what flattens my soda pop (longish read)

by Another Brick Mon Apr 16, 2012 3:31 am

these chindhichor types who think they can fleece you clean thinking you are dumb enough (because you are white collar) to be tricked.

exhibit 1 - this gas station chindhichor robbed me off my 500 rupees when i asked him to fill in petrol worth 2K. he filled in worth 500 from one pump and then worth 1500 from the adjacent pump. no big deal, you would think; after all you learnt in school that 500+1500 equals 2000. started my car, went a distance and realized that the tank was barely half full. met with the owner the next day and complained. he called the attendant who was on duty the previous night, asked him why he used two pumps instead of one and the attendant said that there was no electricity. he was lying (and had now started shaking with fear) and the owner made a remark about his mother's body part because there was no problem with the electricity the previous night. the owner told me that he understood how his attendant tricked me but wouldn't tell me how exactly. 'my father's what goes' i thought and left it at that. the owner let me fill in petrol worth 500 and that's how it was settled.

exhibit 2 - wednesday morning. flat tyre. went to this puncturewala near my place and while he was pretending to detect the hole in tyre, i suspect he slashed the valve with a piece of razor blade (a common trick in pune). he told me that there was one puncture and the valve required replacing (210 INR). i had no time to argue, so i asked him to use the spare tyre and drove to office. i asked him to keep the flat tyre ready in the evening. in the evening, i confronted him and asked him why he slashed the valve. no answer, but a stunned look. then the usual blip bloop blah after he recovered and then outright denial. argued for nearly an hour in front of his customers. finally, he told me to give him whatever money i wanted to but did not admit to his trick. i knew there wasn't anything wrong with the valve because i had the tyres rotated at the dealership 3 days ago and i had not even driven for a minute after i discovered the flat tyre (puncturewala is right around the corner).

these chindhichors grind my gears and flatten my soda pop.

by Guest Mon Apr 16, 2012 3:41 am

Another Brick wrote:
exhibit 1 - this gas station chindhichor robbed me off my 500 rupees when i asked him to fill in petrol worth 2K. he filled in worth 500 from one pump and then worth 1500 from the adjacent pump. no big deal, you would think; after all you learnt in school that 500+1500 equals 2000. started my car, went a distance and realized that the tank was barely half full. met with the owner the next day and complained. he called the attendant who was on duty the previous night, asked him why he used two pumps instead of one and the attendant said that there was no electricity. he was lying (and had now started shaking with fear) and the owner made a remark about his mother's body part because there was no problem with the electricity the previous night. the owner told me that he understood how his attendant tricked me but wouldn't tell me how exactly. 'my father's what goes' i thought and left it at that. the owner let me fill in petrol worth 500 and that's how it was settled.

LOL. my dad used to own a petrol pump (my younger brother owns it now). i know how this is done and i know what must have happened. the owner is hand in glove (as is the weights and measures dept.). trust me, these petrol pumps are fleecing you every time you go for a refill. in your case he fleeced you too much in one go.

by Another Brick Mon Apr 16, 2012 4:22 am

Huzefa Kapasi wrote:
LOL. my dad used to own a petrol pump (my younger brother owns it now). i know how this is done and i know what must have happened. the owner is hand in glove (as is the weights and measures dept.). trust me, these petrol pumps are fleecing you every time you go for a refill. in your case he fleeced you too much in one go.

but how? i think i should have stopped them right there when they started using the second pump and checked the dial to see if they really filled in any petrol or not (next time, i will do that to expose them). this pump was the one that had display on both the sides and had two nozzles, one for each grade. there were two-wheelers on the other side of the pump while cars on the side where i was standing. this arrangement looks fine since cars occupy more space and use one pump while two-wheelers use the adjacent pump (from the other side). i think what must have happened is that while these thieves gave me an impression that they were filling the tank of my car, they were actually filling the tank of a two-wheeler standing on the other side (from the pump that was meant for cars). they had shoved a nozzle in the car tank, sure, but i think it was a decoy. they were using the other nozzle from the same pump on the other side.

i know most of their tricks, but this was entirely new to me. their other tricks involve distracting you with some stupid coupon or form-filling so that they can start with a number much higher than zero.

there was a time when i went only to Shell because they are more trustworthy and of better quality, but these days they are selling it at 79.XX in pune.

by Guest Mon Apr 16, 2012 4:36 am

see, they have different pumps (dispensing units) for two wheelers and autos and different pumps for cars. the pumps dedicated to autos dispense the exact amount (autos take 1 or 2 litres in one go and can catch you for they are conscious and will raise a racket). the pumps dedicated to cars have their calibration tampered so that they dispense less (meter reads 1 litre but you got 0.9 litre).

he probably started dispensing you from the auto wala pump, realized his mistake, and then switched to the car wala pump. and the car wala pump calibration was out of whack that day -- enough to make you sit up and notice.

as a general rule, you get less petrol in the cities and less diesel on the highways (for what you pay). as far as possible (for it is not always possible), i try to get my petrol refill in a highway pump because petrol is not their breadwinner and the meters are not tampered with.

if you want to be smart, always insist they give you petrol from the two wheeler or autos pump.

also, you can demand a filter test (a test to check petrol adulteration) and calibration test. every pump is required to have the equipments for these tests and are obliged to honour your request. if they refuse and if you complain to the oil company, they will be hauled over coals.

by Another Brick Mon Apr 16, 2012 4:50 am

useful tips those, HK. must remember to refill on the highways whenever possible.

saala, in india, everyone tries to rob you. petrol pump wala, puncturewala, autowala (faulty meter), subziwala and several others.

once, i was at the mumbai airport and was negotiating for a prepaid cab (not the one you get with the help of the airport staff) for pune. we agreed on 2K. it was night and dark in the nook we were standing in. i gave him 4 notes of 500 each. the guy pulled off a trick immediately, and said that i gave him 3 500 notes and one 100-rupee note. very clever and in a fraction of a second. i was taken aback, paid him 500 and took back 100. however, i had this feeling that i had given him four 500-rupee notes. the same thing repeated at the same airport the next year and i was convinced that i was tricked both the times. must be their usual trick.

now i give them one bill at a time while i count it loudly. fuqers.

by Another Brick Mon Apr 16, 2012 4:53 am

btw, HK, you never got complaints from the customers about these wrongdoings?

by Guest Mon Apr 16, 2012 4:53 am

Another Brick wrote:aala, in india, everyone tries to rob you. petrol pump wala, puncturewala, autowala (faulty meter), subziwala and several others.

what flattens my soda pop (longish read) 3077217049

by Guest Mon Apr 16, 2012 4:58 am

Another Brick wrote:btw, HK, you never got complaints from the customers about these wrongdoings?

my brother never messes with the auto and 2 wheeler walas -- so it is live and let live. the amount of fleecing that goes on with cars is not an amount they can notice so easily. yes, there are complaints. the immediate action is to placate the customer before he escalates it and that works most of the times. if it escalates to police or oil company level, then you placate the cops or oil company. ultimately everyone is placate-able.

one of the biggest problems is adulteration. my dad's petrol pump was caught in that mess once. adulteration is not our fault -- it's the tankers that engage in adulteration while ferrying it from the oil depos to the pumps. in my dad's petrol pump case, the petrol was adulterated with aviation fuel! can you believe that? there was an enforcement bureau case and a lot of agony (dragged on for years -- arrests). but even that passed.

by Guest Mon Apr 16, 2012 5:05 am

team-bhp forum has a lot of these tricks documented. If they've already calibrated the pump to say, jump from 100 to 140 - they try to
divert your attention at that moment asking questions like "Saar, cash or credit" or "how much mileage" "nice car" etc.

I make it a point to get down from the car and ask attendant to not touch the nozzle after inital docking. And not move my eyes off the pump at any cost.
That will help but, if they fuck around with weights and measures there's not a lot one can do as a retail paying customer...

by Guest Mon Apr 16, 2012 5:24 am

HK - don't delete your postsU - we need more gyaan, saar :-)

by Guest Mon Apr 16, 2012 5:24 am

the same car will give you a poorer mileage in india (as opposed to, say, the US). lol.

also, stick to private petrol pumps like reliance if possible. they have some really scientific systems in place and can read a petrol pump's underground tank's level from their H/O. it might be more expensive but you'd be getting your litre's worth. they still might be fleecing, i don't know, but they pay more commission to their pumps than the state run oil companies (which is why the latter tend to rob).

by Guest Mon Apr 16, 2012 5:25 am

Richard Hed wrote:HK - don't delete your post - we need more gyaan, saar :-)

lol, i was editing it.

by Guest Mon Apr 16, 2012 5:29 am

With the huge increase of Diesel non-commercial cars in Desh - something like ~50% of ALL new sedans being sold of the Diesel variant - no guarantee that one would get "purer" Diesel in the city, no? Thoughts...

by Guest Mon Apr 16, 2012 5:34 am

yeah, chances are slim of getting "pure" and litre for litre diesel now (in the city -- or even highways).

by Another Brick Mon Apr 16, 2012 5:42 am

Huzefa Kapasi wrote:
Another Brick wrote:btw, HK, you never got complaints from the customers about these wrongdoings?

my brother never messes with the auto and 2 wheeler walas -- so it is live and let live. the amount of fleecing that goes on with cars is not an amount they can notice so easily. yes, there are complaints. the immediate action is to placate the customer before he escalates it and that works most of the times. if it escalates to police or oil company level, then you placate the cops or oil company. ultimately everyone is placate-able.

one of the biggest problems is adulteration. my dad's petrol pump was caught in that mess once. adulteration is not our fault -- it's the tankers that engage in adulteration while ferrying it from the oil depos to the pumps. in my dad's petrol pump case, the petrol was adulterated with aviation fuel! can you believe that? there was an enforcement bureau case and a lot of agony (dragged on for years -- arrests). but even that passed.

yes, my wife who has dealt with such thugs more than i have - she rides a moped - says the same thing. you complain to the manager and they usually take some action. no doubt, only to placate you and continue with their robbing.

adulteration is something you just can't detect by simple means. i have made peace with the fact that the petrol is mixed with kerosene if is it not Shell. but aviation fuel? lol.

RH wrote:I make it a point to get down from the car and ask attendant to not touch the nozzle after inital docking. And not move my eyes off the pump at any cost.
That will help but, if they f*** around with weights and measures there's not a lot one can do as a retail paying customer...

yes, i started doing that when they tricked me long back by jumping the meter by some 200 rupees. but they pulled this one when i was paying attention to the meter by standing right in front of it. this was totally new to me.

by Guest Mon Apr 16, 2012 7:25 am

The first rule of filling gas in India is: "Never say 'tank full karo' "

Unless its HK's brother and you're HK, of course :-)

by Guest Mon Apr 16, 2012 7:35 am

Another Brick wrote:yes, i started doing that when they tricked me long back by jumping the meter by some 200 rupees. but they pulled this one when i was paying attention to the meter by standing right in front of it. this was totally new to me.

LOL, it's well-nigh impossible to catch them. they clandestinely adjust calibrations every day (sometimes many times during the day) for they get advance warnings of "surprise" checks by the oil company personnel or weights and measures dept.

Richard Hed wrote:Unless its HK's brother and you're HK, of course :-)

by Impedimenta Mon Apr 16, 2012 7:51 am

Another Brick wrote:these chindhichor types who think they can fleece you clean thinking you are dumb enough (because you are white collar) to be tricked.

exhibit 1 - this gas station chindhichor robbed me off my 500 rupees when i asked him to fill in petrol worth 2K. he filled in worth 500 from one pump and then worth 1500 from the adjacent pump. no big deal, you would think; after all you learnt in school that 500+1500 equals 2000. started my car, went a distance and realized that the tank was barely half full. met with the owner the next day and complained. he called the attendant who was on duty the previous night, asked him why he used two pumps instead of one and the attendant said that there was no electricity. he was lying (and had now started shaking with fear) and the owner made a remark about his mother's body part because there was no problem with the electricity the previous night. the owner told me that he understood how his attendant tricked me but wouldn't tell me how exactly. 'my father's what goes' i thought and left it at that. the owner let me fill in petrol worth 500 and that's how it was settled.

exhibit 2 - wednesday morning. flat tyre. went to this puncturewala near my place and while he was pretending to detect the hole in tyre, i suspect he slashed the valve with a piece of razor blade (a common trick in pune). he told me that there was one puncture and the valve required replacing (210 INR). i had no time to argue, so i asked him to use the spare tyre and drove to office. i asked him to keep the flat tyre ready in the evening. in the evening, i confronted him and asked him why he slashed the valve. no answer, but a stunned look. then the usual blip bloop blah after he recovered and then outright denial. argued for nearly an hour in front of his customers. finally, he told me to give him whatever money i wanted to but did not admit to his trick. i knew there wasn't anything wrong with the valve because i had the tyres rotated at the dealership 3 days ago and i had not even driven for a minute after i discovered the flat tyre (puncturewala is right around the corner).

these chindhichors grind my gears and flatten my soda pop.

vinodini,
I have a question on your exhibit one. "my father's what goes" means who the what?

AS for your exhibit two, i offer my condolences. we also get fleeced by dealerships here. we take our cars for a check engine light into a dealership that looks like the lobby of a five star hotel. even as i take it there, i wonder how they can afford to keep this up. i then get a call from the "account manager" telling me 100 things that my car requires, out of which three things are "critical". none of the terms that they use seem real but somehow i feel happy that only three things have to be taken care of despite the 100 things that are wrong. every time i took one of my cars into the dealership, i ended up spending at least one grand and i also wanted to use some not so good words in thamizh on my "account manager".

so ya, soda pop hurts big time. Can you also find out how the attendant tricked you? i am very curious. in my case, its all the fancy terms. you, sir?

since i found kenny patel and his garage auto body shop, i have no problems now. i get prompt service with a samosa everyyyytime i visit him, for a fraction of the price. don't know if he even fixes anything in my car but hey, i get samosa. what you get?

by Hellsangel Mon Apr 16, 2012 8:24 am

"Onga appa sotha?"

by Guest Mon Apr 16, 2012 8:43 am

ha ha, urf "mere baap ka kya jaata hai"

by garam_kuta Mon Apr 16, 2012 8:50 am

Huzefa Kapasi wrote:ha ha, urf "mere baap ka kya jaata hai"

ah.. that explains..AB was billing his company, huh? Wink

by Guest Mon Apr 16, 2012 8:56 am

you might be right GK! Razz

by Guest Mon Apr 16, 2012 6:20 pm

Impedimenta wrote:
Another Brick wrote:these chindhichor types who think they can fleece you clean thinking you are dumb enough (because you are white collar) to be tricked.

vinodini,
I have a question on your exhibit one. "my father's what goes" means who the what?

AS for your exhibit two, i offer my condolences. we also get fleeced by dealerships here. we take our cars for a check engine light into a dealership that looks like the lobby of a five star hotel. even as i take it there, i wonder how they can afford to keep this up. i then get a call from the "account manager" telling me 100 things that my car requires, out of which three things are "critical". none of the terms that they use seem real but somehow i feel happy that only three things have to be taken care of despite the 100 things that are wrong. every time i took one of my cars into the dealership, i ended up spending at least one grand and i also wanted to use some not so good words in thamizh on my "account manager".

Read AB's post, got cynical abt how corrupt ppl in India are and how low they could scoop to, to trick you off a few bucks. Before I could heave a sigh, i read your post. yeah, so true! Happens to me a majority of times. I dread to go for an oil change every 3 months coz there's always something wrong with my car. Shelled hundreds on the damn car that i use sparingly and which never showed any visible problems (except for one occassion when it was making weird noises).

and then the health care. I worked in different dental offices and i damn well know what goes on in some of them. You are ripped off for the 'deep' cleaning that you don't require, the antibiotic/antimicrobial treatments you don't need and then the crowns, root canals and many procedures u don't require at all. Terrible!

Everyone is trying to loot the other....everywhere! *SIGH!*

by charvaka Mon Apr 16, 2012 7:29 pm

Huzefa Kapasi wrote:ha ha, urf "mere baap ka kya jaata hai"

Javed Jaffrey had a better English line... "whose father's what goes."

by Another Brick Tue Apr 17, 2012 2:21 am

Impedimenta wrote:
vinodini,
I have a question on your exhibit one. "my father's what goes" means who the what?

AS for your exhibit two, i offer my condolences. we also get fleeced by dealerships here. we take our cars for a check engine light into a dealership that looks like the lobby of a five star hotel. even as i take it there, i wonder how they can afford to keep this up. i then get a call from the "account manager" telling me 100 things that my car requires, out of which three things are "critical". none of the terms that they use seem real but somehow i feel happy that only three things have to be taken care of despite the 100 things that are wrong. every time i took one of my cars into the dealership, i ended up spending at least one grand and i also wanted to use some not so good words in thamizh on my "account manager".

so ya, soda pop hurts big time. Can you also find out how the attendant tricked you? i am very curious. in my case, its all the fancy terms. you, sir?

since i found kenny patel and his garage auto body shop, i have no problems now. i get prompt service with a samosa everyyyytime i visit him, for a fraction of the price. don't know if he even fixes anything in my car but hey, i get samosa. what you get?

priyamvadai, 'my father's what goes' is a term used to express one's 'why do i care' attitude. it literally means that one's father does not stand to lose anything either way.

kenny patel, eh? i wonder if his name is kanifnath or some such. i get stares. evil stares from these attendants who trick me just by assuming that i am meant to be tricked.

@ GK - sir! no, it is not my company who is paying the bill. it is me. and i ensured that i got my money's worth back, so it wasn't that i did not care. i did not care about what exactly they did to trick me. i may never know.

by Guest Tue Apr 17, 2012 3:29 am

[quote="Another Brick
kenny patel, eh? i wonder if his name is kanifnath or some such. i get stares. evil stares from these attendants who trick me just by assuming that i am meant to be tricked. [/quote]

If Kenny is Kapil Patel - I think I know the guy IRL...

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