Forum menu
You can break open a standard Eurocylinder with a screwdriver and lump hammer in about ten seconds
Not without taking the risk of damaging the door / locking mechanism you can't.
I'd expect any competent locksmith to drill it rather than snap it.
Politely tell him you'll be in touch with trading standards as you think the bill is excessive - unless he'd like to reconsider the amount.
I'd be writing up an invoice for reading that testicles bill, leaving ~£250 tops.
Covexit inflation... Not half!
Are they a member of any trade association eg Master Locksmiths etc,if so give them a ring,also google search them for reviews,good or bad.
If you know you have a spare key in side house always easier to smash a window to gain entry and a lot cheaper sometimes.
Hidden keysafe outside with spare key also helps.
Hes over charged you big time, and also he may well have a spare key tour house.
That sounds ridiculous.
I called one out, ok, five years ago in London. Drilled and replaced the lock. £75
Reviews are bad, I haven’t been the only one ripped off...
I don’t think he kept a key, would be too obvious.
Anyway, needed to blow some steam, thanks guys.
Sorry to hear about your experience. It's shit really. I used to work with locksmiths and the Callout fee would usually include the first twenty minutes or so labour. Not specific tasks being charged extra after arriving.
I can suggest a couple of companies for those in the Berkshire area who won't pull your pants down, if needed in the future. No affiliation as I don't work in the security industry these days.
£49 to change the cylinder. He’s tearing the arse out of it now. They’re held in by a single machine screw and take 30 seconds to change
True fact. I changed a euro cylinder and my definition of bike maintenance is limited to brake pads and tyre air.
I’ve changed locks myself..I know how easy it is..
I lost a key while running in Richmond park ages ago. Chap opposite had ladders on his van so got in through window upstairs, was open so he reached in.
Actually happened twice, second time I had spare key at work so got taxi there and back.
A tenant in London lost a key so checked into hotel as he knew it would be cheaper than calling out a locksmith at night.
Really sad to be ripped off in these times, I know people have to make a living but 500+ for a couple of hours is a pxxx take.
Ouch!!!!
The key in door on inside scenario is why when we got new doors the front door has no keyhole on the inside. So if any leaves their key in the back door I can still get in.
Last tradesman we had out fixed a sewing machine. £25.
£80 for a simple door open in Newcastle last year, Sunday afternoon. Actually scary how quick he was. He was very local though so 20 minutes all in? Still ok by the hour.
I asked about cost up front as I was eyeing up the garage window as the cheapest option.thing is with stuff like this you arn't in a good negotiating position.
Shit the bed, I've just realised that those costs are plus VAT. I've turned his (hopefully) dyslexic invoice into something more readable:
Emergency callout fee - £106.80
"Labour to open door with key on inside part of lock by drilling" - £210
New anti-snap cylinder lock and two extra keys - £194.40
Lock change labour - £58.80
Call-out fee is what it is, you presumably agreed to that before telling him to proceed. Was it out of hours or just "come quickly"?
£210 literally to drill a hole.
£195 for £50 quid's worth of hardware.
£60 to remove and refit a screw.
There is absolutely no way I'd be going "oh well" after that, I'd be round on his doorstep with bombers and frozen sausages. Based solely on the overpricing of the locks I'd suggest dividing that invoice by a factor of 4. Also, Trading Standards and anyone else you can get to listen.
How did you / she pay? Do you have £600 cash in a mattress?
Lol no, with card...
I’ve emailed locksmith association and will contact trading standards tomorrow.
It was on Sunday at 5pm
You think Trading Standards can do something about it?
How do you think they work? They rarely deal with individually complaints but they do respond to continuous trading bad practice. If they don’t know about it then they can’t deal with it. Op may not get his good cash back through trading standards but others might not be ripped off in the future. It’s the descent thing to do.
Lol no, with card…
Credit or debit?
Debit
I'd say everything is on the high end but not a blatant "rogue trader ripping off an old lady" sort of level. What brand lock is it? An Ultion lock is over £100 trade so the markup wouldn't so ridiculous for something like that but a standard Euro cylinder that you can get for £30-40 then that's way too much of a mark up.
A simple solution to not having a key stuck on the inside is to fit a thumb latch.
Has the added advantage of not dying in a fiery death if the key ISN'T in the lock when you really really need it yo be.
It's not just locksmiths I'd chuck in accident recovery .A friends daughter rolled a wee Ford Ka nothing too bad and sitting 6' from the road on the grass, the bill 4 days later was almost £1500. Eastern European driver probably on £7/hr had it on the lorry in twenty mins and the depot was 3 miles away
When challenged, the itemised bill was a joke, even to clean up the area had a charge of £175.00. We picked up a bumper and cleaned the broken glass . With the threat of being reported the immediate removal of £500 would still not have been enough for me but was accepted. What doesn't help is the policeman had a few of their business cards
Eastern European driver probably on £7/hr
This bit adds so much to the story... *rolleyes* Tell me, was he stealing "our job" too?
Name the business so others can avoid in future. A Google search will find this thread.
Showed this to my brother in law who's a locksmith just outside London, said the OP has been massively ripped off. He'd have charged £60-90 + VAT for a standard lock. Said high security British Standard locks can cost around £70 so probably about £150 all in - not that this locksmith has fitted that mind. He also said you can cancel the payment - you have a 14 day cooling off period by law.
He also said you can cancel the payment – you have a 14 day cooling off period by law.
What law is that?
*rolleyes* nothing to do with who was doing the recovery ie the driver it's the shark who owns the company even had his lorry looking like an official police vehicle from a distance. The locksmith may be just a small fish getting a lot less than the invoice, call centre telling him what to charge
I emailed the company yesterday, if they don't reply I'll post the name etc. here, many thanks for de advice guys.
This one;
https://www.checkmyfile.com/jargon/cooling-off-period
/blockquote>That's law that applies to credit agreements and distance selling. Not applicable to this.
I'm not gonna get my money back, but if at least I can somehow avoid this happening to other people..
*rolleyes* nothing to do with who was doing the recovery ie the driver it’s the shark who owns the company even had his lorry looking like an official police vehicle from a distance. The locksmith may be just a small fish getting a lot less than the invoice, call centre telling him what to charge
And yet YOU mentioned his nationality! If he was getting paid minimum wage it would have been more than £7 - the current minimum wage for anyone over 25 is £8.72. Experienced recovery drivers - doing difficult things like getting rolled cars our of fields quickly are probably earning close to double that.
The police probably carry his cards because they know they'll be there sharpish, his aim is to get the road open asap with minimum time waste for them. You aren't required to use their operator - if you are prepared enough to have your own number handy! Usually the insurance are paying for the recovery - so "nobody cares" about the price. Bear in mind that by being so quick to respond means he has someone able to answer the phone, drivers on standby 24-7, probably a fleet of vehicles of maintain, likely to comply with lifting equipment regs, a yard to keep them in, and he might go for a few days (or in current climate with less traffic a few weeks) without a call - but we still expect that the police will be able to call someone to get a road open as soon as the ambulances have left the scene. Likewise when in a panic on a rainy sunday afternoon we expect that some locksmith will be able to drop everything and let us into our house as soon as possible.
I'm not saying £1500 for recovering a car, or £570 for a simple locksmith job is fair (I'm still smarting about paying a locksmith £80 25 years ago for a job that literally took him three minutes to walk from his shop to my flat and longer to write the receipt than it took to open the door), but it needs skills, equipment, and experience you don't have at short notice so "its a five minute job" becomes irrelevant. Would I be willing to kit out a van, pay for online advertising, hold stock of various locks, and be on call 24-7 to let people into their houses for ~£400 gross profit a call out - probably not my first choice, especially in the current climate where nobody leaves there house - I used my front door key for the first time in 10 weeks at the weekend.
There is running a business and ripping folk off. Have you ever seen recovery drivers sweeping a road or verge? They always leave stuff lying around
Where in London are you, I have a chap does all my odd jobs. He wouldn't rip you off.
This one;
https://www.checkmyfile.com/jargon/cooling-off-period
/blockquote>Errr....
That’s law that applies to credit agreements and distance selling. Not applicable to this.
^^^ This - we have statutory rights but there is no right to just return anything within 14 days. And how do you return a service (ie, the time spent by the locksmith fixing the lock).
Ask him to come back as you are having a problem with the new lock barrel. Whilst you're explaining it has mysteriosuly fixed itself get a friend to clamp his van parked on your drive. When he kicks off, calmly point to the sign that states the drive is private property and clamping is in operation, release fee £570.
why dont you ring them up, pretending to be someone else.
tell them what the problem is and ask them for a quote.
if its £570 ask them why is it so much and can they do it cheaper?
if its cheaper than £570 asked them why they charged you £570?
Even if your wife asked about the costs, he would've said '£49 for labour' designed to make her think': result! Was there a VAT number? Continental writing (French?) I'd have a word with the trading standards officer. An itinerant bituminous deposit engineer tried to turn over my PiL and the trading standards person was really good and sent the police round for a chat as well.
20s with a file and the door would’ve been open.
That bill is a blatant rip-off and fraud/theft.
The fact you had another key and he either didn’t know what to do or chose not to is the main point.
Cancel the payment now and let him chase it.
hammyuk
Member
20s with a file and the door would’ve been open.
That bill is a blatant rip-off and fraud/theft.
The fact you had another key and he either didn’t know what to do or chose not to is the main point.
Cancel the payment now and let him chase it.
Great advice except, they were locked out so how is '20s with a file' going to help them get in? They had another key, it was in the lock locked inside, that was the problem. Paid be Debit card. How do they cancel that when the wifey's agreed to the fee?
So, 'E- must try and pay more attention HammyUk'...
This is the company:
Locksmith 24 Hours
Blaga Vest Ltd
3 Gerry Raffles Square
London E15 1BG
ldnlocksmith247@gmail.com
http://key-24.co.uk/
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/10908735
They have bad reviews here: https://www.trustpilot.com/review/key-24.co.uk
I guess the good reviews are fake.
I can't leave a review as their website is down (I assume they did it to avoid bad reviews).
I'm gonna contact trading standards today.
I was also thinking of setting up a website eg: http://key-24-scam.co.uk/ or http://key-24-ripoff.co.uk/ explaining the case, but I maybe do that later after having spoken to trading standards.
Yes clearly fake reviews. Is there a trade body, or trading standards. These outfits need to be shut down, I can't believe they get away with it.
Or look on money saving expert forum for advice, some experts over there. I got a full refund from an insurance company as I saw they were fca reg so threatened to complain to fca, full refund offered.
I’d be concerned they have your debit card details too from the payment....... maybe worth cancelling the card just incase, who knows what else they are up to!
Blaga Vest Ltd
3 Gerry Raffles Square
Raffles the Blaga. Not exactly the gentleman thief...
You're not seeing that money again, sadly. Send the bugger on a few fake callouts to the back of beyond to make yourself feel marginally better.
I've sent a complaint to trading standards, gonna check money saving expert forum, thanks.
I bet you a million pounds and a leg that the "VAT" isn't passed on to the Exchequer either.
The positive reviews on Trustpilot are obviously fake, as most of the reviewers photos are just taken from Google. One called 'Samantha' is a Sky journalist! The fake reviews can be flagged and TP will remove them.
I feel the poor reviews are the genuine ones...
These sharks should be closed down asap!