the collection.

The Salvation Army should reach out to you within 5-7 working days to arrange the collection schedule and check any final details so kindly keep your lines open. If you do not hear from them after within the said time frame, let us know so we can follow up.

We also ask that you maintain the current state of your mattresses so we can process your refund as soon as it’s picked up. Once your Emma items have been collected, please reach out to us so we can process the refund of your payment.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. We look forward to hearing from you.”

How to Return a Koala Mattress

What the website says

Koala offers a 120-night trial period for all products – full-price or on sale. The return shipping is covered for all products in metro areas of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, and if you’re returning a mattress, they’ll pick it up for free. 

For all regional and rural deliveries, the 120-night trial is still available, however, the return shipping is not covered. They’ll ask you to return the product back to their nearest returns Koala Customer Order Fulfilment Centre (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth).

To return a Koala mattress, it needs to be bagged for the return, so they recommend you keep the plastic wrap it comes in.

To initiate a return, all you need to do is email [email protected] and provide:

• Your full name
• Order number
• Product

They typically will get back to you the same business day.

If you live in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, they will organise with you a suitable time frame to pick up the mattress. 

When a Koala mattress is returned, it is cleaned and assessed. It is then either sent to the

Koala Second Home – an outlet in Campbelltown Sydney –, or donated to a charity partner, or recycled in carpet underlay.

A refund will be issued once your return has arrived in their warehouse. It can take 3-5 business days for the refund to be reflected on your method of payment.

What it’s actually like 

After sending a return email to Koala, we had to answer a 120-night trial questionnaire. We had to send photos of the state of our Koala mattress, and even though it also had a few paw prints on it, Koala happily accepted the return. 

This is most likely because their products get cleaned and resold, or recycled, so unless your mattress is in a terrible state, it’s likely Koala will accept the return. 

The Koala website asks you to keep the plastic bag the mattress comes in for returns, but they actually ended up sending us a heavy duty bag for us to wrap the mattress in.

Here’s the email they sent us once the collection was booked.

“I have booked the collection of your mattress. There are a few steps to take to successfully prepare that mattress so that our drivers can collect it for you:

Please separate each layer of the mattress, and fold them in half from top to bottom (like a taco! ), and secure them with tape/string/rope – whatever will hold them securely when folded over!

The layers then need to be wrapped in plastic (for OH&S reasons – our drivers aren’t able to handle a mattress that’s been used). 

On the day of collection, please feel free to leave your mattress in a safe spot just outside the front door (if safe to do so), this way our drivers can simply swing past and pick it up! If not, please keep the mattress as close to the front door as possible.

If your Mattress will not be ready for collection please get in contact ASAP and we can rearrange the collection for a day that suits you best.

As soon as that mattress is back in our warehouse, our Refunds Team will go ahead and process that refund for you back to your original payment method (they will send an email to confirm). From there, those funds will be back into your account within the next 3 – 5 business days.”

How to Return a Sleeping Duck Mattress

What the website says

Sleeping Duck offers a 100 night guarantee on your mattress. What’s cool about Sleeping Duck is its free firmness adjustments to tailor your sleep experience as you go. 

The SD mattress is modular, meaning you can change components where needed, without taking the mattress back to a factory by adjusting the mattress firmness in the comfort of your own home.

Sleeping Duck will send you extra padded pieces free of charge from soft, to medium, firm and extra firm to really tailor your mattress to your needs. 

There’s no limit to how many adjustments you can make, but they ask you to try the new firmness for 21 nights before making changes. 

If you try different options and still decide you want to return the mattress, SD offers returns on two mattresses per household. 

What it’s actually like 

Once you get in touch with Sleeping Duck either via email or via the chat function letting them know you’d like to return the mattress, they’ll email you a return form to get the process rolling. They will offer you suggestions to try and make the mattress more comfortable for you, like changing the firmness settings and so on. 

Their mattresses are donated where possible, and once the return form is submitted they will organise a free collection with a local charity.

Sleeping Duck is also pretty easy to return with because if there are any stains on the mattress, they’ll still pick it up and allow you to return it but might organise a collection with a local recycler instead. 

How to Return an Ergoflex Mattress

What the website says

Ergoflex has the shortest trial period of all the mattress-in-a-box providers, but they also have a very easy returns process.

Returning a mattress is free within a 50km radius of the CBD from the following metropolitan locations: Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney and a 30km radius of Adelaide, Canberra, Darwin, Gold Coast, Newcastle and Hobart. Returning a mattress is also free from the Central Coast, NSW. 

They do not offer this service outside of metro areas and to regional NSW (except the Central Coast), regional VIC, regional SA, regional WA, the NT, regional QLD, regional TAS, or any other location outside of Australia. 

From regional areas, a potential return fee of between $100 and $250 may be applicable depending upon where you live. 

Your mattress does not have to be returned by day 30, you just need to instigate communication with Ergoflex within this time. In some cases, if you ask Eroflex for an extended trial, they’ll happily oblige. 

If you’d still like to return the mattress, Ergoflex will organise it for you once you’ve submitted your intent to return. They’ll send out a heavy-duty recovery bag too. 

All mattresses are collected and returned to Ergoflex within 7-14 business days. Upon receipt we refund the method you purchased with, within 24-48hrs. 

Returned mattresses are donated to women’s refuges in the Hunter Valley and Newcastle area where Ergofle is located, or donated to their charity of choice RizeUp to help victims of family and domestic violence. 

What it’s actually like 

Once you email Ergoflex that you’d like to return the mattress, they’ll ask you to send a few photos to ensure the mattress is clean. They stipulate that any mattress that is soiled cannot be returned, and if you do send a soiled/stained mattress to Ergoflex, they’ll send it back to you.

They’ll then send you a recovery bag to start the process. They will arrange collection based on a day that suits you, usually within 24-48hrs of the recovery bag being delivered.

Someone will need to be home for the collection to assist the collection courier if required. If no one is home for collection on the date agreed and collection is futile, a charge of $100 will be deducted from your refund.

– Once the mattress is returned to us, it is inspected and signed off. The refund will then be issued to the method in which you paid for the mattress minus any return costs.

How to Return an Ecosa Mattress

What the website says

Once you’ve slept on your Ecosa mattress or pillow for a minimum of 14 nights, you’re eligible to return it for any reason. When you contact the customer service team, they’ll ask you a few questions and see if they can offer any solutions to improve your experience. 

If they can’t help you, they’ll arrange a free pick-up from one of their charity partners. The main charity is the Salvation Army, who will typically resell the mattress via the Salvos store if it’s in good enough shape. 

Collection of the mattress is completely free. Once you lodge a return request, Ecosa will organise a pick-up from one of its partner charities. Collections can take up to 10 business days, and can only occur during business hours. Once the mattress is collected, you’ll receive a refund. 

While collection is free, Ecosa does say collection addresses with access restrictions or that fall outside of metro and regional cities may require help from you to return the mattress by potentially delivering the mattress to the nearest drop-off location. 

Any mattress that has mould, dirt, stains, smells, or bed bug infestations are no longer eligible for a mattress return or replacement.

The return policy is limited to one return of maximum two mattresses to be returned or exchanged per household. 

What it’s actually like 

Once we emailed Ecosa, they did send a few emails back and forth offering us suggestions to try, but we knew we wanted to return it and they were happy to oblige.

Thankfully my dog didn’t manage to jump on the Ecosa mattress so it was very clean and acceptable for a return. Some online forums have suggested Ecosa is quite strict with the cleanliness of the mattress, including not having any pet hair or any stains.

Ecosa then organised with the Salvation Army to come and pick up the mattress, and then issue us with a full refund. 

Which Mattress Provider Has the Easiest Returns Policy? 

From our experience, we’d say Koala has the easiest returns policy. Koala is easy simply because they accept most mattresses even if they have a little stain here or there. This is because Koala mattresses get cleaned/refurbished to sell at their Sydney outlet. Or they simply get recycled. 

Ergoflex was also relatively easy to return, providing your mattress is in good condition. 

Ecosa and Emma weren’t difficult to return, but they are both strict on the no stains policy, which is quite tricky to avoid and moving the mattress around the floor to unbox or simply move around might mean the edges get a little dirty. Organising a time with the charity partner to have the mattress picked up also takes a bit longer, so you’re waiting an additional period to get your refund. 

Sleeping Duck was simple enough to return, but there was a lot of back and forth with them trying to offer solutions and sending out adjustable firmness pads, which lengthened the returns process. They will also accept some minor stains or dirt, and these mattresses get recycled versus donated to charity.