Terrible Locksmith

AndrewLondon

Trying to cut a long story short:

I was out with some people from work when someone needed to get back into the office. I lent him my keys and carried on eating and drinking and completely forgot about it. He came back and we continued chatting, drinking etc. and we forgot that he had my keys. It wasn't until I got home I realised I was locked out.

By the time I'd got home I was in South London and he was in North London and it was way too late for the tube, plus he was flying to Germany in the early hours (but would be back the next day).

So my options were to either call a locksmith or just stay in a hotel. Unfortunately I have a kitten who was hungry so I decided to call a locksmith.

I Googled for locksmiths on my phone and found a few numbers. Most didn't answer, but one did - so I arranged for him to come and open my door. After an hour of waiting he arrived. He didn't attempt to pick the lock, he went straight in with a drill and screwdriver. Bearing in mind that it was between 1 and 2am, I wasn't really impressed that he didn't at least attempt to pick it. My front door is in the most echoey hall way around other flats filled with people who I'm sure now hate me. But, as I'm not a locksmith, I assumed this was normal and let him continue.

After 2 hours of drilling and twiddling a screwdriver he decided that he couldn't open it. So he asked if I would like to stay in a hotel. I said that seeing as he has pretty much ruined the door around the lock, I don't want to have to pay for a new door, a locksmith, a hotel and then still be locked out!

He said there would be no charge because he didn't get the door open. He said that as he hasn't drilled the lock my key should still work. So as it was around 3am - I decided to just call it a night and go to a hotel. The next day my keys were couriered from the airport to my flat and arrived there at 21:00. So I was happy thinking that I would be able to get in to feed the kitten who hadn't been fed in 36 hours. But nope, the lock was broken. The key did absolutely nothing.

So this is the silly bit - my brother in law is a carpenter and locksmith. But I didn't want to disturb him in the middle of the night and that's the reason I phoned the cowboy guy. But now I was desperate - so I phoned him. He came and tried to open the lock but it was completely ruined. The cowboy locksmith had broken the lock to the point where it would be impossible to pick - after all you can only pick a lock if you can open it with a key. And he had also drilled into parts of the lock that were completely unnecessary. My BIL reckons that he was just guessing and drilling into parts at random. But, as he's also a carpenter, it was very easy for him to drill the door in such a way that the lock would simply fall out. And that's what he did. I managed to get in and my kitten was very grateful for her food! :j

So my question is this:

How can I complain about this locksmith?
My door is not exactly complicated. It was only one Chubb lock. Any decent locksmith could've picked it. And not only did he leave me locked out - he also broke the lock in such a way that the only way in was to damage the door frame and door - both of which are going to need serious work to put right. Plus I need a new lock. And I had to pay for a hotel!

olias

Why didn't you just get the guy from the office to send the keys over in a taxi in the first place?

Best bet is to claim on your insurance - they usually pay out for lost keys/new locks. Make sure you tell them you lost the keys though.

Olias

Locknut

Hi Andrewlondon

sorry you have had a bad dealing with another of the industry's clowns, unfortunatly the UK locksmith industry is totally unregulated unlike many other countrys around the world But our goverment dont seem to think there is a problem with badly trained locksmiths drilling locks unnecessarily damaging door and charging customers the earth for the privalage! just type Locksmith training into any search engine there are thousands of sites promising £1000's a week after a couple of days training and how the industry is recession proof. trust me its far from it and with the amount of new start up locksmiths about 100 per week accross the uk the long established firms are finding it tough and a few that I know that have gone to the wall. I would urge anyone looking for a locksmith to find an ICL or an MLA company as these are backed up by an industry body that you have some recourse to.

As for your sistuation Andrew I would firstly ask the locksmith to cover your out of pocket expences and all damage that he caused to your door and lets juts hope he has public liability insurance! other than that make a complaint to trading standards and hopefully they will be able to have some more clout with him.