Hello, Well, I contacted the company I bought the pump from (Express Yourself Mums, so they should know their stuff) and told them that the tubing was too big for the connector so they sent me a replacement which is exactly the same as the one I have. So the answer appears to be: yes, you are supposed to ram it in. On the plus side, all that ramming seems to have damaged the plastic a bit so now it's easier to get in. Once you get over all that, the pump itself is really good. I don't understand the design logic at all. It's definitely not a matter of the tubing plugging firmly into each socket, as some people have described. Mine only goes halfway in, through force. My sister has a slightly older pump and its tube connectors are different to mine, and plug in normally. I didn't contact Medela itself, but hopefully I'll get around to it at some stage. Fuschia and hellosailor: sorry, I tried to reply to your PMs but your mailboxes are full!