Guidance
A used mattress has more rights than you do.
Open a sealed intimate product and your legal right to change your mind disappears. Open a mattress, sleep on it for a fortnight, and it doesn’t. Both of those are true, and almost nobody knows the first one.
The rule
Under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, reg. 28(3)(a), sealed goods that are not suitable for return for health-protection or hygiene reasons lose the right to a change-of-mind refund once the seal is broken. Intimate products are the clearest case. Break the seal and the right is gone.
This is not the same as faulty goods. If a product is faulty, your rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 survive the seal, and always will.
The asymmetry
In slewo v Ledowski (C-681/17, retained EU law), the court ruled that a mattress does not fall within that exemption. A mattress can be unwrapped, slept on, and still legally returned. Its industry then goes further and adds 100-night trials on top.
A premium mattress: £400–£1,200. Slept on. Still returnable.
A premium intimate product: £47–£116. Opened. Not returnable.
What Britons actually know
We commissioned Find Out Now to poll 2,024 GB adults, 4–5 August 2026.
- 70.7% either didn’t know the rule existed or got it wrong
- 55.5% didn’t know it existed at all
- 15.2% believed the law protected them. It doesn’t.
- It worsens with age: 73.8% of 45–64s, 78.2% of over-65s
Poll of 2,024 GB adults, Find Out Now, August 2026.
The film
This film is presented by a synthetic presenter. The guarantee is not.
What huxi does about it
We ignore the rule. Sixty days. Opened. Used. If it isn’t for you, we refund your money — in cash, to the card you paid with, within five working days. Not store credit. Not a replacement. No forms, no photographs, no phone call.
The catalogue
Questions people actually ask
Can you return a sex toy in the UK?
No, not once the seal is broken, unless it’s faulty. That’s the hygiene exemption in the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, reg. 28(3)(a).
Can you return a mattress after sleeping on it?
Yes. The court ruled in slewo v Ledowski that mattresses don’t fall under the hygiene exemption, and most brands add a 100-night trial on top.
What is the hygiene exemption?
The rule that removes your change-of-mind refund right on sealed goods unsuitable for return on health or hygiene grounds, once the seal is broken, unless the item is faulty. Faulty goods keep their full Consumer Rights Act 2015 rights regardless of the seal.
Does huxi accept returns on opened products?
Yes. 60 days, opened, used, full cash refund to your card within five working days.
What if the product is faulty?
Faulty-goods rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 are unaffected by the seal and always apply.
The hygiene exemption is reg. 28(3)(a) of the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. The mattress ruling is slewo — internet-factory GmbH v Sascha Ledowski, Case C-681/17, retained EU law. Faulty-goods rights arise under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and are unaffected by the seal. Polling by Find Out Now, 2,024 GB adults, 4–5 August 2026. This page is general guidance, not legal advice. Last reviewed August 2026.