Sleep Number Bed Problems

Even though we love our bed, we have had a few Sleep Number bed problems over the years. I can say I have had many nights of peaceful sleep in it, though.

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Sleep Number Bed Problems

First, the Sleep Number bed we purchased came with a loud motor.

Fortunately, since we had tried a bed like it in the store (back in 1995), we knew to expect this. I learned we could let air out of the mattress in the middle of the night without waking my husband.

But if I wanted to add air to the mattress, I needed to do it before my husband fell asleep, so the sound would not disturb his sleep, even though he usually wears ear plugs. (FYI, we have upgraded to the newer motor recently, which works great with our original mattress. The new motor is much quieter.)

(Another update: in 2021 we purchased a new adjustable Sleep Number Bed, a split California King, and the motor is MUCH quieter! And I can even adjust the position of my side of the bed now during the night without disturbing my husband. It's truly wonderful!)




Second, the wireless remote that came with the bed had problems. It used a very expensive, hard to find battery. The remote drained the battery very fast, so we had to replace it a few times per year. And it stopped working reliably after several years, even though we learned to always keep a new battery on hand. I do not know if this was a problem with only our individual remote, or if there were many other customers who had a similar experience.

Our biggest frustration was that we did not call right away to get the remote replaced. As nice and helpful as the salespeople were at the Sleep Number store, they did not tell us the the warrantee on the bed was pro-rated over time. Or at least I don't remember them saying this, if they did.

The bed came with a 20 year warrantee.

We knew that if the company went out of business for any reason, then there would be no more warrantee coverage. What we did not understand until years later was that the percentage of coverage decreased by five percent each year. So now that the bed is about 17 years old, if we need a new part for it, we have to pay 85% of the cost. The Sleep Number company covers the remaining 15% under the warrantee.

So when we needed a new motor for the bed a few months ago, it cost us a couple hundred dollars. We were not exactly thrilled, but since we liked the bed so much, we did replace it. 

The upside to this is that the new motor is much quieter. And it came with an updated remote, which takes inexpensive, easy to find AA batteries. The new remote does not drain the batteries like the old one did. So we are still using the ones we put in when it first arrived.

After writing all this about our Sleep Number bed problems, would I buy a Sleep Number bed again? Yes. It is a wonderful, comfortable bed. And the improved motor and remote make it better than ever. I recommend Sleep Number beds highly. I just would have had more respect for the company if their salespeople had been more open about their pro-rated warrantee up front.

(Update: As I mentioned above, we did buy a new Sleep Number Bed last year after comparing it to other high-end adjustable beds.

Everything about the new adjustable Sleep Number Bed is quieter.

And the new remote controls are optional, you can use a Sleep Number app on your smart phone if you'd like.

I prefer to have an actual remote, so we did purchase those for a small extra price. The new remotes take regular AA batteries, which is very affordable and convenient to replace when necessary.)

So in summary, we have been long time happy customers overall, despite a few Sleep Number Bed problems along the way.














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