She should've got me a 32E shouldn't she, not a 34C...

[gnocci]

So, first bra shopping trip since being out of maternity/nursing bras.

I try on a 34C, back too loose.
I try on a 32D, back great, cups too close together/too narrow so the outer wires on each side were encroaching onto breast tissue.

Now, having read the bra threads on here I am right that a 32E should've been the next option right??

But OH NO NO NO, I got the full on roll eyes, silly girl, youre not a E CUP from the M&S lady who insisted the back was too small and that 34C was the right size.

I swear, if I'd jumped up and down my boobies would've fallen out the bottom!!!

Grrrrr........ Didn't have time to prove my point with the 32E but I am going to go back and try on 32E and then get here to sell it to me. Meh.

They don't like you to be an E cup in M&S. They would prefer if if you were a AA as there are millions of AA bras left in all colours and sizes.

If your arms were as long as an orangutan that would also help them clear done of their stock too.

Yup, all wrong. The fitters in m and s are, on the whole, incompetent!

Oh, and if they suggested a 34 experience on here suggests you should also try a 30 as they are often 2 or 3 back sizes out. They reckon I am a 36. I'm a 30!

Ah, you're bringing back memories...M&S tried to convince me I was a 38B. I lifted my arms and boobs did pop out the bottom! I'm a 32E. When I showed the woman she got all snotty and insisted it was the correct size. She then looked surprised when I bought nothing.

gnocci what are your under bust (holding tape tightly) and across bust (hold tight more loosely) measurements?

M&S are hateful at bra fitting, they delight in being crap and offensive. And yet some of their bras are lovely. It is a dilemma, they don't deserve any custom due to their incompetent rudeness but the product is good.

How is it possible in a company priding itself on customer service and friendliness to have trained a whole parade of detestable bra merchants?

I can just imagine their advice about other items:

• but I can't get my foot into those size 5 shoes, what about a size 7?
• silly girl, no way are you a size 7, the tape measure says those shoes must fit, doesn't matter that you can't walk!

• but this skirt falls down over my hips
• no, tape measure says it's the correct size!

Ridiculous, no? That's the way their "bra fitting" works though..

God, they are shit aren't they? I haven't been back since the horrible assistant was so rude to me when I went in for a nursing bra two weeks after having had twins. Yes you horrible nasty woman, I know my bra doesn't fit - THAT'S WHY I'M HERE FOR A NEW ONE!

Are their bras actually good? I mean, compared to more expensive brands. I am perfectly capable of fitting myself, but have avoided M&S because I assumed the quality of their bras was awful.

Personally I am not a fan, they dont fit me now but when they technically stocked my size it always felt like the straps were in the wrong place for a narrow back. It was like they had decided straps should be positioned x inches from the centre of the bra regardless of back size. Which meant they rubbed around my arms very painfully.

I think for their prices you can get better quality shopping around online- brastop has a massive range at around £14 and amazon had panache bras for £7. Leia has some stunning fauve reduced to about £15.

M&S would prefer you to be an AA cup, orangutan armed, fake sateen vomit pattern print lover. If you are none of these things it basically serves you right

I ended up in tears maternity bra shopping when John Lewis and M&S both measured me and I ended up with answers that were 4 back sizes and 3 cup sizes different!!

I knew they didn't fit and I was tired from walking up and down the shopping centre between them and hot and hormonal and I just sobbed.

I ended up with whatever felt best in Mothercare.

I was so glad when Bravissimo opened a branch in our shopping centre before I got pregnant again and then even they cocked it up and I ended up in tears again but at least they had the decency to apologise and put things right - I've had proper arguments with M&S staff trying to put me in obviously non-fitting bras and swearing they're right!

These days I get fitted in Bravissimo and buy most of my bras from there too. If I need to go elsewhere, I'm at least confident of getting the right size too.

M & S told me I was a 42B. I went to Rigby and Peller and they told me to take the bra straight back. And fitted me as a 38F. Was in M & S with DD1, trying to fit her myself, but interfering lady kept telling me that DD needed a 38B rather than the 34E we were trying. Helpful lady in the next cubicle whispered "There's a Bravissimo down the street." We went there and they got DD1 into a 32G, which did wonders for her figure.

I think their bras are fine, but really, do fit yourself and have some idea of your real size, not your M & S size, when you go in.

I think the reason that they tell you that you are a c cup or below is because only a handful of bras come in anything above a c cup.

I have given up looking in there, it is like looking for a needle in a haystack to find anything in my size (34f/g) that isn't one of those hideous full cup things in the boxes.

Also when I was pregnant with ds1, my pre pregnancy size was 32 e, the fitter convinced me I needed a maternity bra in a size 36f for growing room, stupidly I bought it and no, never actually got to that size, even when the milk came in!

Sorry it was a 36H not f!

M and S told me I was a 40c and after a couple of months wearing that and finding i had to tuck my boobs in 2 or 3 times a day I decided tongetba second opinion in House of Fraser. my actual size is 36ff. i have been wearing this bra size now and will never go back to m and s. they are incompetant and Rude!

I would never go to M&S for bra fitting. Have you tried Bravissimo? They can tell what size you are by looking. No tape measure.

To be fair to M&S, they have that little diagram on the back of the box showing you what size the style comes in. You can see at a glance HOW SHIT M&S ARE

If you are a less than a 32 back, you don't exist. If you are a 32 back, then you better not have boobs bigger than a D cup.
If your back is a 38 or more, you better not have boobs smaller than a D cup.

To be fair to M&S, they have that little diagram on the back of the box showing you what size the style comes in. You can see at a glance HOW SHIT M&S ARE

shattered -

I don't need to repeat - stay away from M&S bras! - do I?

I now go to John Lewis, find them much better than Bravissimo, but obviously everyone's different.
The last M&S bras I bought, fitted them myself, looked lovely, but after a couple of hours' wearing I realised the cups were doung a weird gapey thing at the front.
Not worth bothering with at all - so what if they have some pretty designs?

I'm a 28FF so do not exist in M&S.

Surprised you like John Lewis shotgun, I found them just as bad as M&S!

A new John Lewis opened last month in the next town. I visited last week and was so disappointed to only find 2 bras (Panache superbra and Freya Deco) in my size (30G). The rest of the size selection looked really poor too. I couldn't see many 32s either. Lots and lots of 34Bs, 36Bs, 38Bs, 36As etc. etc.