Car Wash Con Trick

Englishman

Just recently, I've been taking HL's car down to the car wash and giving it "The Works".

That's multi-coloured foam, wheel wash, hand wash, screen wash, under wash, under protection and finally, dry and then hot wax! All for £6.80. Whoo Hoo!

Hmm..the hot wax certainly does make it gleam, I thought. Anyway, a couple of weeks back I took the car through the washer again, duly paid my £6.80, watched while the attendant punched the code in the machine just outside and sat back while the washer pulled me through. As I came out I thought strange..I don't recall seeing the hot wax squirt out..oh well, it must have done, I guess. Hmm..I wonder. Nexr time, I'll watch more carefully.

So, just an hour ago, we took the car back through the washer again. We paid the £6.80 once more, watched the attendant punch in the codes and sat back to be pulled through again. The car in front got the hot wax treatment sure enough. Good, I thought, now we'll get the same. But oh no....

The machine missed out the hot wax again. Damn! Suddenly I twigged it. The washer has 6 different menus ranging from just £3 for the basic wash right up to £6.80 for the whole shebang. I was actually getting the £5.80 wash, not the £6.80 wash that I had paid for. What was happening was that the attendant was pocketing the extra £1 whenever he thought he could get away with it..doddery old Englishman must have looked easy prey..then punching in the codes for the £5.80 wash instead of the £6.80. No records anywhere either as I was sat in the car when he took the money to put in the till. He'd just ring in the £5.80, out of my sight. Bastard!

So..I drove around to the back of the queue and complained vociferously to the attendant. Oh sorry mate..must be the machine..put it through again, alright? Well, we did just that. And got the hot wax. What really pleased me was that he would now have to fork out of his own pocket the whole £6.80 for our cars second wash in 10 minutes, or his till wouldn't balance.

I think, looking back, this is a regular con used by car wash attendants who happen to be of an unscrupulous nature. Take more money for less wash. I got the bugger though...

I wonder where else people are so easily conned?

Englishman.

Billygoat

I just got my car washed yesterday afternoon. Paid $5 more to get my wheels shined and buffed. They get done rubbing her dry and tell me she's ready to go. I said, You haven't done her wheels yet. Oops. Yeah, I wonder how often they pocket money on these type of things.

Mamacat

I worked at McDonald's in high school. There was a young male cashier who would add to the total. Not on simple orders like one of the combo meals, but when people ordered several different things or on a big order. A few people over time complained, and my manager sat in the office with a calculator and a headset. He added up the orders and listened to what this guy said was the total...he was skimming 50 cents to a dollar on each one. When the manager confronted him, his pocket was full of change, and he confessed.

HappyDad

Years ago you never got out of your car to pump the fuel. An attendant would come out and do it for you. A shyster attendant took an opportunity at this time. He would ask how your oil was and you might say for them to check it. Many times they would say that it is a quart low. If you told him to put it in, he would do so. Or so you thought!

What he actually did was put the spout in an already empty can and would pocket the money.

HappyDad

iggy_the_fish

I was reliably informed () by a trucker friend of mine that there's quite a good bit of supplementary income to be made if you're a trucker by selling pallets. So, you make your delivery (=stuff on pallets) and the place you're delivering to gives you back an equivalent number of empty pallets - which you then take to the pallet yard and sell. Over time the company you work for runs low on pallets, and has to buy its own pallets back from the pallet yard! And so the cycle continues.

I only have this one guy's word for this (he's the only trucker I know) but it sounds plausible to me.

I also saw a few years ago on the telly (sorry, can't remember the name of the program) some guy saying that he used to dress up in a security guard's uniform and stand next to night safes at banks. Then when someone came to make a deposit, he'd say "night safe's stuck, I'm taking deposits tonight", and just pocket the deposits! Beware uniforms.

ig.

RichieRich

Thats right iggy- My father used to be a trucker and has told many a thing about what people would do. When something comes in damged, they refuse to accept the product. So when delivering electronics, people will purposely cruch the box of the product and then when it gets refused, they go sell it for half price at truck stops. They do that with food too.

Farkel

Eman,

: I was actually getting the £5.80 wash, not the £6.80 wash that I had paid for.

I was told years ago that "hot wax" is nothing more than hot kerosene. Sure, it makes your car shine because it is slightly oily. But it won't last through one rainstorm.

Melthinks all that colored foam is the same stuff only with different colors and a tinge of whatever-it-is-supposed-to-contain so the wash people won't get into legal trouble. They don't tell you just how MUCH of those add-on magical chemicals and waxes you are supposed to get, do they? It might be measured in parts per million in solution!

Farkel

BrendaCloutier

A former employer used to work for the petroleum industry. He was out at a client and the client suggested he do the rounds. They went to the top of a giant fuel storage tank, and the guy said "watch this" and opened an access port and poured in a small vial of chemical into thousand's of gallons of gas. "This tank now has Techron(tm)", it's been sold to Exxon.

Stealth

The popcorn con.

I had a buddy who worked in concenssions at the movie show back when they popped the popcorn fresh. Management would determine how much popcorn was sold by how many popcorn boxes were used. Some who worked there would get some of the used boxes out of the trash that looked new and reuse them again so they could pocket the cash on the second popcorn sale.

Princess

I've always wondered about the hot wax at the car wash. If it's really wax, why doesn't it mess up my windshield?

Why do they charge extra just because my car is bigger than yours?

I get my vehicles hand washed professionally once a month. Occasionally they take the change out of my Excursion so I just give them a smaller tip or none at all!

Car Wash Con Trick

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