rev:text
| - I hesitate to leave this review because I really wanted to like this place. Nice bras, in my size, what's not to love! Not much else needed for me to like you and give you five stars.
But my most recent experience there left me frustrated. I came in knowing my size and how a bra should fit, and wearing something very well fitting already. I worked with the owner (hi there- I know you're reading along!) But that didn't seem to translate to the bras being delivered to the fitting room that fit me and I had to try many many bras on to find just one thing that worked. They claim to have a custom sizing system they use, but they either didn't know how that relates to standard UK sizing, or didn't want to make the connection for me. All the size tags were cut out of the bras I tried on so I felt helpless to use my own extensive knowledge of fitting to figure out why things weren't fitting, and the owner didn't seem to be fitting me consistently well despite seeing me in all the bras and me telling her what was wrong fitwise with each. I had the impression that if I hadnt known what I was doing, had a lot of patience, and my bra that I came in wearing to compare to, I would almost certainly have left with an ill-fitting bra.
I did make a purchase- a bra I am very happy with, so that was exciting! However, I would like to be able to order more bras from this brand now that I know they fit, but unfortunately the size tag has been cut out, so I can't easily do that. I specifically asked the owner about what size had been cut out and she didn't seem to want to tell me, though eventually I think maybe she did. I did also get home and discover that the bra I bought was priced at double standard retail price.
I understand it's hard to compete with the online world as a local boutique and I want local boutiques to stick around because I do like to try things on, see things in person etc. so I'm happy to put my money where my mouth is and pay a surcharge to shop in person. However, the business model of disempowering your customers so they feel helpless to go anywhere else needs to be re-examined. Maybe instead of the current system, contours could charge a fitting fee of $50, to be refunded with purchase, and refunded if they don't have anything well-fitting? Personally I would feel a lot better about shopping there with something like that than this situation where I don't even know the size of the bra I spent twice normal retail to buy. I do hope the owner rethinks this issue because I like nice bras and I like trying them on and I like supporting local businesses.
|