Total Pillow – A Marketing Review
One of the latest products to hit the as-sold-on-TV market is something called the Total Pillow.
Is this a scam, or does it look like an honest product? Let’s take a look and see how it’s presented to us consumers.
As it states in the commercial, the Total Pillow is basically a 5-in-1 pillow that can be used in a variety of ways. Whether people would actually use it that many ways is a different story. The important thing is that it can be used in a variety of methods, and that alone can be a good selling feature.
The TV commercial starts out by going for people who suffer from neck aches, sore shoulders, or “a throbbing lower back.” It doesn’t matter how you may have injured yourself, just that you suffer from pains in common areas of your body. The commercial on the website then jumps to a scene illustrating how a simple adjusting of the neck while sleeping can greatly aid your posture and rid yourself of problems.
Total Pillow – www.totalpillow.com
And just how did that person adjust her neck on the regular pillow? Did she buy one of those expensive memory foam pillows or mattresses?
Nope. The Total Pillow can do that and more!
The commercial then goes on to show how the round pillow can twist and form a variety of shapes to support a few different sleeping or resting positions. It can be used in bed to help support your neck, in bed to better support your knees and keep your lower back aligned, while sitting in a chair to help support your back (upper and lower) or neck, or, as its best feature, it can be used as a travel pillow for catching some sleep on an airplane, in a car, on a bus, etc.
After going through a lengthy demonstration on the various uses, the commercial shows the obligatory customer reviews (all positive, as usual) about how well the people (four women, one man) like how the Total Pillow supports their head, how it’s so soft, and how easy it feels to fall asleep while wearing it. After the customer reviews, we get another brief demonstration about how the Total Pillow can solve almost every ache and pain you may have while sitting upright or sleeping.
In addition to receiving the Total Pillow, it’s noted that the company is also throwing in a free compress pack. Nuke it in the microwave or throw it in the freezer to have extra heat or cold while resting. We’re briefly shown how it fits inside of the Total Pillow.
My concern here is that the pillow looks fairly thick. The further away that a compress is used from the sore muscle or stiff joint, the less effective that it works. When you put the compress inside of the fancy sleeve and then in the inner rim of the Total Pillow, can you still feel any heat or cold from the compress?
Compresses can be very therapeutic when used correctly, but as far as this commercial goes, it almost looks like the company is trying to sweeten the deal for the product but doing more harm than good.
After showing the compress, the commercial basically ends with the buy-one-get-one-free deal. The one minor detail is that you’re still paying extra postage and processing for the “free” Total Pillow and compress.
For a grand total of $35.98 you’ll receive two Total Pillows, two compresses and two fleece covers for the compresses. It’s stated that if you’re not satisfied, you send them back for a full refund ($19.99, not the $15.90 you’re paying for postage and processing plus whatever it costs to mail it back to the seller).
The main problem that I see with the Total Pillow is that the pillow tries to do everything.
I seriously doubt that many people suffering from neck pains while sleeping are going to spend the $35 and change for this pillow when they can get a real memory foam pillow in the $30 to $50 range.
The same may be true for those always on the go and needing a travel pillow. Travel pillows that wrap around your neck can commonly be found in the $15 to $25 range. Plus, most of the real travel pillows are more compact and easier to carry around the airport terminal or in the car. No matter how you fold it, the Total Pillow still looks pretty large and bulky in the commercial.
The only part of the commercial that actually looked useful was using the pillow to help support the back or neck while sitting in a chair. My only concerns there are the thickness of the pillow and how well it can retain its shape after daily usage.
But for that one use I’m not sold on spending $35.98 on a mail order item when I can just to a local store and find a small pillow for a significantly cheaper price.
Total Pillow is being marketed as a 5-in-1 pillow, designed to accommodate several types of back, shoulder or neck problem while sitting or sleeping. In addition, it can be folded and used as a travel pillow.
The real questions ask how well the product works in supporting the weight of an average person, how easy it is to transport, and how long it maintains its shape before it’s time to buy a new one.
When you combine the “low” price, multifunction of the pillow, and FREE (“free” after paying an extra $7.95 in p&h) extra pillow and extra compress, this offer almost seems too good to be true. But once you take a moment and really look at the product, people may come to a different conclusion.
One minor thing to point out is that it appears that the Total Pillow is being sold through the Fosdick Corporation. Over 1,120 complaints were filed to the BBB against this company in the past 36 months, with the majority of complaints being for billing issues, refund / exchange issues, and sales practice issues. The Total Pillow may actually be a fine product, but the company associated with it has a less-than-stellar history.
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For more information about the Total Pillow, please visit the company’s website, www.TotalPillow.com
Total Pillow is a registered trademark.
RellimZone.com is not affiliated with Total Pillow.
Do NOT order from this company online. My daughter placed an order for me as a surprise. It was. The total product cost for 1 pillow/compress w/free set and 2 free eye masks was $39.98, but the shipping was $38.75! On top of that, there is no way to adjust the order once you know what the shipping is going to be. The Web site says it will ship in four to six weeks, so I went online and got the confirmation and order number to get the summary. The page showed that the order was being processed with a 2-4 week delivery time-frame. I called to cancel the order only to be told it had shipped. I asked to speak to a superviser and was told that they were all “busy helping other representatives.” This is a total scam and should be avoided at all costs!
Ouch! Sorry to hear about that. I’m sure it’s no coincidence that many of these as-seen-on-TV companies have real shoddy ordering systems that do not show you the final price until AFTER you give your credit card information, and of course, there’s basically no cancellation at that point.
I have heard of some people calling their credit card company and getting them to cancel the order, but that seems to be hit-or-miss depending on the credit card company and time between initially ordering the product and calling to get it canceled.
DO NOT BUY THEM!!! The people reviewing these pillows should note the rip at the seams right away and leak beads all over the place. Total Pillow will refund pillow but not freight. Freight for 4 pillows was $33 – they are crooks and I want everytone to know not to buy them!!!!
Thanks for letting us know about quality issues with the Total Pillow.
I had Total Pillow experiences similar to those of both Judith and Tom. I did not have the ability to adjust the order after learning about the shipping charges for the second “free” pillow. Also after you order there are many unsolicited offers for unrelated products that are difficult to get off the computer screen – that alone made me worry about what I had gotten into. When the pillows finally arrived the plastic bag holding one of the pillows had a few loose beads in it. When I opened it beads began to pour out of a torn seam. That same afternoon I received a hard sell telephone call from the company trying to sell multiple unrelated items. I could hear countless voices in the background – apparently a crowded phone bank. To add further injury the pillow tag seems to indicate that disposal could be dangerous – and then the web address to contact for information does not exist. A bad experience in many ways.
Big scam!
They double the shipping costs and you only know it at check out! So you pay for a supposedly free extra pillow. It is cheaper to buy 2 at any regular stores. Do not ever buy through this website
I bought the pillows, too, and I can attest to the fact that you don’t know the astronomical shipping charges until the transaction is a done deal. But the main problem for me was all the associated items. They automatically enroll you in Budget Savers, Privacy Matters, and Best Benefits. They start charging you $24.95 or $29.95 once a month right away. So the pillow could end up costing nearly $100 if you’re not vigilant about your account and call these places to cancel.