[ironshark]

Originally Posted by Enigmatic

You must understand that the shop owner was the one who forced him to do such an act. Also "chotu" in all probability is poverty stricken and is less fortunate. He must be having a family for whom he finds difficult to make the ends meet. And hence he must have been forced by the shop owner to do such an act.

We do need to understand that this situation could have gone horribly wrong as well. What if the tire shop guy would have responded by calling his mates and you being all alone would have been overpowered.

Please dont take this in the wrong way but i do believe that this situation could have been resolved in a better way.

Enigmatic - I perfectly agree with your post. My only motive to slap chotu was to teach him a lesson. While I was dealing with him, the owner managed to escape, else he would have faced the wrath. I did tell chotu sternly to tell his owner not to indulge in such malpractices in the future. It was not about the money, just wanted to make them realise that such nonsense would not be tolerated.

P.S - Till date, the shop is closed and he hasn't resumed business. Hoping that at least people in my area will be saved from such acts, and that was the motive. For the record, I have NO faith in our Police.

Originally Posted by Trojan

The guy must have seriously never dreamt that things would end up this way for him coz people usually at the most scream and shout and then walk off in frustration.

Trojan - We've discussed this at length on office OCS

Originally Posted by hocuspocus

However, please explain to me(and this is a doubt), the punctures on the sidewall of the tyres never hold up coz of the pressure being exerted sideways causing the tyre to rupture again. Yes, I know the tubeless tyres are repaired differently than conventional tyres, but even this puncture repair technique will not hold.

How did your tyrewallah repair the side wall puncture of a tubeless tyre? It could be a another learning in disguise.

The repair was normal as done in tubeless tyres. Yes, sidewall puncture removal is not fool proof, but, as mentioned earlier, my tyres are up for a change and would be replacing them very very soon.

[Sprucegoose]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Uh - Firefox? Atleast this Giyo model is used by ~20+ cyclist friends on roadbikes etc and not one person has ever had an issue with it. Like I say - total peace of mind for 900 bucks (typically u get ~10% discount!).

I got a BSA pump like this in Bombay for 390 bucks.
works well and the finish is good.

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by Sprucegoose

I got a BSA pump like this in Bombay for 390 bucks.
works well and the finish is good.

The day I bought it, I picked up a BSA first, and it didn't work. There went my remaining faith in their quality :-)

Giyo always works - hence my recommendation!

[InControl]

Ironshark , you have some guts
I am shocked at hearing of such a thing.
Though you did teach them a good enough and well deserved lesson.
havent heard of such a scam in bangalore.

[amit_purohit20]

If iron shark would have just yelled at him, I think the owner and his accomplice would have again started this dirty practice again within a day or two. But a slap at the right time worked wonders!
Although I never support violence but when you are cheated/troubled and what not for absolutely no fault of yours I think the slap was a well deserved slap for not to return to the usual practice.
I am from Pune and I myself was cheated by a Puncture Wallah at the begining of the flyover of Seven loves chowk Swargate. I was told that I have a malfunctioning tyre valve. But being aware of such mal practices I simply said no to it and moved on only to find that I had a completely healthy tyre! The guy was demanding 150 Rs for valve repair.
I met one more guy in Pune whose Wagon R tyre had 14 punctures!!!. I really cant imagine this being done from a single nail on a road. The puncture wallah demanded 1700 Rs and later settled for 1400 Rs!. New tyre itself costs above Rs 2200 plus.
I feel Pune is a city where you are exploited cheated everyday by one or the other pretext. Ethics have gone high-time low!

[S2!!!]

A couple of days ago I noticed a black Honda City with its rear left tyre completely punctured crawling at a snail's pace in dense traffic. As I was on foot, I decided to inform the driver about his tyre. I moved a little closer to the car to notice an office going man merrily chatting away through his head phones. I knocked at his window to gain his attention but the bloke seemed to get irritated as if I interrupted his conversation and drove ahead seeming frustrated without even looking in my direction. Hope he reached home without any issue.

I have read several threads on the forum regarding the various scams on our roads and have become much more alert when I am behind the wheel but IMO it is always better to know what the other party is saying once and then deciding whether to drive off or stop on the side.

I actually found the incident quite amusing and silly but thought of sharing.

[dutta_d1]

@ironshark

Hope that shop won't do this again. But quite a gut you've got I must say.

Generally, in India, we know a lot of people doing wrong things/cheating. However, I hesitate to actually slap people as most of the thugs have "connections" and a "you hit me hard, we hit you harder" attitude.

Better to be careful and follow a "scam avoidance" strategy by not letting others cheat us in the first place.

[SDP]

I have a doubt. What did the chap use to create those 4 small punctures so easily and so fast? I mean, are the tyres that we use so thin and soft that you can puncture it easily with a tool that is hand-held?

[sagarpadaki]

Originally Posted by SDP

I have a doubt. What did the chap use to create those 4 small punctures so easily and so fast? I mean, are the tyres that we use so thin and soft that you can puncture it easily with a tool that is hand-held?

The fellow made holes in the sidewall. Sidewalls are softer compared to main tread . Holes can be made easily with a pin or something of that sort. Not much effort is required!

[coriollis]

Sandeep!
Wonder how I missed this thread. Kudos to you man..

Please let me know the exact location of the miscreant. I will certainly keep an eye on him.

And about slapping..
I feel you did the right thing. What would anyone of us do, if somebody misbehaved with our family member..

[sukhoi30]

Mod team note: Please avoid Quoting entire large post for a short reply. Affects readability.

Originally Posted by ironshark

**This is not a regular "spill-nails-on-the-road-to-get-business" puncture scam**

Read on....
===================
Chotu - "Zabaan deta hu Sahab, zindagi me fir kabhi aisa nahi hoga mujhse" (I give my word sir, will never do such a thing again, ever)

Sensing the genuinity in his eyes, I drove off.......

Ohh Man ... Exact same thing happened to me couple of weeks back. There is this place just off the Turbhe station in Navi Mumbai. There is a PUC wala and just next to him a puncture wala. I was on my way to office and I relaised that a day later my PUC was to expire. So, I thought of getting my PUC renewed here. While the PUC guy was busy making the certificate the puncture wala came and told that your front right wheel is under-inflated and maybe a puncture. I told, No .. it is not punctured, it is underinflated. All this while, the PUC guy was inside making the certificate. I was arguing with the PUC guy to check my exhaust as he was making the PUC without checking (Another SCAM). Meanwhile, this puncture wala was lurking around and I didn't notice him doing anything to tyre at that time. After getting the PUC, I asked the puncture guy to inflate the tyre. He again insisted that there is a puncture. I told him to shut up and simply fill up the tyre as per the PSI. All done, drove to office and parked.
In the evening, I found that the tyre was completely flat. Then it struck me that it was the mischief of this guy. Had to leave the car in the office and next day called a puncture wala from nearby. We checked the tyre immersed in water and found two neat holes in the sidewalls of the tyre. By this time, I was fuming but couldn;t do anything. Fixed the puncture and I am praying that the puncture does not come loose. Next day I went to the shop to give him a SLAP as you have done, but unfortunately for me and fortunately for him, the shop was closed due to the Bharat Bandh. Now, I have ordered a tyre pressure check kit from naaptol and I have sweared never to go to these puncture walas.
My take on this is that a few of these goons have hit the livelihood of many people who depend on this service. Just imagine if everyone realises the SCAM and get air pressure kits or repair punctures themselves, all these people will lose their business big time. And I believe this is happening big time.

[dhondusaxena]

[quote=ironshark;3011130]
I have a habit of checking my car's tyre pressure once a week

If possible get your tyres a treat of Nitrogen. I have got all tyres filled with Nitrogen. 4 tyres costed somewhere around 200 initially but it gave me a peace of mind. In last 1 year & my car covered around 17k kms, I have never faced a situation of different air pressures. I have only got the air pressure checked 5 times in last 1 year. Upon checking the only difference could be 1 or 2 psi or sometimes even less

[sukhoi30]

[quote=dhondusaxena;3059038]

Originally Posted by ironshark

I have a habit of checking my car's tyre pressure once a week

If possible get your tyres a treat of Nitrogen. I have got all tyres filled with Nitrogen. 4 tyres costed somewhere around 200 initially but it gave me a peace of mind. In last 1 year & my car covered around 17k kms, I have never faced a situation of different air pressures. I have only got the air pressure checked 5 times in last 1 year. Upon checking the only difference could be 1 or 2 psi or sometimes even less

Thanks. I used nitrogen couple of years back. Yes, I agree it is a useful thing for the tyre. But it so happened that whenever there was a puncture in my tyre, I will have to reinflate the entire tyre. Over a period of time, maintaining nitrogen in the tyre became very cumbersome. Moreover, very few pumps offer nitrogen for tyres.

[ashwin_m0]

On two occasions, whilst on my way to Valsad on the Western Express Highway, I experienced the deliberate puncture by the tyrewala. He did this in front of me and yet i could not catch him red handed.
His modus operandi was that whilst filing air he would position nails in such a manner that you will have two three 1/2 inch nails inside your treads. When you go a little forward, you would turn back to him with deflated wheel for repairs.
When I was passing by, i saw him blind a motorist whilst filling air and position the nails to enter the tyre. i followed the car for a kilometre and noticed that the co-passenger side front tyre was half inflated. When we checked the tyre, noticed three shiny screws embeded in the tyre.
Thereafter, I stopped using the nearby petrol pump to fuel the car. I now fuel up in Mumbai itself.
The tyrewala is near the Annapurna restaurant on the WE Highway.

[Rahulk76]

Originally Posted by ironshark

Puncture guy - Sahab, ye tyre puncture hai (Sir, this tyre is puncture)

Me - Aise kaise? ab tak toh nahi tha (How come? it was'nt punctured till now)

Puncture guy - ab hai toh hai (That's how it is)

I picked up my regular puncture guy and got the tyre changed in my parking. We went to his shop to get the puncture repaired and MY SUSPICION HAD BEEN CONFIRMED. Yesterday's puncture guy had bored 4 tiny holes on my tyre's sidewall and wanted to earn a quick buck from me.

Please beware of the the first tyre shop while coming towards baner from sadanand. Its just 100 meters from Sadanand.
I have been victimised and the damn tire lost to 2 Pinhole puntures in the sidewall of my vehicle.

Edit: I recall after filling in air he said that there is a puncture. His gauge read 20PSI. Then after filling up the air, he bought a soap and some water to show me the leakage.

Sigh =( i should have been more careful. Imagine loosing a new tyre..Feels like a statue with pigeons above.. grrrrrrrr
I wonder how can the puncture be so up in the sidewall.


This is the first and the last time I went to these morons who dont understand the value of life, money or time. Just to make a quick buck, they can go to any length at the cost of your life, money.