Warranty Training
What is Covered Under Warranty?
For other MBA Portal products, please contact customerservice@mattressbyappointment.com.
For Malouf claims, please reach out to Dale and his team.
Managing the Potential for Product Issues Before Checkout
There are a few things you can keep in mind during each sale that should help to reduce the likelihood that your customer will experience issues with their purchase:
- Be strategic with your inventory. Try to sell mattresses on a first in, first out basis, so that your oldest piece of a certain model goes out first, based on PO or manufacturing date.
- Decompress any unsold compressed and rolled mattresses within 3 months from manufacturing date to avoid problems with deflation that can turn a happy customer into a sad one within 24 hours of the sale.
- Size matters. Be mindful of the use and weight that a mattress will be exposed to. If you are selling a primary bedroom mattress to an average to above average sized customer, avoiding certain models will mitigate the risk of body impressions.
- Sell mattress protectors. Encourage your customers to buy a mattress protector to protect the mattress from stains that would void its warranty. A Protector is an easy ticket addition that will save you both heartaches later if something goes wrong. Stains void warranties.
- Sell in sets. Mattresses need to be supported by foundations, adjustable bases, or platforms. Old box springs that your customers may want to reuse may not be supportive enough depending on the condition, age, and construction. Even if they are support enough, suppliers tend to use a mismatch as a reason to quickly deny a warranty claim based on their written warranty cards.
We will always advocate for our dealers with warranty claims but cannot guarantee supplier approvals when there are clear exclusions for defects.
Warrantable Defects Are Proven Through a Process of Elimination.
If for example the mattress is sagging or there is an impression of a deep enough measurement, and the mattress is adequately supported (industry/supplier standard), then there must be a defect causing the sag/impression.
If the BIB mattress is sad and flat (much less than spec height), and the dealer/consumer unboxed it within a reasonable time, there must be a defect in the materials or build.
It is therefore our goal to make sure that your claim form has proven proper handling and use.
Not all imperfections are warrantable defects.
On rare occasion, you or your customer may detect a small cosmetic defect, such as a small tear or smudge from the manufacturing or compression process.
When there is no warrantable defect because the performance of the product is not impaired, the conversation with your customer should be handled with confidence and care.
A mattress protector will cover almost any of these, and the full warranty for manufacturer defects is still intact.
Reach out to your mentor or our dealer support team if need help handling this with your customer.
Handling Potential Warranty Claims
From time-to-time a customer of yours may express concern that their mattress/foundation is not performing as the manufacturer intended, or not right.
It is important that you address these concerns from an informed perspective. Always remember that there are only two sides to the warranty process - the customer and the supplier (the manufacturer, MBA, and you). It is not necessary to advocate for the customer as the process is well documented, fair, and impartial.
Before we begin, please familiarize yourself with the following details:
- A manufacturing and/or material defect within mattresses/foundations are examples of valid reasons for a warranty claim.
- A consumer's actual experience regarding comfort will not be covered under the various manufacturer warranty programs nor will any manufacturer's warranty cover misuse or abuse of product. Any stains on the mattress/foundation will automatically void the warranty in all circumstances.
- Not all submitted warranty claims will be approved. A warranty claim can only be approved if the documentation and submitted photos support the customer's position that their purchase has experienced a manufacturing or materials defect based on the terms on the Supplier Warranty card. In some cases, better photos or supporting material may be requested.
- THE PRODUCT MUST HAVE A LAW TAG OR THE WARRANTY IS INVALID.
Mattress By Appointment's corporate office team works with the various manufacturers to get approvals for your customers' warranty claims where a provable claim can be demonstrated.
In order to receive an approval on your customer's potential warranty claim in a timely fashion, all supporting documentation/photos must be submitted with the customer's completed warranty claim form, and original proof of purchase, in one email to customerservice@mattressbyappointment.com. To make this information collection easier, we have provided an electronic form that you can provide to your customers directly. If you are consolidating the information into one email yourself, please take the time to make sure everything that is required is included, to eliminate time spent exchanging emails back and forth with our team.
Whether you send a claim packet in via the webform (under “Quick Links” at the top of the Portal page) or via email (PDF copies available in the 'Dealer Resources' folder under "Quick Links" at the top of the Portal Page), we will receive it in our Dealer Support ticket system. We will let you know when your customer’s claim has been submitted to the supplier.
We will communicate with the supplier, and let you know what next steps to follow to receive your portal credit for all approved warranty claims. Processing time for complete warranty claim submissions is typically 3 business days.
Once you receive a pending approval from the Mattress by Appointment team, you can replace the mattress for your customer and retrieve the damaged goods.
It is very important that you wait for further instructions from the MBA Dealer Support team to ensure your warranty claim credit is processed as quickly as possible.
We expect that your warranty credit, based on the original purchase price, will be issued within two business days of supplier approval.
We want your warranty claim process to run as smoothly as possible with your customers, so that you can reduce the stress that comes with angry customers. Please seek the advice of your Mentor if you have any pushback from your customers, or if you have any trouble understanding our process, or what would constitute a qualifying manufacturer defect.