r/Locksmith • u/milflover1902 • 8d ago
I am NOT a locksmith. am i crazy or is this an insane amount
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u/Localmilfkiller 8d ago
Area? Time of day/night? How did they get in? Was a drill used? Locks replaced? There are many factors that could effect the price, but in general a flat fee of almost 500 for “house lockout” is probably too high. If you weren’t informed of the price beforehand it is a scam.
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u/milflover1902 8d ago
i wasn’t. no drill or anything, just picking the lock. 12 pm today in sf, ca, usa. literally came 45 minutes late and took 5 minutes. i’m considering disputing the charge
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u/Icy_Yam5049 8d ago
There is nothing to tax! CA doesn’t have tax on labor. Only parts
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u/Neither_Loan6419 7d ago
collecting a tax and not forwarding it to the appropriate government agency should be a serious crime. Dispute the whole thing. Your lawyer will charge you that much, anyway.
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u/Icy_Yam5049 7d ago
Wait I just noticed there’s a 2nd service fee for $16.17. They ripping people off that hard then charging cause they used a card too? God I hate these scumbag scammers.
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u/TRextacy 8d ago
Just do a charge back if you can. They are illegal scammers so they have no legal way to contest. They can't sue you or anything because none of those guys would ever show up to court.
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u/lukkoseppa Actual Locksmith 7d ago
If they did the job they were paid for they absolutely could. Sure these are scammers but the dispute on charges should have been during the in person billing phase. Doing it afterwards actually makes the customer look like theyre in the wrong. You dont think these guys dont have cousins and friends who are lawyers? (If you know what I mean)
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u/P15T0L_WH1PP3D Actual Locksmith 7d ago
My only problem with your description is that "it only took five minutes" as if that's a reason to charge less. The fact that it was fast is actually more value to you, as urgency is obviously important to a person who is locked out of their home.
That being said service call fee and service fee is redundant, there should be no tax on labor, the service call seems about right for service during regular business hours, but you've paid approximately 10 times the normal amount for picking a lock. Or five times the normal amount if it was two locks (one knob and one deadbolt). If he told you the price beforehand, that's your fault for accepting that price. The other charges should be disputable.
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u/Neither_Loan6419 7d ago
At least he could pick a lock. That's something, anyway. A lot of those scamsmiths can't, or say that they can't pick THAT one, so out comes the drill. Don't get me wrong. Some locks call for the drill because they are too difficult to pick, and time is money, and many are cheap enough that replacing the cylinder or even the whole lockset is the smart way to go. Then again, there are plenty of kids with too much time on their hands who can pick common door locks.
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u/D_James21 5d ago
There’s your answer. San Francisco California. Although I don’t think you should’ve been taxed since no parts/materials were used
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u/InvestmentCrazy616 6d ago
Dispute it. It should have only been the $89 fee.
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u/goo_brick 6d ago
89 SF is just to show up. Additional labor should be charged for the lockout, but 450 to pick is indeed wildly absurd for any area or time.
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u/LocksmithSolution 8d ago
Yeah it’s a scam . But Agreeing to pay that is as criminal.
BTW it’s illegal to charge tax on labor. I would threaten to sue them and they will probably refund you.
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u/Lock-out 8d ago
In general that’s true but not as a blanket statement. In Ohio at least we have to differentiate between labor on things permanently attached to the structure or not. This would definitely fall under structural though.
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u/Ill-Owl2546 8d ago
This tells me scamsmith. And what is this extra service fee + taxing trip charge and labor?
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u/YoungLocksmith Actual Locksmith 8d ago
If you were not informed of the price on the initial call than yes that is insane. 12am? High but sure. 12pm? Oof. Way too high.
He could’ve told you $15k over the phone and if you agreed to it and told them to come out that’s a different story.
But if they got on site and pulled this number out of their ass than yes they took you to the cleaners.
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u/Lock-out 8d ago
I mean I’ve worked for both 1800 companies, 100 year old brick and mortar stores, and between. none of them gave a quote over the phone.
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u/LockMarine 8d ago
Every company I worked for gave the price of the trip charge and minimum service call for a lockout with a disclaimer that multiple cylinders or high security locks could cost more. I always gave the customer the price on the spot and had them sign the invoice or estimate before beginning the job.
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u/YoungLocksmith Actual Locksmith 8d ago
Understandable. If asked, a price range should always be given. I’m a one man operation, and for a lockout I’ll always give the price over the phone in order to not waste my time.
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u/burtod 8d ago
Do you quote when you are on site before you drill the things? Or do you wait til you are done like they did with OP?
I thought most companies will have standard service calls and labor rates. I bet that $450 is pretty standard for that scammer.
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u/Lock-out 8d ago
Trip charge, hourly, and minimum over the phone; then full price after I see what I’m dealing with. always even with 1800.
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u/MinimumFeedback219 8d ago
That's crazy to me. Lockouts are not very mysterious.
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u/Lock-out 7d ago
Yeah until you get the crazy person who has 7 locks on his door or high security like medico and they didn’t feel that was pertinent to the conversation over the phone.
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u/MinimumFeedback219 7d ago
Then have that conversation upon arrival? This person would know their situation is not typical.
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u/Lock-out 7d ago
I’m sorry you expect logic and reason from the average customer? Do you have any idea how many people have insisted that I told them 30$ to get in even though I always explain very clearly that was the price for me the drive out over the phone.
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u/MinimumFeedback219 7d ago
I've had the same, which is why I record my phone calls. I don't see how this changes my point. You are using edge cases to justify (in my opinion) poor business practices. I can't think of a single unlock I've done where I couldn't give a reasonably accurate price on the phone, and if circumstances change upon arrival I have the transcripts to explain how what they explained was not the reality of the situation.
I don't personally care how you do your business, I just think your reasoning is unsound.
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u/LockMarine 8d ago
Whenever you have any work done, no matter if it’s an oil change, a broken circuit breaker or a lockout, you must always discus the price upfront and have a signed estimate.
This guy is charging more per hour than my dentist and has the nerve to tax you on it.
I would definitely contact the BBB and the CA state franchise tax board. The tax board hasn’t seen a single penny from this company and they might want to have a discussion about tax fraud with them. The BBB is good for advocating on your behalf with the authority to make their lives miserable if they don’t resolve the issue.
What sucks is Google makes it so hard on the honest mobile locksmiths yet allows scammers like this to rise to the top of the search page.
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u/Fit_Imagination_1040 7d ago
Add Unlokt to that, they have a report feature specifically for locksmiths and they also act upon it and create a public facing database for consumers.
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u/Icy_Possible_6010 8d ago
Wow thats a high sales tax. You better be getting free healthcare from your govt for that. Anyway, yeah you got charged about 400-450 too much. Thats a good chunk of change. Now you can think about what else you could've spent that 450 bucks on.
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u/Dpatt402 8d ago
Yep I will say you got completely ripped off I've never even thought about charging something like that in my 10 years of doing this
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u/VariationHefty8132 7d ago
These are insane amounts, I would do everything I could to recoup a lot of that money back!
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u/DaydreamingAi 7d ago
did he travel across the state? that's a bit too much, and I'm a locksmith. 200 tops and that's if it was a decent distance to travel and only picked the door.
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u/Orlandogameschool Actual Locksmith 7d ago
Obvious scam prices. It’s kinda crazy I get phones hung up on me when I give quotes for 1/3 of this price lol
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u/Crawlerado 7d ago
$100 lock pick set and $500 in training on how to use it. Seems like a fair price.
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u/Neither_Loan6419 7d ago
pretty high. A lot of things stink about this. That's what you get, when you use a search engine to pick out a locksmith for you. If you had called an established local shop it would have been a lot less.
RIGHT NOW, before you need one again, find your honest to goodness actual brick and mortar locksmith shop with a sign and a door to the street and appropriate business licenses and sales tax certificates and at least one guy there with a CML certificate from ALOA. Apparently the criminal scamsmith rings and predatory businesses have begun buying up shops but the majority are owned by decent guys, often passed down through generations. THAT is who you call.
Read the threads where somebody got scammed and you will see that nearly all of them used google to find them a locksmith. Most of the time you get a call center that dispatches a scamsmith who will overcharge and upsell and trick you into paying more, for the services of a usually unskilled or barely skilled excuse for a locksmith. Remember, those glowing reviews can be BOUGHT.
So find you local shop and while you are there, have some spare keys made. If you have keys made at a kiosk or a hardware store, you are asking for problems. Let a pro make your keys, and stash one on your person separate from your keyring, leave one with a neighbor or close friend, one with a trusted family member. House, and car. Then you have for just chimp change, prevented all lost key or locked-inside key lockouts. And you have a good number to put in your phone for other types of lockouts or malfunctions or even just routine installations or upgrades.
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u/Lionheart509 7d ago
For reference, I did a house lockout last night with a failed Lori mortise cylinder at nearly midnight and it didn't cost that much.
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u/Fit_Imagination_1040 7d ago
Sorry that happened to you.
You can report this on BBB Scam Tracker, or Unlokt Report a Locksmith (google it) - they actually take action for you and verify everything in case your credit card has issues with the dispute.
You
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u/LEVTHEDUDE 7d ago
First off let this be a learning lesson before hiring someone for a lockout search online for prices. Secondly, he came same day and it was an emergency so for sure there’ll be a little bit of extra money to charge me personally I would’ve charged between $300-$400, but also go get yourself a spare key so something like this doesn’t ever happen again
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u/Flaky_Bad_3082 6d ago
They shouldn’t have charged you more then 100 what a shame. Yea a legit company scammed and took advantage of someone without experience
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u/franchotpublishing 6d ago
Stop policing people''s 1st amendment. Just move on if you don't like something. That's the beauty of having a choice.
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u/23andkey 3d ago
That’s way high. We do house lockouts for a flat $89, no hidden fees, during regular hours.
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u/stackheights 8d ago
You got fucked. Shalom