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Casper sued a mattress review site, Sleepopolis, for writing negative reviews of their products. Casper then settled the lawsuit by taking over Sleepopolis. The

Casper sued a mattress review site, Sleepopolis, for writing negative reviews of their products. Casper then settled the lawsuit by taking over Sleepopolis. The site now posts only positive reviews of Casper's mattresses. https://www.fastcompany.com/3065928/sleepopolis-casper-bloggers-lawsuits-underside-of-the-mattress-wars https://www.fastcompany.com/3065928/sleepopolis-casper-blogg... I would take any reviews of Casper's products with a grain of salt.

onlyrealcuzzo 7y ago
Mattress reviews are notoriously fake. I would take any mattress review with a grain of salt.
- Spivak 7y ago
  Not to get too meta but undermining reviews is also a tactic used by companies to manipulate sales because if you don’t trust any reviews but still have to make a decision you’re going to go with a “safe” “established” brand which usually means whoever has the most mindshare.
  - awalton 7y ago
    I see how that argument would work for Sealy, Simmons and Serta. I don't see how this would work for Casper or any of the other no-name mattress-in-a-box company.
    - TylerE 7y ago
      Given the amount of advertising most of these companies (especially Casper) they're hardly no-name.
    - adjkant 7y ago
      For younger people who want easy choices I have 100% seen this lead people to default to Casper. I send around the article on their practices regularly due to this, and buy my mattresses off Wayfair mostly based on price and basic sanity checking. Right now I have an incredible 14 inches of Queen memory foam I got for $400 that's incredible to sleep on. The brand? A no name. What I've taken away from the mattress craziness is that if you exclude the fancy things like temperature adjustment and sleep number stuff, most basic mattresses come down to basic material and then secondly firmness. As long as you get those two things right they kinda all seem to be the same.
    - saaaaaam 7y ago
      I’ve never even heard of those first three. I don’t even know if they are mattress companies. I’ve heard of Casper.
      - Kye 7y ago
        They're some of the biggest mattress companies. If you haven't heard of them, you probably don't live in a market they operate in.
  - et2o 7y ago
    Can you recommend an unbiased site then
    - commoner 7y ago
      Consumer Reports is non-profit and purchases all of the products it tests. Its revenue comes from subscriptions and grants/donations, not advertising or commissions. https://www.consumerreports.org https://www.consumerreports.org Some U.S. public libraries offer access to Consumer Reports for free with a library card.
      - fnord77 7y ago
        > commissions sadly, consumer reports now gets money from purchases through amazon affiliate links
        commoner 7y ago
        Thanks for the correction. You're right. I would still place more trust in Consumer Reports than in for-profit review sites, but that trust has declined.
    - kyshoc 7y ago
      Sleep Like The Dead[0] is a fantastic, independent site for mattress reviews that relies more on quantitative data[1] than commentary. [0]: https://www.sleeplikethedead.com https://www.sleeplikethedead.com [1]: https://www.sleeplikethedead.com/mattress-reviews-casper.html https://www.sleeplikethedead.com/mattress-reviews-casper.htm...
    - icpmacdo 7y ago
      I trust The Wirecutter https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/casper-mattress-review-an-honest-assessment/ https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/casper-mattress-review-an-...
    - debian3 7y ago
      https://www.themattressunderground.com/mattress-forum.html https://www.themattressunderground.com/mattress-forum.html That’s how i found a mattress that is still like new after 6 years of usage (and I’m extremely satisfied). And no, none of the “big” brand. Here a rule of thumbs, avoiding a brand that start by “s” is already a good start. Then there is a few more to filter out.
  - xwowsersx 7y ago
    Used by BIG companies* is your point, right? That's interesting and makes sense.
- aquadrop 7y ago
  I would take the whole mattress industry with a grain of salt.
- xwowsersx 7y ago
  Does the same apply to reviews on YouTube? There are some channels dedicated to mattress reviews (as funny as that seems).
lxmorj 7y ago
They’re thugs.
joering2 7y ago
Thanks for pointing that one out! I had no idea. I was literally less than a week from purchasing two Casper mattresses - one for my family one for my parents. I bailed. I also told my sister to return hers since she's still in the refund window. She told me it wasn't nearly as comfortable as she thought but they gave her hard time with refund. They asked her to either pay return fees which are north of $300 or find non profit that would accept. I'm taking matters in my hand. Its sad.
hurricanesugar 7y ago
Relevant HN discussion and further details about Casper’s relationship with sleepopolis.com: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15321807 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15321807
syntaxing 7y ago
Mattress/politics is really shady. Purple tried to sue this YouTube blogger that was complaining about the mysterious "secret formula" powder that Purple used prevent the plastic sticking. I ended up getting a Leesa since it was the most reputable and haven't done anything shitty.
- icelancer 7y ago
  The backstory here is a bit more complex. The "powder" is entirely safe and the blogger was spreading disinformation while also running an incentive/referral site of their own while being connected to a competitor (GhostBed). Whoops. https://www.legalreader.com/ghostbed-vs-purple-mattress-lawsuit/ https://www.legalreader.com/ghostbed-vs-purple-mattress-laws... https://nonbiasedreviews.com/was-honest-mattress-reviews-brought-down-by-purple/ https://nonbiasedreviews.com/was-honest-mattress-reviews-bro... etc.
- gurkendoktor 7y ago
  Mattresses are so notoriously shady that one popular new brand in Germany is literally marketed as the "anti-cartel mattress". Of course, the top Amazon reviews are full of people calling it a scam. (I have one and it's, well, tolerable.)

onlyrealcuzzo 7y ago

Mattress reviews are notoriously fake. I would take any mattress review with a grain of salt.

Spivak 7y ago
Not to get too meta but undermining reviews is also a tactic used by companies to manipulate sales because if you don’t trust any reviews but still have to make a decision you’re going to go with a “safe” “established” brand which usually means whoever has the most mindshare.
- awalton 7y ago
  I see how that argument would work for Sealy, Simmons and Serta. I don't see how this would work for Casper or any of the other no-name mattress-in-a-box company.
  - TylerE 7y ago
    Given the amount of advertising most of these companies (especially Casper) they're hardly no-name.
  - adjkant 7y ago
    For younger people who want easy choices I have 100% seen this lead people to default to Casper. I send around the article on their practices regularly due to this, and buy my mattresses off Wayfair mostly based on price and basic sanity checking. Right now I have an incredible 14 inches of Queen memory foam I got for $400 that's incredible to sleep on. The brand? A no name. What I've taken away from the mattress craziness is that if you exclude the fancy things like temperature adjustment and sleep number stuff, most basic mattresses come down to basic material and then secondly firmness. As long as you get those two things right they kinda all seem to be the same.
  - saaaaaam 7y ago
    I’ve never even heard of those first three. I don’t even know if they are mattress companies. I’ve heard of Casper.
    - Kye 7y ago
      They're some of the biggest mattress companies. If you haven't heard of them, you probably don't live in a market they operate in.
- et2o 7y ago
  Can you recommend an unbiased site then
  - commoner 7y ago
    Consumer Reports is non-profit and purchases all of the products it tests. Its revenue comes from subscriptions and grants/donations, not advertising or commissions. https://www.consumerreports.org https://www.consumerreports.org Some U.S. public libraries offer access to Consumer Reports for free with a library card.
    - fnord77 7y ago
      > commissions sadly, consumer reports now gets money from purchases through amazon affiliate links
      - commoner 7y ago
        Thanks for the correction. You're right. I would still place more trust in Consumer Reports than in for-profit review sites, but that trust has declined.
  - kyshoc 7y ago
    Sleep Like The Dead[0] is a fantastic, independent site for mattress reviews that relies more on quantitative data[1] than commentary. [0]: https://www.sleeplikethedead.com https://www.sleeplikethedead.com [1]: https://www.sleeplikethedead.com/mattress-reviews-casper.html https://www.sleeplikethedead.com/mattress-reviews-casper.htm...
  - icpmacdo 7y ago
    I trust The Wirecutter https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/casper-mattress-review-an-honest-assessment/ https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/casper-mattress-review-an-...
  - debian3 7y ago
    https://www.themattressunderground.com/mattress-forum.html https://www.themattressunderground.com/mattress-forum.html That’s how i found a mattress that is still like new after 6 years of usage (and I’m extremely satisfied). And no, none of the “big” brand. Here a rule of thumbs, avoiding a brand that start by “s” is already a good start. Then there is a few more to filter out.
- xwowsersx 7y ago
  Used by BIG companies* is your point, right? That's interesting and makes sense.
aquadrop 7y ago
I would take the whole mattress industry with a grain of salt.
xwowsersx 7y ago
Does the same apply to reviews on YouTube? There are some channels dedicated to mattress reviews (as funny as that seems).

lxmorj 7y ago

They’re thugs.

joering2 7y ago

Thanks for pointing that one out! I had no idea. I was literally less than a week from purchasing two Casper mattresses - one for my family one for my parents. I bailed. I also told my sister to return hers since she's still in the refund window. She told me it wasn't nearly as comfortable as she thought but they gave her hard time with refund. They asked her to either pay return fees which are north of $300 or find non profit that would accept. I'm taking matters in my hand. Its sad.

hurricanesugar 7y ago

Relevant HN discussion and further details about Casper’s relationship with sleepopolis.com: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15321807 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15321807

syntaxing 7y ago

Mattress/politics is really shady. Purple tried to sue this YouTube blogger that was complaining about the mysterious "secret formula" powder that Purple used prevent the plastic sticking. I ended up getting a Leesa since it was the most reputable and haven't done anything shitty.

icelancer 7y ago
The backstory here is a bit more complex. The "powder" is entirely safe and the blogger was spreading disinformation while also running an incentive/referral site of their own while being connected to a competitor (GhostBed). Whoops. https://www.legalreader.com/ghostbed-vs-purple-mattress-lawsuit/ https://www.legalreader.com/ghostbed-vs-purple-mattress-laws... https://nonbiasedreviews.com/was-honest-mattress-reviews-brought-down-by-purple/ https://nonbiasedreviews.com/was-honest-mattress-reviews-bro... etc.
gurkendoktor 7y ago
Mattresses are so notoriously shady that one popular new brand in Germany is literally marketed as the "anti-cartel mattress". Of course, the top Amazon reviews are full of people calling it a scam. (I have one and it's, well, tolerable.)