So which one of you wrote the M and S piece in the Mail then?

[badietbuddy]

Eh? I thought it was very good as it happens, I think they need a complete overhaul, especially with underwear. I am not a peculiar size, so why do none of the bras fit??

ooh, it's a good article in the DM! The world must be coming to an end...

Seriously though, I agree with most of her points, especially the bra-fitting service which is completely shite. I was measured as a 36AA - the cups nowhere near held everything in and the chest band had clear space between it and me. Needless to say I didn't buy it, just went back to my usual 34B (was technically a 35AB but you just can't get bras in that size!) I have no clue what size I really am now as have just stopped bf'ing but I certainly won't be going to M&S to "find out"!

i go to a local bra gaff or buy from Figleaves.

I was in the Brent Cross branch a few weeks ago and it was hellish. God knows how much worse it will be closer to Christmas.

Far too much stuffed in the racks and too many racks as well. I struggled to get around the shop and I am able-bodied and was without dcs. I was trying to find some clothes for baby relatives for Christmas and couldn't see a thing I liked (or if I did it was out of stock in the size I wanted). I came home and did an on-line order instead....

There is a large newish out-of-town branch near me and that is far better - more spacious to move around and a lot better in terms of stock availability. I think one of the problems is that because M&S have been around for so long a lot of their shops in prime locations are actually too small for the wider range they now have

Yes, I agree about the bra fitting. I am another Bravissimo customer now, after being an M&S gal since I was still stuffing the bra with tissues.

I was in Dublin recently and the sales woman not only put the coat that I bought through the till twice, she also forgot to remove the security tag. I am such a spendthrift that I did not even notice until I tried to leave the store and the alarm went off.

That's a great article

The thing I used to like about M&S is if you wanted a skirt you went to the skirt area now there are so many bloody "collections" you have to trawl around the whole bloody shop to look at skirts which is just irritating and more likely to give up in exasperation than spend more.

True. They have Per Una, Classic, and another new one, can't even remember the name.

Back to the bra issue. Why do the 'bras of a certain size' have to be in a seperate area? I find it so disheartening to look at the pretty stuff they have in smaller sizes (36E isn't really that big is it??!) and then have to trundle off to the 2 racks of ugly bigger stuff they have in the corner. imo, they should make all of them available in all sizes, I think they'd do a roaring trade.

M and S gives me panic attacks, I never know whether I am shopping in the right section; ie old lady section, middleaged mum section, young trying to be trendy but conservative lady.........

I go into cold sweats in case I am seen in the wrong bit holding a pair of comfortable slacks and even more worrying, I always remember when I finally leave that actually I've never really liked their clothes anyway....

Badietbuddy
Go to Bravissimo. I am betting that you are nowhere near 36 back size.

mmelindt, I have recently lost a fairly substantial amount of weight and cut right back on breastfeeding, so have gone from about a 38G to what I think is a 36E. Certainly the band feels right, and the underwire sits where it should. It's the style of M and S bras I find so disappointing. I dread to think what they'd measure me as

please don't change the white chocolate cookies

they are sooooooooo good

She's absolutely spot on. Well done Leah.

And the new chappy would indeed do well to have a search through the Mumsnet archives. We have regular threads bitching about M&S on here, and I always read them (sometimes start them) nodding and agreeing with all the negatives people are saying.

It is a very good article. I do hope M&S take note.

Leah Hardy is the MNer who did the Daily Mail thing "on Mumsnet this week" or whatever it was that caused much upset. Don't know if her posting name (or the one I remember from ages ago) is meant to be a secret or not, so shall keep quiet.

Well done Leah, if you are reading this.
And i would like to say, i dont mind mnetters doing the MN view out on media. Its good the review of majority is written down as one piece. Iyswim.

Going out on a limb here I think its all rubbish apart from the Limited Collection which is actually surprisingly good and I'm a Topshop girl at heart.

Our M&S is quite big and has all the "collections" - the new one is Indigo, and I have bought a nice shirt from it (had to get it online though, they only had 8s and 18s...) My least favourite things about it though are:
A) They put the grumpiest people on the customer services/returns till. Once you make your way to the front of the queue (if you can manage to wait that long and not die of boredom before it's your turn) they behave as if you have stolen the item and are now pulling a fast one, even if you have the receipt. I took a cardi back that had got a hole in it after I'd worn it once. They took it off me, then said they couldn't find it on the till so I couldn't order another one, which is what I wanted to do. I said I'd have it back then, and stich the hole up. They wouldn't let me - they said because I'd handed it over, it was no longer my property! I wrote a letter of complaint about that one...
B) The sodding bra measuring service. They measured me as a 40B. I am a 36E.
C) The cafe. The coffee and cakes are nice. My kids love the gingerbread men, but it takes so looooooong to get served and takes 3 people to make one cup of coffee, whilst gossiping. I stood in the queue once, listening to two members of staff going on about the baby who was crying, and saying, loudly, how embarrassed they'd be if that was THEIR child. For all they knew, it was MY child, and I could hear everything they were saying.

OK, rant over. Sorry. Need a

The cafe is fab, except the cupcakes.
They should be sued under the Trades Description Act for their cupcakes, they are truly minging.

Agree their bra measuring service is awful - post-bfing they measured me as a 40C. In Bravissimo I'm a 38FF.

Oh yes that's right on the money - and in the DM as well!

That's so true about the racks and racks of size 22s and never a 10 or 12 in sight.

Also the hideous frills on per una.

Also yyy the bra sizes - I wear a 32GG and have not a hope in hell of finding one in M&S. Oh I wish!

Liking those high platform red shoes mmmmm

Have just read the article - what struck me was that Leah really wants them to be John Lewis (and why not) - I was in one yesterday and the kids clothes are just fantastic but they couldnt get away with that hike in pricing...

Leah has written an excellent article.

I am 36 with 2 DCs - a generation ago someone of my demographic would, almost certainly, be shopping at M and S.

Per Una is a joke.
Limited Collection can have the odd good piece.
Autograph is OKish
Classic is a bit frumpy.
The bra fitting service is shite.
The staff are grumpy/surly.
The lighting in the changing rooms would make a supermodel paranoid about her cellulite.

Hopefully the powers that be at M and S will take note and make changes.

The lighting makes me look vile - so nothing I try on looks good ever. I wrote to them about it but they sent me a patronising reply

I must confess Leah adn I chatted about that article before.. and i said i wanted it to be as reassuring yet as edgy as Jl can be sometimes.

You have some type of OCD about M&S DD I don't know how you have the patience with it