When we got our freedom, history says India was poor with millions of starving souls,displaced and homeless and a huge divide between rich and poor. One of the concern was food. The rich baniyas usually made money by adulterating pulses and grains,oils and other fooodstuff.Soon ,India was brought to some order by the then politicians who followed Gandhian policies and brought in systematic distribution of food, committees to trample greedy baniyas ,to stop food adulteration. It must have been a tough battle because i think tampering, adulteration is hard wired in Indians.if you disagree with me,please check the news - everyday you will still find various foodstuff adulterated beyond our knowledge !
Cosmetics,deos and soaps were a luxury once.Now, we have malls flooded with cosmetic counters and rows and rows of toiletries with so much to choose from.Yet,suckers that we are we don't demand better tamper proof packaging. I have been trawling various makeup blogs ,some balanced and conscience while others unmentionable. However, i have seen not one raising a voice against tampering of products. Earlier, when i was unaware how rampant this problem was i was just like any other trusting shopper. But 2 incidents opened my eyes:
1. Once at my grocery shopping at Big Bazaar, i was strolling at deos section. While i was going through the products i found various containers open. Testers were not marked boldly as 'Testers'. Of course, i know most companies have poor packaging of these toiletries- there is no clear seal ! Suddenly, the Big Bazaar employee came out picked up a bottle went to a small side room sprayed the deos under his shirt and quickly came out and placed the bottle at the shelf.Needless to say, i have never bought a deo from big bazaar or any of these supermarkets again. Earlier at same Big Bazaar, my sister had seen the salesgirl picking up a costly facewash [ Neutrogena tube], remove some facewash on her palm [obviously to wash her face] and disappear. My sister brought it to the notice of customer service manager who then tried to find the said salesgirl through their cameras and also asked my sister to help identifying her. Apparently, nothing has been done anything about that !
2. Another incident is at Westside Streetwear counter where i got duped.I have been always wary of SA's and counters where SAs say ' madam, you can try this [ a brand new item] a little because i don't have tester for it'. Apparently, there are no testers for nailpolishes. So obviously the brightly painted nails of all these girls at cosmetic counters comes from the actual new product which gullible people like you and me then buy at exorbitant MRPs. Anyway, i wanted top coat and i saw this botttle at streetwear counter which seemed too runny ..i didn't know then what i know now .So i bought it. Within a month, the 10 ml polish disappeared....rather evaporated ! On a totally unrelated counter at a different mall, i saw a SA adding nailpolish remover to the nailpolish. She was sitting there and topping all the polishes with nail paint remover ! I was aghast ! So now when i see too runny polishes, i know what these wretched salesgirls have done !
I have been keeping an eagle eye on these SAs while swatching and i openly ask them if they have tampered with eyeliner and i ask them to open and show me.Their facial expressions are enough for me to find out if they lie .Only and when i am satisfied do i buy it. I have seen eyeliners being sharpened, new lipsticks,foundations and blushes opened and shown to the eager customer because no testers are available. Its daylight robbery especially when these stuff are sold at Rs, 500 and above.
I mean , is the concept of seal and tamper-proof packaging so alien to these companies ? Why are not all the deos,moisturizers and facewashes sold with the visible seal ?
I now buy only from those brands which come sealed especially in those products where those options are available. However, in deos,nailpolishes,facewashes i just have to nitpick,probe and then still come home with the products with lingering doubts.Only a strong collective voice can make these companies become stringent and active complaining at malls will stop these SAs from misusing the costly products !Please keep a vigilante eye and do register your complaint when you find those careless SAs tampering.If nothing else, it will set a precedent !
What do you think? Do you as a customer unmindful, encourage tampering ?
Cosmetics,deos and soaps were a luxury once.Now, we have malls flooded with cosmetic counters and rows and rows of toiletries with so much to choose from.Yet,suckers that we are we don't demand better tamper proof packaging. I have been trawling various makeup blogs ,some balanced and conscience while others unmentionable. However, i have seen not one raising a voice against tampering of products. Earlier, when i was unaware how rampant this problem was i was just like any other trusting shopper. But 2 incidents opened my eyes:
1. Once at my grocery shopping at Big Bazaar, i was strolling at deos section. While i was going through the products i found various containers open. Testers were not marked boldly as 'Testers'. Of course, i know most companies have poor packaging of these toiletries- there is no clear seal ! Suddenly, the Big Bazaar employee came out picked up a bottle went to a small side room sprayed the deos under his shirt and quickly came out and placed the bottle at the shelf.Needless to say, i have never bought a deo from big bazaar or any of these supermarkets again. Earlier at same Big Bazaar, my sister had seen the salesgirl picking up a costly facewash [ Neutrogena tube], remove some facewash on her palm [obviously to wash her face] and disappear. My sister brought it to the notice of customer service manager who then tried to find the said salesgirl through their cameras and also asked my sister to help identifying her. Apparently, nothing has been done anything about that !
2. Another incident is at Westside Streetwear counter where i got duped.I have been always wary of SA's and counters where SAs say ' madam, you can try this [ a brand new item] a little because i don't have tester for it'. Apparently, there are no testers for nailpolishes. So obviously the brightly painted nails of all these girls at cosmetic counters comes from the actual new product which gullible people like you and me then buy at exorbitant MRPs. Anyway, i wanted top coat and i saw this botttle at streetwear counter which seemed too runny ..i didn't know then what i know now .So i bought it. Within a month, the 10 ml polish disappeared....rather evaporated ! On a totally unrelated counter at a different mall, i saw a SA adding nailpolish remover to the nailpolish. She was sitting there and topping all the polishes with nail paint remover ! I was aghast ! So now when i see too runny polishes, i know what these wretched salesgirls have done !
I have been keeping an eagle eye on these SAs while swatching and i openly ask them if they have tampered with eyeliner and i ask them to open and show me.Their facial expressions are enough for me to find out if they lie .Only and when i am satisfied do i buy it. I have seen eyeliners being sharpened, new lipsticks,foundations and blushes opened and shown to the eager customer because no testers are available. Its daylight robbery especially when these stuff are sold at Rs, 500 and above.
I mean , is the concept of seal and tamper-proof packaging so alien to these companies ? Why are not all the deos,moisturizers and facewashes sold with the visible seal ?
I now buy only from those brands which come sealed especially in those products where those options are available. However, in deos,nailpolishes,facewashes i just have to nitpick,probe and then still come home with the products with lingering doubts.Only a strong collective voice can make these companies become stringent and active complaining at malls will stop these SAs from misusing the costly products !Please keep a vigilante eye and do register your complaint when you find those careless SAs tampering.If nothing else, it will set a precedent !
What do you think? Do you as a customer unmindful, encourage tampering ?
greatt post !!! i have seen them offering new products for testers, but i have resolved to never buy unsealed products until and unless m shopping streetside !! great post ! way to go !!
ReplyDeletethis happens everywhere.. especially in deos and perfumes where u cant see the product..
ReplyDeletei once bought a Revlon Charlie spray from Spencers..there was nothing inside the can..it finished off in days..I was duped..
Good post..
I have seen this too esp " Mam iska tester nai hai... u can try from the fresh one" bad.......
ReplyDelete