"Would you buy a mattress and foundation (box spring) online? Sight unseen? You can't lie on it, squeeze it, smell it for 'off-gassing' problems before buying. And what if the mattress company is relatively new -- not a time-honored mattress manufacturer?" Aren't these the questions we all ask ourselves?

So what do we do? We all begin reading the reviews. Turns out that for this particular company -- Saatva -- there are what appear to be hundreds of reviews. You read them and you get uneasy. "Nearly every review is superlative, almost extravagant in its praise for the company and its product! What's going on here? Are these fake reviews?"

I'm an ornery old man. A retired university professor. I really don't like being flimflammed. I'm just like you, dear reader, in this regard.

I read the reviews. I noticed that the great majority were written before the mattress arrived. They were written only on the basis of Saatva's efficient and extraordinarily polite way of handling sales -- before delivery of the product. This set off alarms in me. However, I did find a number of reviews that were "after the fact" -- after the fact of the mattress having been delivered. They, too, were very positive. This encouraged me.

Being research-oriented, I then Googled "Saatva mattress" to find any websites that might have sprung up, bashing them. (Check out Stearns & Foster, for instance. They are hammered in offsite reviews!) Nope, no "bashing" sites for Saatva. This encouraged me.

I then found a video done by a young man reviewing his Saatva experience, including his new mattress & foundation. I watched the video several times. I found him convincing.

I then checked out a local furniture store, and looked at several Stearns & Fosters and Sealys and so forth. I wasn't impressed, either by the mattresses or salespeople. Their mattresses were very costly.

In a leap of faith, I bought a Saatva online. (I was encouraged by their generous return offer, though the thought of returning this large, ungainly object -- repacking it and I presume paying for shipping -- was daunting. I tried not to think about it.)

It arrived yesterday. It arrived in perfect condition. There was absolutely no off-gassing (formaldehyde odor) when I opened the sturdy plastic bag encasing the mattress. I set up the bed -- foundation & mattress -- lay down to test it, and woke up 45 minutes later. Refreshed. Relaxed.

The young man who reviewed the Saatva in the video mentioned, above? He's absolutely right: This mattress is high quality. The tufting. The materials used. The comfort. The evenness of support. The cording around the edges. Excellent!

Back to the hundreds of over-the-top reviews. Unlike 99% of those reviewers, I had the opportunity to experience a screw-up in the process of my mattress being delivered -- that is, the first mattress that was delivered. The mattress that arrived yesterday, in perfect condition, was my second Saatva.

Here's what happened. The company that delivers for Saatva in my area -- let me simply say I wound up rejecting the mattress. The problem wasn't Saatva, it was the delivery company. Of course, I called Saatva to let them know I had rejected the mattress, and I gave them an earful about the delivery company.

This is where things became interesting. "Is this company going to live up to the praise of those hundreds of adoring reviewers," I wondered?

Know what? It did! Saatva busted the chops of the delivery company, guaranteed me a new and different delivery crew (same company), gave me a full refund for the mattress and foundation (even though I kept the foundation from the first delivery: They gave it to me for free!), fast-tracked the manufacture of a brand new mattress, fast-tracked the delivery, called and emailed me repeatedly to let me know what was happening at each step of the way, packaged the mattress in a special cardboard box (to thwart any attempts by the delivery company to screw up, again), asked me to give them a full report on the delivery experience, and then insisted I allow them to give me a discount. Whew!

The only quarrel I had with Saatva is that, after the second, successful delivery, I refused to accept the foundation for free; I insisted on paying for it. And I refused a discount on the mattress. They insisted! I refused! We went back and forth. Finally, I won -- sort of. "Okay, doc," agreed the Saatva manager, "if you're not going to let us discount the mattress and give you the foundation for free, then we're going to waive the delivery fee." I knew I wasn't going to win that one, so I relented, though I grumbled. (Oh, I forgot to mention. When Saatva sent the new mattress, they refused to charge my credit card. Not a dime! "Doc, we're sending the new mattress without charging your card. In fact, we no longer have your card. You call us after it's delivered and after you have decided you like it -- or don't like it -- and if you like it, only then will we charge you for it. Call and give us your credit card. If you don't like it, we will take it back, at no expense to you.”)

I emailed Saatva shortly after the delivery, told them it went splendidly, that the mattress was flawless, and that I had already slept on it and was in love with it. Only then did they take my credit card information -- and that's when we quarreled over whether I would let them discount the mattress, etc.

Let me put it this way: When's the last time you quarreled with a company over them being too generous with you?

No, they didn't pay me to write this review. No, they didn't ask me to write this review. (Should I say that I got the weird feeling that, had the delivery company not shaped up, Saavta would have personally driven my mattress to my front door and installed it on my bed frame -- and refused to take a dime? Yeah, I was afraid they were going to do this!)

Calvin Luther Martin, PhD

I am VERY surprised. I ordered the medium firm mattress from Saatva, when actually I wanted the plush soft one. Initially, I thought I had ordered the plush soft and the medium firm that was delivered was THEIR mistake, so I called them and asked them to deliver a plush soft and take the medium firm away. They arranged to do this, but before they did, I realized that I had made the mistake in ordering the wrong one. I did the decent thing and called them - and low and behold - they STILL changed mattresses for me! BTW I absolutely LOVE the mattress - no more sore hips when I awaken in the morning. Even my husband who likes a firmer mattress, finds that he sleeps very well on this one. No - we don't know ANYONE at this company and in fact never heard of them until I was researching mattresses on the internet. Try them - I think you'll find both the mattress AND the service you love.

I have done a lot of research on mattresses and picked this bed based on the reviews.Please know that the reviews are mostly based on customer service.They have terrific customer service.I bought the luxury firm ,but just like another reviewer posted,after about 7 months I noticed permanent body impressions on my side of the bed. I weigh about 130 lbs and travel extensively,so I have slept in this new bed only haf of the time or less.I thought perhaps, there was a one-time production flaw with the inner coils and called to have it replaced.They immediately replaced.It has been about 3 months now, and unortunately the bed is doing it again.I noticed it earlier now, than the prior mattress, just because I was paying attention to it more now.I sleep in some wonderful hotel mattresses, so coming home to a wonderful mattress is important.While I slept comfortably, I cannot say it is the best for my back with these shift in the impressions and I can feel it in my back.This definitely should not be happening so soon.My chiro even asked me what has changed in the past year that has cause more shift in my back pain.I determined it was the uneveniss of my mattress. It does not happen to me after I have rested in a hotel beds from some very decent hotels all over the world.These hotel beds range in all different firmness, but most are pretty similar to the Saatva. I called customer service and immediately spoke to a supervisor.Although he challenged me on my standards of a bed, at the end, I am getting a full refund.With that said, I think their customer service is excellent.I hoped the bed and it's inner coils performed better in such a short amount of time and sadly disappointed.