While bra shopping in The Bay recently I found myself hunting for the elusive fit. There were a couple of other ladies there doing the same thing. I said something about this being one of the most frustrating things we ever have to do, and they immediately agreed. One said the same thing I always say: if you do find something that fits they quit making it shortly thereafter and that leaves you with this constant problem of not being able to find a good fit. And yes, I have been professionally sized in the past and practically had to mortgage the house to purchase the product I fit into there. The thing is, I know my size. I have three bras from one brand and two from another and though they are all different styles (because, as I said, they keep changing things). Those are all the same size and they fit well. I had no luck on this particular day. I tried on several that day and several a couple of other times. I gave up and left in disgust.
I like underwire bras but the wires have been replaced in recent years by plastic strips that dry out and break. Warners had one that had a fabric support shaped like an underwire but soft and flexible and best of all, not breakable. It was quite comfortable and fit well. I thought my problem was solved and I could just go get more of those. Nope. I found no sign of such a thing.
I kept seeing this ad for Shapermint. They make bras, among other things and they guarantee they will fit. I kept ignoring these ads because, if I can't find something that fits when I try it on, how on earth will something that comes in the mail ever going to fit, guarantee or not. The ads looked good. The products looked comfortable. I kept dismissing them. Okay, so I admit I checked out the website after a while, and even got to the point where I put something in my shopping cart before shutting down the website once again. At home, another plastic piece broke and I was down to just two wearable bras and getting rather desperate.
An interesting thing often happens when you leave a site with something in your shopping basket. They send you an e-mail to remind you and often offer you a discount code if you use it right away. I went back to the site but once I converted the cost plus shipping into Canadian dollars, I backed out again. Then I got an offer for 70% off and free shipping. Well, hey, I have money in my Pay Pal account that I got for doing some surveys. I decided I would take the chance at losing that found money and buy the darn bra I kept looking at. After all, it's guaranteed to fit (meaning you can send it back and try again, probably at your own shipping expense) and by using Pay Pal, if there was a problem dealing with this unknown company, they are supposed to be good at helping you recover your funds.
The first thing that happened was the free shipping turned out to be for those in the States only so I had another $9.95 USD added to my bill. I left the site again. Then they sent me a discount code to finish the deal that would give me back $7 USD. Okay, so I'm still paying for the shipping but not much. I put the order through. The $7 discount disappeared! I looked around the site for how to reach customer service and found a chat box. The chatter turned out to be the most unintelligent piece of AI I've ever run into so I asked for a human. Oh wow, that worked and I got one!!! She was very nice and once I told her the discount had disappeared, she asked for my e-mail address and checked to see that it was indeed a valid code and applied the discount. But, she said, since it was going through Pay Pal, it could take up to 10 days for the refund to show up. It showed up the very next day and I was pleased with the customer service at Shapermint.
I discovered they had a page on Facebook but when I got there I saw nothing but complaints. People were complaining about customer service, non-delivery, false advertising, and things that didn't fit but had no way to deal with the problem. I immediately thought that my first instincts were correct and I should never have dealt with a company I didn't know to buy an unknown product I cannot get a decent fit for in person. I got in on one of the discussions and mentioned that I often tend to review products and would do so when this one arrived. Good or bad, I'd have something to say. So, here I am.
I had a couple of surprises when ordering but customer service (the live person, at least) was good at solving those. The product could have taken a full month to show up but arrived in a timely manner, well ahead of the end date given. And hey, the darn thing not only fits but is comfortable. It doesn't have an underwire, but the soft flexible band at the bottom does tend to roll up and give me the same sort of support the Warners bra had built-in. Shapermint also supplied an extender so I have now added that and found the best fit for comfort that keeps the band from rolling up. I would happily go back and buy a package of three, but now I'm leery about the delivery problems others have had. Looking into it, I see that while this product was designed in the USA, it is manufactured in China, and sometimes even seems to ship from there. That's likely why they are having problems. I see I could become an ambassador for this company and since I am, personally happy with the product, that might be the best way to get more without worrying I'm just throwing cash in the wind. I think I'll look into that a bit more since I'm already hesitating to try getting another successful order through.
I like the Shapermint product. I like the customer service. Maybe I should not read anything else on the Facebook page and just go put in another order before this style disappears too.
