have I been ripped off or is this a normal price

debjk

feeling a bit sick the lock broke on my upvc door so after a week of no front door I called a locksmith a local one through Yell picked one that was close to where I live any how the whole mechanism was broken (I dont doubt this) so needed replacing. It had to be done so he went ahead and did it he went out to do the invoice and I thought maybe around £200 he came back in and it was 426.52 I feel sick you can get a new door for that I am already well into my overdraft and this has to come out of that. so bloody stupid should of asked beforehand how much cuz I would of just got a new door never thought it would be that high !

on the invoice the labour says £75 (which is prob about right ) and materials 288.00 then vat

Debbie (feeling sicker by the moment especially as her local paper has ads for brand new doors fitted for £349)

pawpurrs

Sounds a lot!

Astec

Ouch! For a non-emergency, for a lock...maybe £20 parts and similar for labour. £50 MAX!

Never have work done from someone you've never used without a price first!

Also, if your female, have a handy looking bloke around. My wife's got a slow puncture on her car, no way she's taking it in as the'd try and convince her that all sorts needs doing, £5 puncture will come back as £500 new brakes and shocks.

Alan_M_2

What exactly did he replace and has the invoice provided a breakdown of the parts replaced?

debjk

says
1 double upvc lock then some unreadable letters
1 ctr keep
4 round keeps (i think)
1upvc handleset
1 upvc strip lock mechanism total 288.00

keystone

Astec wrote: »

Ouch! For a non-emergency, for a lock...maybe £20 parts and similar for labour. £50 MAX!

At the risk of being rude you have no idea what work was involved in this so to suggest that its only £ 20 labour is plain nonsense. Additonally multipoint locking mechanisms (what he's called the striplock I suspect) retail at between £150 and £200 on their own so where you get the £ 20 parts concept from I have no idea either.

The question that has to be answered is did he need to replace that? The OP says he did. The mistake (and I agree with you here) was to allow the final bill to be a shock. It would have been a shock whenever he gave it and I would criticise him for not saying ath the outset "You do realise this is going to cost about £X - don't you?"

Cheers

debjk

have looked at the strip used and its a fuhr looked online and the most expensive I could find was 135 the one we have is a 4 roller one and I have seen them for less than 100 things like the keeps retail for about £1 ish each, a upvc double lock £40 and a handle £20 from screwfix ...... you live and learn

Alan_M_2

debjk wrote: »

says
1 double upvc lock then some unreadable letters
1 ctr keep
4 round keeps (i think)
1upvc handleset
1 upvc strip lock mechanism total 288.00

So he's stripped down the entire door lock and refitted the mechanism for £75 + vat.

That isn't excessive.

The question is, did the parts require replacing (that can't be answered by anyone on here without viewing the old stuff) and were you charged a reasonable price for the items that were replaced (that can be answered by someone in the know with a little more information on make and model.

Imp

The lock alone would have cost £50 - £70, the strip lock mechanisms are expensive, so the price seems there or there abouts.

debjk

Alan_M wrote: »

So he's stripped down the entire door lock and refitted the mechanism for £75 + vat.

That isn't excessive.

.

In my original post I said the labour was about right it was the cost of the parts that seemed a lot especially when you can get a new door with the locks already in for a similar price including labour.

Inactive

Well it is " water under the bridge " now, get an estimate next time before proceeding.;)