Fakes: Ai yah! I got ripped off by buying WD-Phony

Here’s the latest example of why I hate shopping in China.  It’s a can of fake WD-40. Yup, the label clearly says “Made in USA,” but it’s not. Before I went shopping for the product to spray on a seized-up bolt on my Campy brakes, I was warned about the counterfeit versions in the market. First, I went to a hole-in-the-wall hardware shop near my office. It had a can of solvent just labeled “WD.” Ah hah, that must be the copycat product, I thought. There was another can of “WD-40,” but it was rusty and looked like it had been on the shelf for years. The can also had a bulbous shape that seemed dodgy and unfamiliar. So I went to another shop a couple blocks away. As soon as I walked into the store – no bigger than a walk-in closet – I saw a can of “WD-40″ with a bright, professionally printed can that even offered “20% More Free!”  The can was the same shape of the WD-40 I used to buy in the U.S. Wah lah, this had to be the real deal. Well, I was fooled again. I can’t believe how naive I was. I didn’t even ask to spray a little bit and check to see if it smelled like the real thing. After I got home, I went to an expert’s home and he showed me a can of the real stuff. I got a whiff of it, and it had the slightly sweet scent that I remembered from the product I used to buy in the U.S. The stuff in the can I bought had an unpleasant acrid odor. The genuine product was in a bulbous can, mostly likely designed to frustrate the copycats. I must admit the constant worrying about whether what I’m buying is real or fake is really starting to wear on me.