If you’ve spent any time on Facebook you know that Facebook is sure that it knows what you need to see/read/do/buy better than you do. After being nagged by suggested posts for eons (possibly less, but it did seem like it was eons) I finally gave in and clicked. Yes, yes… Third Love has the bra for everyone. Uh, huh.
What really got my attention was the Try Before You Buy offer.
Try the bra for FREE for 30 days from when you place your order (you can even take the tags off!). Pay up-front for shipping.
If we don’t hear from you within 30 days of placing your order, we’ll know you love your new 24/7 bra and your card will be charged $68.
If you’d like to make a return, just contact us within 30 days of placing your order. Returns and exchanges are free.
If you choose to return within 30 days, your card will never be charged for the price of the bra.
That actually sounded like a pretty great idea… the solution to the problem of buying a bra online…. How will it fit and can I return/exchange it easily? Because, honestly, no two bras ever fit the same from brand to brand or style to style. Sure, just because you’re one size at Victoria’s Secret doesn’t mean the same size will fit you at Soma. I once bought three bras in the same day from both Soma and Victoria’s Secret… and they were all three different sizes! If Third Love would let me try them on and return/exchange them easily… awesome! Even better if I could try one for 30 days and see if it was really as amazing as they claimed.
I was also intrigued by their Fit Finder Quiz. That sounded a LOT better than being groped by a sales lady in the department store.
First you’re supposed to pick your breast shape from nine drawings. (I asked my husband to pick since I’m usually looking down at my chest…. he was nervous about this whole bra game… were these trick questions? Poor hubby.) Next you were asked if you had any fit issues with your usual bras. And then what size is your favorite bra and how old is it…. and what brand.
The Fit Finder said I should try the 24/7 Classic Full Coverage Bra.
Okay, some qualifying info here…. just so you know how my sizing might compare to yours. I’m five feet tall… so my shoulder spacing is shorter than your ‘average’ ladies. (Shoulder to shoulder and from band to top of shoulder.) I generally wear a 34 D or DD, depending on the bra and brand. (Soma or Victoria’s Secret usually.) I tend to wear medium shirts & dresses.
Okay… back to Third Love. I figured what the hell and decided to give it a shot. I have a drawer full of bras that I hate… what’s one more?
I ordered the recommended 24/7 Classic Full Coverage Bra in a size 34 DD. Sixty-eight dollars seemed a bit pricy… but again… I’ve spent way more on the drawer full of bras that I don’t like…. what if this was ‘the one’? And I was supposed to be able to return/exchange it easy-peasy.
I loved the shoulder straps. The length was adjustable and the strap itself was wider and padded so that they didn’t dig into my shoulder. The band widened as it came around the ribs and up to the cup so there was no spillage at the sides and it didn’t rub under my arms. Everything tapered and widened nicely, not like those ‘granny’ bras that are just wide everywhere. It still felt pretty. And the material was so soft. Buttery soft. I LOVED the bra. Mostly. The band really stretched. I was on the tightest hooks and it was looser than it really should have been. (When you buy a bra it should be on the loosest or middle hooks so that as it stretches with wearing/time you can switch to the tighter hooks and get more life out of it.) I figured that I had time and I’d wear it for a bit and see if I still loved it or if I had any other issues that I’d want to address before trading it for a smaller band size. But…. and this is (somewhat) my fault for not reading the fine print well enough… the returnable-after-wearing bra was the basic 24/7 bra. Not the 24/7 Classic Full Coverage Bra that I’d bought. I think you can see how I missed that… and the ‘try and return’ thing was a big part of their advertising. I was pretty disappointed at that point. I’ve had the bra four months. I like it… but it is defiantly too loose. If you’re planning to order this particular bra I’d recommend ordering a size smaller on the band as it’s very stretchy.
Last month I decided to give Third Love another try after I got an email featuring their new Perfect Contour Plunge bra. This time I knew that I couldn’t wear it and return it, but I could try it on and return it. Easy-Peasy, right?
Well…. sorta. On February 26th I ordered the Perfect Contour Plunge and the 24/7 Classic T-Shirt Bra. I ordered a 34E (which is the same as a DD) in both.
The band on the Plunge was much tighter and didn’t have much stretch to it. I liked it but is was squishing me too much. The band on the T-Shirt Bra was looser than the Plunge but not as loose as the Full Coverage had been. Ugh!
The Plunge does plunge nicely… and the cups are the same soft material as the other bras. The mesh at the top is a bit scratchy, but not horrible and the cups and mesh do seem to be angled magically to keep you stuffed into place comfortably without squishing.
The T-Shirt Bra was nice. The cups are made from the super soft material that I liked so much, but the straps were on the scratchier side. The band doesn’t come up as high under the arms as the Full Coverage Bra and the straps are wider out on my shoulders. It probably wouldn’t be a problem for an average sized person… I just have narrow shoulders.
Both of the new bras were pretty and mostly comfortable…. but both squished me more than I liked. I decided to return both and go up a cup size but keep the same band size.
I went through the return process on the website (easy-peasy) and printed my postage paid return label. Two days after receiving my bras I returned them at the UPS store.
And heard nothing…. no confirmation email… no changes to my account. Nothing. But I did get several emails asking how my return experience had been.
I emailed customer service, both through their website and responding to the customer experience email they sent me. I emailed several times with no response.
Now, I shop online a lot. A lot. My favorite is probably Amazon, so I’m a bit spoiled by their customer service…. but I also know what is possible. And if Third Love wants to advertise their super easy exchanges they should be able to pull of something closer to Amazon’s customer service. At least the emails….. I’ve returned things to Amazon using their prepaid return label and had a confirmation email within a few hours. These bras aren’t cheap and I shouldn’t be left worrying if I’m going to be billed for something that has disappeared into the postal abyss. I’m just asking for an email. I’m even okay if they want to hold the exchange until they receive the bras and make sure that I didn’t tear them up.
It took 30 days from the time I order the first bras until I received the exchange. I only received a response from customer service after 18 days had passed since I’d mailed them back. Their response was basically “sorry, we’ve been busy.”
When I finally received the new bras they fit perfectaly and I do love them.
Would I order from Third Love again? Yeah…. probably. I DO like the bras, and now that I know what size they’re calling me it should be easier to order.
Would I recommend Third Love to a friend? Again… probably. Especially if they’re a difficult fit.
I would suggest that they not be in any kind of a hurry. And possibly to order a couple of different sizes and then just return the ones they didn’t want as opposed to exchanging them for a different size. That’s more expensive up front, but once refunded comes out to be the same cost… then again, if you’re not in any hurry… the return/exchange thing worked. Just really slow.
If you’ve decided you’d like to give Third Love a try, please use my (updated) referral code: https://share.thirdlove.com/x/AEL7Nm
We’ll both save $15 off our orders. (And I’ll try ordering another one of those 24/7 Classic Full Coverage Bras with a smaller band size.) I’d love to hear about your experience with Third Love too!
Mayhem is a huge fan of the Third Love boxes. (I only let her wear the bras that I planned to keep!)
