So, I'm tweeting about bras with M&S. Who wants to tell me which stores have given incorrect measurements?

[WeAreSix]

They have asked which store fitted incorrectly. Apparently they've invested a lot into their Bra fitting and would like to know which stores have incorrectly measured / fitted.

Shall we give them a list?!

Leeds had me in a 34dd nursing bra. Actually 30ff. I think they have a few of my blocked ducts to answer for.

M&S measured me as 36F last week - I am size 12 with big boobs, does it sound like my back would measure smaller than that, I wouldn't say I had a wide back? I was a bit depressed by the bras offered but have 3 month old and breastfeeding so just bought them and think I will try Bravissimo when they've gone down a bit! This was Chester btw.

thecountess, hop over to the other thread as yes that is likely to be wrong. Just trying to keep this one m&s only :)

Edinburgh Princes St - they claimed I was a 34C, I am a 28GG

Liffey valley Dublin fitted me as a 34a. I'm a 32d. That was about 3 months ago.

MrsL the fitter who, at the time fitted me correctly, never even came near me with the dreaded tape measure, she fitted me on sight alone and was spot on. My shape and size has changed since then though.

Ah, yeah, a lucky anomaly then!

The best / most experienced fitters do do it on sight alone. Bit too much to expect that level of expertise from a non-specialist chain but correct fitting with a tape measure and some adjustments made using the 'common sense' fitting indicators really isn't difficult at all.

Leicester city centre. Fitted me as a 40D and the woman told me I couldn't possibly be any smaller as I'm "SO big". Correctly fitted I'm in a 34F. Totally clueless and utterly rude staff, I wouldn't buy from M&S again.

Ah yes MrsL, but you see, M&S describe their fitting service as 'specialist' on their website, so it must be true

Getting a bra fitted properly is essential. Breasts are sensitive to all sorts of life changes, so M&S offer a specialist bra fitting service to keep helping you find the right shape and fit throughout your life.

Silverlink, North Tyneside tried to put me in a 34E. I am a 30 G. Also very matronly. Have given up on M&S for bras.

Oh and when I said the band was loose the fitter said that it should be like that. I insisted on trying a 32 band and she declared it "much too tight but if that's what you want .............". Useless

I can add Huddersfield to the list. Measured by M&S as a 36B, am actually a 32DD

But if the fitters are following the guidelines and measuring in the way they have been trained to do by M&S it is unfair to say that the ladies in the shops are measuring you wrongly. Just because you disagree with their fitting methods doesn't mean the fitters are fitting wrongly by M&S standards does it?

Harrow. They recently fitted me as 38DD/E. I'm a 30H/HH.

False advertising

I've not been in an M&S since left the UK 10 years ago but I learned not to trust their bra fitting long before that. Having worked as a fitter myself (and being perfectly capable of fitting by eye) I find it hard to understand how the hapless M&S employees can't see that the bras a grossly ill fitting.

Mind you, I did buy some perfectly good bras from M&S back in the day. had to be very firm in my banishment of the staff before I was allowed to crack on and fit myself correctly though.

Bath
Was after a maternity bra and was measured as a 36 AA and told they don't make maternity bras with such small cups. Was actually a 32 D

However, I have gone back and sized myself (now several years later) and have some 30 D s (padded balcony style) that fit well, but still a little large in the back, but whenever I look online I can't find 28 backs

That's kind of the point. Whenever it is pointed out to M&S that ladies are being wrongly fitted they blame the individual fitters and say it is an "isolated incident" or similar. So we are trying to show them that it is their method that needs rethinking.

Isabelle - the staff are not to blame, no. It's the M&S system that is wrong, the fitters do as they are taught and that ties in with the system M&S give in their on-line sizing chart.

Unfortunately since the industry standard for making bras change (yonks ago) adding 3 / 4 / 5 to the under bust measurement just results in a bra that doesn't fit.

bodingading put it very well:

....

The method is just completely wrong. It's just blatantly and completely wrong to add 4-5 inches to everyone's back size. It's so weird. It's like Pizza Hut supplying all their stores with strawberry jam instead of passata, while running a national campaign about how 80% of Britons mistakenly eat jam on their pizza, and reprimanding individual delivery drivers for delivering pizza with jam on them.

About 3 or 4 years ago now :

Huddersfield M&S measured me at 36C
My current bras are 32E.

So much better, perkier and I look generally slimmer.

Recently High Wycombe...

I'm a 32F, she tried to tell me I was a 36D.

It seems they are very consistently wrong by the same amount.

Oh yes and don't get me started in how pushy the 'fitter' was!!! She told me I didn't look like a 32 and insisted on measuring me.

The size chart on the website is absurd. I have posted this before but according to their chart, a 46C measures 41.5" underbust, and 41" overbust. So apparently they have a C cup with inverted breasts. Now, barring some sort of accident I don't imagine many women have inverted breasts and if they do they sure as hell aren't a c cup

Good on you NomDeClavier! They'd hate me - I have a strongly flared rib cage and one breast much higher than the other. The result is that I need a band size (sometimes two) smaller than my apparent under bust measurement to get a good fit - is enough to flummox even a specialist for a moment or two.

The M&S Peterborough store told me I needed a 42D, but they didn't stock anything that size. I'm now in a very comfortable 36G, thanks to Bravissimo!