Hi jjslawmom,
Welcome to the Mattress Forum! 
I’m sorry that your new Tuft & Needle mattress isn’t working out well for you. As you’ve only had it for 4-5 days, it will become a bit more plush as it begins to lose some of its “false firmness” within the first month or so. However, if you decide that you can’t wait that long of if it simply isn’t the best mattress for you, at least you did have the foresight to choose something that does have a good return policy.
Per the Tuft and Needle website:
[i]Is the return process different if I ordered through Amazon?
All returns and customer support questions should go through Amazon’s support within their 100-day trial period. By reaching out to Amazon, they can help arrange for the pickup and refund of your purchase. We’re always here to help with general questions, but they’ll handle all returns or exchanges.
Follow these few steps to begin your Amazon return:
- Go to the Amazon return page at Amazon.com
- Find your item in the list
- Click “Return or Replace Item”
- Amazon will help schedule a removal or arrange return shipping
If your mattress was purchased directly from Tuft & Needle, then we will handle all aspects of your order and you can reach out to us by email, chat, or phone for help with returning or claiming the warranty.
[/i]
You won’t be expected to try and compress the item and place it back in the box.
You may always contact Tuft and Needle directly with any general questions, but the actual return process will have to be coordinated through Amazon.
I hope that information is helpful.
If you’re considering a new mattress after this, the first place to start your research is the mattress shopping tutorial here which includes all the basic information, steps, and guidelines that can help you make the best possible choice … and perhaps more importantly know how and why to avoid the worst ones.
Two of the most important links in the tutorial that I would especially make sure you’ve read are post #2 here which has more about the different ways to choose a suitable mattress (either locally or online) that is the best “match” for you in terms of “comfort”, firmness, and PPP that can help you assess and minimize the risks of making a choice that doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped for and post #13 here which has more about the most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase which can help you make more meaningful quality/value comparisons between mattresses in terms of suitability (how well you will sleep), durability (how long you will sleep well), and the overall value of a mattress compared to your other finalists based on all the parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you (including the price of course and the options you have available after a purchase if your choice doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped for).
Outside of PPP (which is the most important part of “value”), the next most important part of the value of a mattress purchase is durability which is all about how long you will sleep well on a mattress. This is the part of your research that you can’t see or “feel” and assessing the durability and useful life of a mattress depends on knowing the specifics of its construction and the type and quality of the materials inside it regardless of the name of the manufacturer on the label or how a mattress feels in a showroom or when it is relatively new so I would always make sure that you find out information listed here so you can compare the quality of the materials and components to the durability guidelines here to make sure there are no lower quality materials or weak links in a mattress that would be a cause for concern relative to the durability and useful life of a mattress before making any purchase.
Regarding the use of reviews, there are too many unknowns, variables, and personal preferences involved in choosing a mattress for someone else to make specific suggestions based on specs (either yours or a mattress) or theory at a distance that can possible be more accurate than your own careful and objective testing (using the testing guidelines in the tutorial post) which is always the most reliable way to predict which mattress will be the best match for you in terms of PPP (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here). In other words … reviews or other people’s experiences in general won’t tell you much if anything about the suitability, quality, durability, or “value” of a mattress for any particular person (see post #13 here).
Phoenix