My fiance installed new locks on my front door recently. The bottom lock was fine, but no matter how many times he tried, he couldn't get the top dead bolt to operate. So after a quick internet search, we called a locksmith and made an appointment for the following week.
During the appointment scheduling conversation, we were told there would be a $19.00 Service Call, and a $35.00 minimum repair fee.
When the appointment day arrived, the technician showed up an hour late. We let him in, and he took both locks off the door, even though there was no problem with the bottom lock. He put them back on and the dead bolt was working.
He was here for about a half hour, and when he wrote up the bill, charged $184.00. We told him we thought that was more than we expected, but were offered not alternative or suggestions about how to deal with out dissatisfaction.
The next day when I looked at the bill, I saw he billed us for an "Emergency Home Lockout Service." I called the number on the receipt and left a message. No one called back. Subsequently, I noticed the door wouldn't shut tightly because the bottom lock was off kilter.
That afternoon, my fiance called and spoke with someone about it, and asked to speak with a manager. He spoke with a gentleman named Dan who would not acknowledge that the tecnician chagred us for a lockout when we weren't locked out. I got on the phone and asked for another Manager and was put through to a woman named "Amy," who wouldn't provide her last name, her company's address, or headquarters, or the name of the owner of the company...all of which I asked for. She hung up on me 3 times, the last after telling me that if we'd called when presented with the bill, they would have worked with us, possibly making a price adjustment, because we were first-time customers. So I asked her if she would provide the same courtesy today, and make an adjustment...at which point she hung up on me for the last time.
The employees managing this enterprise are not customer friendly, and showed no interest in resolving the problem. They were rude and unprofessional. The manager Amy's solution, along with 3 other representatives of the company, was to tell me a tech would be coming back out to fix the bottom lock that he broke, free of charge. So far, No one has shown up to repair the bottom lock, and they will not take my phone calls. No matter who we spoke to, we felt like we were getting indirect answers to our questions, and total disregard for our concerns about the product, performance, and cost.
I did an internet search on the phone number printed on the receipt where the company was called "24/7 Locksmith Services and came up with a different company name called United Locksmith Services.
It seems like there is a network of locksmiths all operating under different names, no addresses. I would advise consumers to use local locksmiths with a street address and to steer clear of Internet only services. Here are some of the phone numbers this company uses: 571-267-5920, 866-338-9997, 443-963-3099, 240-374-9388.
This is less a report of scam, and more a report of completely unacceptable customer service with red flags indicating a high possibility of scamming.
I needed a locksmith to pick my bottom lock so I could re-enter my apartment. This was the first company I called in my distressed state, and we're happy to oblige.
Warning signs that I should have listened to before wasting my time, included not stating their company name whenever the phone was picked up, not giving out their physical location, and being very ambiguous with their prices, routine services, and technician routing time.
The most prominent issue with my case was the latter, technician routing time. Over the course of five hours, and seven phone calls, I was told each time that a technician was on-route to my residence, and that their ETA was 20-25 minutes.
I stood outside for 2 of those five hours, in the night, before I was able to get a hold of my neighbor and remain there till my situation was resolved.
This company was borderline fraudulent with their customer services, as I was never given a definite answer about my circumstances and when a technician would arrive. By the end of the night, I had called several other locksmiths as I realized no matter how many times I called them back, I would never get anywhere.
In fact, I believe they never intended to send someone to my residence after my second call, where I was brutally honest about my situation and told them that I would turn away the technician if the fee didn't match the quote, or that unecessary labor was "required". I am not certain of this, but by the end of the night, I had enough red flags to believe they considered me a poor target, and simply humored me on the remaining calls with no intention of fulfilling my desired services.
So, in short, this company's practices are beyond unacceptable and possibly indicate an underlying scamming motive. Please do more research and find an appropriate locksmith. For something like my situation, where it's just the bottom lock, that would never be more than $100.
And for those wondering, I was able to resolve my problem on my own.
United Locksmith Reviews
My fiance installed new locks on my front door recently. The bottom lock was fine, but no matter how many times he tried, he couldn't get the top dead bolt to operate. So after a quick internet search, we called a locksmith and made an appointment for the following week.
During the appointment scheduling conversation, we were told there would be a $19.00 Service Call, and a $35.00 minimum repair fee.
When the appointment day arrived, the technician showed up an hour late. We let him in, and he took both locks off the door, even though there was no problem with the bottom lock. He put them back on and the dead bolt was working.
He was here for about a half hour, and when he wrote up the bill, charged $184.00. We told him we thought that was more than we expected, but were offered not alternative or suggestions about how to deal with out dissatisfaction.
The next day when I looked at the bill, I saw he billed us for an "Emergency Home Lockout Service." I called the number on the receipt and left a message. No one called back. Subsequently, I noticed the door wouldn't shut tightly because the bottom lock was off kilter.
That afternoon, my fiance called and spoke with someone about it, and asked to speak with a manager. He spoke with a gentleman named Dan who would not acknowledge that the tecnician chagred us for a lockout when we weren't locked out. I got on the phone and asked for another Manager and was put through to a woman named "Amy," who wouldn't provide her last name, her company's address, or headquarters, or the name of the owner of the company...all of which I asked for. She hung up on me 3 times, the last after telling me that if we'd called when presented with the bill, they would have worked with us, possibly making a price adjustment, because we were first-time customers. So I asked her if she would provide the same courtesy today, and make an adjustment...at which point she hung up on me for the last time.
The employees managing this enterprise are not customer friendly, and showed no interest in resolving the problem. They were rude and unprofessional. The manager Amy's solution, along with 3 other representatives of the company, was to tell me a tech would be coming back out to fix the bottom lock that he broke, free of charge. So far, No one has shown up to repair the bottom lock, and they will not take my phone calls. No matter who we spoke to, we felt like we were getting indirect answers to our questions, and total disregard for our concerns about the product, performance, and cost.
I did an internet search on the phone number printed on the receipt where the company was called "24/7 Locksmith Services and came up with a different company name called United Locksmith Services.
It seems like there is a network of locksmiths all operating under different names, no addresses. I would advise consumers to use local locksmiths with a street address and to steer clear of Internet only services. Here are some of the phone numbers this company uses: 571-267-5920, 866-338-9997, 443-963-3099, 240-374-9388.
This is less a report of scam, and more a report of completely unacceptable customer service with red flags indicating a high possibility of scamming.
I needed a locksmith to pick my bottom lock so I could re-enter my apartment. This was the first company I called in my distressed state, and we're happy to oblige.
Warning signs that I should have listened to before wasting my time, included not stating their company name whenever the phone was picked up, not giving out their physical location, and being very ambiguous with their prices, routine services, and technician routing time.
The most prominent issue with my case was the latter, technician routing time. Over the course of five hours, and seven phone calls, I was told each time that a technician was on-route to my residence, and that their ETA was 20-25 minutes.
I stood outside for 2 of those five hours, in the night, before I was able to get a hold of my neighbor and remain there till my situation was resolved.
This company was borderline fraudulent with their customer services, as I was never given a definite answer about my circumstances and when a technician would arrive. By the end of the night, I had called several other locksmiths as I realized no matter how many times I called them back, I would never get anywhere.
In fact, I believe they never intended to send someone to my residence after my second call, where I was brutally honest about my situation and told them that I would turn away the technician if the fee didn't match the quote, or that unecessary labor was "required". I am not certain of this, but by the end of the night, I had enough red flags to believe they considered me a poor target, and simply humored me on the remaining calls with no intention of fulfilling my desired services.
So, in short, this company's practices are beyond unacceptable and possibly indicate an underlying scamming motive. Please do more research and find an appropriate locksmith. For something like my situation, where it's just the bottom lock, that would never be more than $100.
And for those wondering, I was able to resolve my problem on my own.