[Brix]

@DevilsOwn - My experience was only to serve as a guiding light to others. I didnt suggest a complete ban but instead articulated the steps in case one were tempted to buy. Just listed my lessons learnt, thats all.

I'm going to avoid going to that particular bunk again, but if I'm faced with this scenario in another bunk - I would be able to draw on others experience as well as my lessons in handling this. I would make a more informed decision. Not blindly refuse due to a prior bitter experience.

Lessons learnt from others:
-Pay a nominal amount to make him remove the scratches. Very wise suggestion.
-Take the demo from the product you intend to buy.
-Learn to say NO effectively. Saying NO is no easy job.
-Established Brands are best for you and your car.
-Dont talk to such people while filling up fuel.
-Water serves as a superb cleaner in most cases.
-The Bunk is no way related to these guys, so do not assume their reliability extends to these products.

[DevilsOwn]

Brix : I understand mate, sorry I didnt mean to rub you the wrong way either, I know what a pain it can be to have ones hard earned money literally stolen.

I would suggest you trust your instinct going forward and stick to products which have been tested/reviewed and who have a good feedback mechanism to avoid any hiccups!

Cheers..

[shamanth]

I haven seen the same product being sold in many pumps in Bangalore. when these guys approached me to remove scratches, Knowing few things about auto care products, I just smiled and said No. I smiled because i was imagining these guys should have duped many people who don't know much about car care products.

[rohan_iitr]

I don't understand why everyone is bashing this particular brand and its products. Just because there is a typo on the company's website and the sales/demo guy speaks in Hindi, it doesn't mean that the company is running a scam business and cheating customers.

I agree that the products may not be of the same quality as other reputed brands. Also agree that the sales guys are a bit pushy. But they give a free demo and then you are free to purchase or reject the product, no one is holding a gun at your face to buy the product. I just don't understand why everyone is calling this a scam.

The OP left the kit inside his car, which was his negligence. Locked cars can get very hot (especially in a hot city like Chennai). It is not recommended to leave liquids and aerosol sprays inside the car for long duration.

I had an encounter with this Shine Star fellow yesterday when I went to refuel my car. I had some minor scratches on a fender. The sales guy used the products and got rid of those minor scratches. I didn't buy the product, but offered him some money for doing the job. He insisted that I should buy the kit, but I told him that I am too lazy to use these products myself.

He even gave me an offer that if I buy the kit, he would open the same kit and use it for getting rid of all scratches on the car without any additional service charge. So it is not like he uses a different product for demo and different one for sales.

I am not recommending anyone to use their products, but please don't call them cheats for no reason.

Rohan

[Brix]

#1 - I didnt keep my car in the sun for more than 20 minutes. Everywhere else it was in the covered parking. My car is tinted heavily and I use the AC every time.

#2 - You didnt buy the actual product and see for yourself. So you cant comment on the possibility of it being good. I bought it and it was bad and that's exactly what I have mentioned. That's the difference between seduced and screwed. You got seduced by their marketing and I got screwed when I bought it.

#3 - Probably because of my post and other factors, people actually ask them to demo the process with the actual product they intend to buy. That was my only intention and it seems to have worked.

#4 - I saw the product used in the demo, and it was different from mine. Also if the product I bought cant suffer 2 or 3 extra degrees of heat, it is definitely crap indeed. I'm absolutely sure the stuff I got were really old. On that point they were cheats.

#5 - I don't have anything against Hindi speaking guys, I just mentioned it so that other members would pick up the extra marker or distinguishable traits if they were approached to buy.

[n_aditya]

Just a heads-up to people who travel on the Blore Chennai Hosur Road.

There is a HP Bunk at Shoolagiri which also houses a Mc Donalds outlet, a CCD and a south indian resto.

I frequently visit this place on my weekend rides and happened to see these people marketing and selling the polish.

I was driving to chennai a few weeks back and stopped over for a late lunch and was approached by these people. Politely declined.

Just thought i'd share with people to look out for these people. They may be honest or may be crooks, i dont know. Be on your guard and ask them to use the product from a fresh new package before buying if you seriously consider purchasing it.

[Mohitkumaar]

I purchased the Shine Star 3+1 piece car cleaner kit from the IOC petrol pump on Delhi Gurgaon expressway for 500 (and another 250 for 3 set perfume, it seems a bum deal now, should have haggled more!)

There are 3 things in the kit apart from the sponge which is marked 10Rs!
1. Stain remover (marked price 125 rs, 100 ml) small plastic bottle, this is so going to be replaced by 45 rs Mincream! BTW has anyone used brasso?
2. Waterless spray cleaner body coating- (marked price 380rs. - 500ml) seemingly has some soapy yellowish liquid. I am going to use the pump with soapy water after this is over.
3. Dashboard shiner spray can (484 rs.-500 ml) It is seeming rather light after about 2 sprays.

He removed some sizeable scratch and paint stains from car door and told me that I have to make sure that I rub and rub and rub and keep rubbing till the paint colour matches. Also told me that microfiber cloth is better than sponge though it seemed to work for me (note to self- pilfer microfiber cloth from somewhere). Now during the demo, the idiot sprayed the dash cleaner spray on body and I did the same mistake when i cleaned another bad muck stain. Gotta be careful!

Reading this thread's first post I removed the cans from car and have placed them in store room but they seem pretty ok to me.

Lessons from event:
1. <<Willl check if it has damaged the car paint in 2-3 days of observation, if yes the IOC pump will have to introduce his complaint book to me>>
2. Bargain harder, ain't buying above 300 rs next time, no matter how much spendy I am feeling or how much heat he is standing in. I worked way harder than him to buy that car!
3. No leaving this stuff in car.

[saket77]

You have been actually lucky that you lost only Rs. 525/-, you will agree if you come to know what happened in our city a few months ago.

Okay, same set up: a fuel bunk and a few guys & gals selling a paint polish for Rs. 60/- only. They gave demos on all prospective buyer's cars and then the trick was played. They told that there is some offer like buy 1 plus get 1 free, but only if you pay from your credit/ debit card. Most people without suspecting swiped their cards on the machines and felt like winners by 'buying' a car polish for Rs. 60, sorry 2 packs of polish (es) at Rs. 60/- which means Rs. 30/- each. Incredibly cheap, isn't it?

No, wrong. All these cards were cloned by a team in Bangalore and PINs were stolen when the buyers punched them in their machines. Some 8-10 people lost in the range of 60K to 250K EACH! The thieves earned more than about 20 lacs in the process! I came to know only after reading the news in newspapers. Later came to know that a friend of mine lost 150K. Don't know what happened to the gang.

Lesson:
1. Try to avoid such deals on a bunk.
2. Simply NEVER use your plastic money at unsafe & suspecting places.

[deepv]

Originally Posted by saket77

Lesson:
1. Try to avoid such deals on a bunk.
2. Simply NEVER use your plastic money at unsafe & suspecting places.

Ooops!!!
I don't like anyone doing anything to my car, and will shoo away such sellers/demo-rs. But these people will come at you with such intensity that folks around you feel that its not nice to be rude with them. From above experiences its clear that its better to be safe than sorry.

[gjiyap1]

Originally Posted by rajeev k

I was viewing TBhp, this thread also and meanwhile I opened Ford Figo site also and when I was about to close the open windows a new window which had opened up on its own caught my eye, that of Anjali Chem Industry. ......

Take a look at the page :::Welcome to ANJALI CHEM INDUSTRY:::

.....
It may also be interesting to note that this company is an ISO - 9000;2008 certified company

It is very interesting to see - after about 3 years of this post - the same Anjali Chem is showing-up in the bottles of these products in the city !!!.

Yesterday, while returning from Bangalore, stopped-by to fill petrol in BP (E.city Phase 1) and the guys had tried hard to convince me - for buying the product). He did a quick demo - removing some of the minor scratch in front and showed the shining thingy on hard plastic. It was pretty impressive !. Have told him - that - next time when I visit this place, I will take time to get the polish done in front of my eyes and I will pay the service charge - which includes the purchase as well. Anyway, you will pay similar amount - when you do it with 3M or so - just that, we assume - those chemicals are better than these cheap ones !.

But, left side of my brain told me to check team-bhp, before even attempting & now I see, why am wiser, with the help of this group. Thanks folks !!!

[biggrin]

Became a victim today.

The salesman engaged a talk when I was refuelling my Verna. He stressed on "Sir, the front bumper has a lot of scratches" quite a few times and I decided to take the free demo. The demo went fine and the product seemed to be good enough. He removed some tyre marks, sprayed some glass coating on the front glass, used the body polish and also used the dashboard shiner on the doorpads as well as tyres.

He quoted Rs. 900 for a small pack and Rs. 1150 for a slightly bigger one. I thought the product was good, worth a try and quoted a low price (Rs. 600) for the small pack. Finally paid Rs. 700 for a slightly bigger pack. I don't know what I was thinking while buying this. The product he gave me is some "Nodishine" brand. The quality is awful.

I came home and tried it on the grey Dzire. It didn't work one bit. Even the small scratches reappeared after some 15-20 minutes. The tyres of my Verna had attracted all the dust from the road in the 5 km drive to home. I had to spend some time cleaning them again. I tried the foam based body polish but it didn't give satisfactory results. The results are only as good as normal water wash. I checked the water beading effect on front glass and it is somewhat useful. Next, I tried the dashboard spray and even after using carefully (not to overspray), the can worth MRP Rs. 550 was empty in one use (of entire dashboard of Dzire). I have the scratch/rust remover lying with me which I will use in the morning and update. Told everyone at home that I got the entire thing for 300 bucks. Feeling cheated.

EDIT - I checked the website they had mentioned on the pack. It is www.nodishine.com. The founders are some 23-25 year old chaps.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by biggrin

Became a victim today.
EDIT - I checked the website they had mentioned on the pack. It is www.nodishine.com. The founders are some 23-25 year old chaps.

The website and the 'Our team' page made me Honestly, how on earth did these guys even build such a network when biggies in the field are yet to spread their reach? I think they are manufacturing some cheap stuff and then selling them promising huge margins to salesmen or distributors. I was once approached by such a chap and I dared him to come close to the car. Especially when it comes to these 'scratch removers' we should be very cautious since sometimes they can even contain solvents to dissolve some of the paint and create a clean look.

The 'team' in the website look like a bunch of cousins upto some mischief. Some of the content seems to have been copied majorly from other sites like Amway etc. In one of the product, they have forgotten to change the brand name also.




And see, there are other companies with similar content and similar 'Team' as well
http://www.royalautocare.in/index.html

http://www.eurogoldsuper.com/

Looks like this is some new trend of making money. SCAM SCAM SCAM

[bhandary]

Last month when I stopped at A2B on the Bangalore-Mangalore highway at Hassan for breakfast, there were bunch of these guys with car care products flocking as soon as a new car came up to park. I had to tell them to go away and chose to just ignore them. Looks like they are cropping up everywhere now.