Yuliana Martinez (25) and Louis Orellana (20) from Los Angeles California.
Yuliana Martinez
Yuliana Martinez and Louis Orellana returned their old mattress to Costco for a full refund.When the associate saw the mattress was in good condition, she quickly processed the return.The whole return process was very simple and took roughly five minutes.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Yuliana Martinez (25) and Louis Orellana (20) from Los Angeles California, about returning their used mattress to Costco. It has been edited for length and clarity.
Not long after buying our house Yuliana and I were looking to get new furniture including a new bed and new mattress. As we considered buying a new one, I wondered what we’d do with the old mattress that we had bought from Costco two years prior.
It was then I found a video on TikTok which discussed Costco’s generous return policy. The store will accept any used mattress as long as it is in good condition. We weren’t exactly sure if it would work, but we decided to try it out.
It was seven o’clock at night and we wanted to see if Costco would in fact accept our old mattress
I remember it so clearly. Without a pick up truck, Yuliana and I decided to fold the mattress in half and place it in the backseat of our car. The mattress hardly fit and the door was just barely closing, but we made it work. Then we made the drive to Costco.
By the time we arrived, it was about 20 minutes before closing. As we entered the store, we accidentally dropped the mattress on the floor three times. Each time that happened, we would just pick it back up, wipe it off and continue our way to make our return.
So many people stared at us
When we finally got to the cashier, she laughed a bit, but didn’t question it. It seemed like she had seen others do it many times before.
When making the return at the customer service register, the whole process was very simple and quick. It took roughly five minutes.
After showing them our mattress, the associate looked up our membership to see if we bought it from Costco. From there, they checked to make sure the mattress was in good condition. When they saw that it was, they quickly processed our return.
To our surprise, we got our full refund back which was a total of $200
We learned, when making a return at Costco you can either get your money back as store credit, or they can refund the money back onto your credit card.
After making our return, Costco provided us with store credit. This worked for us because we knew we would be purchasing another mattress from them later on.
When we shared that we were returning our mattress on TikTok, we got some pushback
Some of our viewers were upset and many said we were cheating the system. Others stated we should be embarrassed for making a return like this one.
But here’s the thing, it’s a giant corporation. We never thought we were hurting anything by using this policy. In fact, we’re already keeping this mattress in good condition, just so we can return it in the future.
Costco did not respond to a request for comment.
If you have ever tried a store’s return policy and would like to share your story, email Alyshia Hull at ahull@insider.com.