[trave11er]

Originally Posted by kau_therock

this happened to me while I was coming to Satara from pune. Just before the toll plaza, the BMW reported a tyre pressure loss warning. So i stopped at the nearest Repair shop. And to my astonishment, the tyre had almost 6-7 punctures. Definitely seems like a made up puncture rather than an unfortunate. Attached pictures.

ohh its a pain to see the tyre in such a condition. It looks as if someone has drawn a design on your cars tyre.

[mehuljain2k]

Pune tops the list in such frauds. Adding more places to avoid:

1. Bhumkar Chowk - Dange Chowk Road, the Petrol Pump on the left.
2. All the puncture wallas in Hinjewadi - Wakad.

[iSpoke]

Originally Posted by kau_therock

this happened to me while I was coming to Satara from pune. Just before the toll plaza, the BMW reported a tyre pressure loss warning. So i stopped at the nearest Repair shop. And to my astonishment, the tyre had almost 6-7 punctures. Definitely seems like a made up puncture rather than an unfortunate. Attached pictures.

Originally Posted by trave11er

ohh its a pain to see the tyre in such a condition. It looks as if someone has drawn a design on your cars tyre.

Although it looks like intentional rather than accidental, if you faced it nearby a puncture repairer then definitely a bad intention. But there is a possibility of accidental one, if your car rundown on a sheet of wood/rubber having these 6-7 nails in it, just a bad luck.

[kau_therock]

It actually happened on a highway. So i doubt someone would throw nails on the road. Or maybe it was just my bad luck.

[deetee]

Please keep an analogue gauge and a small hand pump in the car- not even digital meters at fuel stations show correct pressure as after some running, tyre warms up. Reliable reading can be had only after the tyres cool down, which is better done in morning before starting out. Also, having a pump (manual/electric) in car lets the car limp to a better puncture shop if the surroundings doesn't have one.

Except in case of total flat, I never filled air outside. I use a small handpump that is a foot long and my reliable analogue gauge- both of them are never going to fail me.

Sometimes self reliance is the only cure to end these frauds.

[ironshark]

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

Read on....

I have a habit of checking my car's tyre pressure once a week and this happened to me the day before yesterday evening.

I had to drop my wife for her ICWA classes in the evening at 7.00 pm. I thought of checking the tyre pressure en route (my regular tyre wallah was a bit out of way)

So we stop at this puncture guy, I tell him to check the tyre pressure and top it up to 32 psi if required. He does the usual job of checking the pressure and topping it up while I was chit chatting with my wife.

When he came to the driver side front tyre, it took him longer than usual to do the "check pressure-fill air" exercise. My wife got suspicious and asked me to check. So, when I looked below from the window, he was at the job. once done, the conversation goes like this:

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)

Me - Koi nahi, tuhne hawa barabar bhari hai tyre me? (It's ok, have you filled the air properly?)

Puncture guy - Ha (yes)

Me - Thik hai. (Ok)

With this, I give him 10 Rs. and move on. Dropped my wife and came back home.

<<2 hours later>>

I had to pick my wife up. Sat in the car, I felt the steering a bit stiff. I got suspicious. Checked the driver side front tyre, it was deflated a bit.

Being a tubeless tyre, I took a chance and drove to wife's classes, picked her up and drove back home but till then, the tyre was almost totally deflated. It was about 9.30 pm. After dropping my wife home, I went and searched 2-3 other puncture wallah's but all were closed. So I decided to attend this the next morning.

<<Yesterday morning around 8.00 am>>

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.

My blood started boiling imagining the daring of these guys.

Paid 320 bucks to the regular guy and off I was to this miscreant.

Me (to the owner) - "kal ka woh chotu kidhar hai" (where is yesterday's little guy?)

Owner - "udhar chai lene gaya hai, kya hua?" (there, he's gone to get tea, what happened?)

Me - "kal usne meri gaadi me 4 puncture kiye hai" (he's bored 4 punctures in my car yesterday night)....hearing this, his face turned pale.

Now the chotu arrives, seeing me early morning in the shop, he knew it's trouble time.

Me - "Idhar aa, kal tune mera gaadi puncture kiya na?" (come here, yesterday you punctured my car, right?)

Chotu - "Nahi" (No)

Me - SLAPPPPPP!!! (shattering him) "nahi kiya" (din't do it?)

Chotu - after a long pause and gathering himself - "Sahab, 1 kiya" (i bored one hole in the tyre

Me - SLAPPP !!! SLAPPP !!! "1 ya 4 ?" (1 or 4)

Chotu - by now, almost in tears - "4 kiya sahab, lekin maalik ke kehne par, maaf karo" (yes, 4, please forgive me, i did it at my owner's command)

This confession is what I wanted. I caught hold of the owner's collar, bad mouthed him to glory and ask him to cough up 500 Rs. which he did. I also mentioned to him never ever to do such a thing again for some easy bucks as it can leave somebody stranded in middle of nowhere.

Just wanted to share this trick these guys play with you all. I normally do not raise my hand so easily, but I just cannot tolerate such bullshit being played around!!

Lesson learnt - From now on, I will ALWAYS get out of my car while tyre pressure is being checked (like I do at fuel pumps meticulously)

P.S -

1) Chotu was by no means a kid. He was a adult, but called him chotu due to his body frame. I bashed him up because I wanted that these guys don't play such pranks at other people. It's irritating when something like this happens and leads to loss of energy, money etc.

2) Recovering extra money from them was just to teach them a lesson that money earned from malpractices is no good. One day, you will have to shell out much more than what you earn.

3) Hopefully, they won't do this again. Today morning when I saw, the owner was'nt there but chotu had opened the shop. I stopped to ask him:

Me - "Kidhar gya tera maalik?" (Where is the owner)

Chotu - "Kal subah ke baad gaya, ab tak aya nahi" (Went somewhere yesterday morning, din't return as yet)

Me - "Thik hai. Aise galat kaam wapas mat karna. Wo ane ke baad usko bhi bol do" (Don't do such malpractices ever again. Tell your owner whenever he's back)

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.......

[comfortablynumb]

This malpractice is quite common in Pune these days. Check this thread for a few other similar incidences:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/tyre-a...they-work.html

Cheers,
Vikram

[naut]

Originally Posted by ironshark

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

Read on....

Me - SLAPPPPPP!!! (shattering him) "nahi kiya" (din't do it?)

Chotu - after a long pause and gathering himself - "Sahab, 1 kiya" (i bored one hole in the tyre

Me - SLAPPP !!! SLAPPP !!! "1 ya 4 ?" (1 or 4)

Just wanted to share this trick these guys play with you all. I normally do not raise my hand so easily, but I just cannot tolerate such bullshit being played around!!

Lesson learnt - From now on, I will ALWAYS get out of my car while tyre pressure is being checked (like I do at fuel pumps meticulously)


Me - "Thik hai. Aise galat kaam wapas mat karna. Wo ane ke baad usko bhi bol do" (Don't do such malpractices ever again. Tell your owner whenever he's back)

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.......

Hey ironshark!

You've got guts! I find it difficult to slap people irrespective of the damage caused by the other person to me. At best, I may have yelled.

I have heard similar stories of people using the "SLAP" technique to deter (mentally) the other person.

In this age, where rage is so common, it scares me a lot to confront people physically. Glad that there was no further altercation or fight and everything ended well and the real message got conveyed to the culprits.

Take care!

[phamilyman]

These kinda nonsense is why I NEVER go to a pump. bought a decent 1000 rs cycle pump and except for a couple of high end trusted pumps / shops - I NEVER visit a pump for air anymore. Just takes 2-3 mins at home!

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by ironshark

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

Read on....

- Kudos, and lucky you to get a final outcome on that. Should be quite (self-)satisfying.
- Wouldn't raise the hand on anyone, if I were in your place. Guess everyone to his own methods.
- Location of this puncture shop? Inspite of what the guilt you read in his eyes, I doubt if he's NOT going to do it again.
- 4 punctures on the sidewall? Wouldn't recommend you to use that tire. Keep it as the spare probably.

Originally Posted by phamilyman

These kinda nonsense is why I NEVER go to a pump. bought a decent 1000 rs cycle pump and except for a couple of high end trusted pumps / shops - I NEVER visit a pump for air anymore. Just takes 2-3 mins at home!

Ah, now that's a good thought I might want to consider seriously. You talking about the foot pump or the hand pump?

[iSpoke]

Originally Posted by ironshark

Me - SLAPPPPPP!!! (shattering him) "nahi kiya" (din't do it?)

Chotu - after a long pause and gathering himself - "Sahab, 1 kiya" (i bored one hole in the tyre

Me - SLAPPP !!! SLAPPP !!! "1 ya 4 ?" (1 or 4)

You have got guts!

Originally Posted by naut

I find it difficult to slap people irrespective of the damage caused by the other person to me. At best, I may have yelled.
.
.
Glad that there was no further altercation or fight and everything ended well and the real message got conveyed to the culprits.

Specially when the receiving end is some illiterate labor.
I had literally ran behind 3-4 thieves at 02:30 in chilling night of winter last year, after making call to 2 society neighbors (well, nobody dared to come-out until I reached ground floor shouting from 5th floor, through stairs)!
But slapping is entirely different, all I could have done in your place is Yell!

For being born and raised in a country like ours (India), I sometimes think of thanking people like you, even unknowingly. Yeah, laws and orders are there to care of all the miscreants but people like you contribute at certain level and fixes such small issues on-the-spot!

I'm in no ways motivating you, to risk yourself again.
All I can suggest on such incidents to scare them by telling to complain to Police.

BTW, please share the location of that puncture walla, to either avoid him puncturing more vehicles or get SLAPPED from more people!

[rahul_sinha]

You did the right thing Sandeep! I had been through similar experience on a Baner road tyre shop - spoiled two of my tyres very badly but took 'similar' steps

[akshay4587]

Every time,i get the air filled,i step out of the car much and get each and every tyre filled in front of me,no scope for any scam

[Googleman]

How can a guy puncture a tyre so easily?

By a compass or a pin?
Inserting a nail would not be that easy I guess.

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Ah, now that's a good thought I might want to consider seriously. You talking about the foot pump or the hand pump?

http://www.firefoxbikes.com/ProductD...d=31&ProdId=39

is the pump - I always carry it around. Super awesome for filling up car tyres. From zero to full in like ~4-5 mins.

Except after each tyre, I need to catch my breath!

You get chinese cheap ones for ~150 bucks from the mass market toy stores (not specialty ones). ask for a football pump that can fill air in a motorcycle.