Bike lock nightmare! One key for two gold standard £60 locks

System

butler_helen wrote: »

Hmmmm cars with transferable keys seems more dodgy!

With the old Mk 1 Cortinas you could read the key number off the lock and then go to a car shop and buy one ready cut.

Morty_007

a lot of people overlooking 2 things...
1. OP says they have checked with lots of locks not just the 2 they own
2. Irrespective of whether they bought them locally or miles apart...the keys still fit OTHER LOCKS!! Which means the OP can open other locks and others can open his...surely defeating the object of buying a blimmin lock in the first place!!

I'd keep trying different Halfords' and maybe email the director? I'd say the items weren't fit for purpose to be honest. You buy them to stop something getting nicked...but if others have keys they aren't going to do that for long are they!?!

forgotmyname

I would have been chuffed at having to only need to carry one key and the fact there is one less identical key out
there because you bought it.

Even if they have 1 million combinations how many locks do you think they sell? There will be many many more identical
keys out there that will fit your lock. You can probably get a kit to open the lock faster than you can with a key anyway.

I remember a show on steering wheel locks, One lock folded flat onto the wheel with little effort, The manufacturer claimed
the lock was still secure because it had not been removed. No much point if the car can be driven away with it still fitted though.

Strolls

butler_helen wrote: »

OMG that's a GENIUS idea! ... I shall be doing that next weekend... I can see me having some fun... perhaps I could unlock the bikes on the forecort and say I will continue to do so until they replace or refund my locks?... I need to sit back and plot this out.

Post a vid on YouTube!!!

Name and shame!!

Do Halfords have a returns policy? If so, buy 5 new locks, post a vid showing your keys opening all 7 locks, return the 5 new ones to Halfords. :rotfl:

Nilrem

Forgotmyname, the issue is that if you're paying for a premium lock, you expect it to have at least a reasonable number of combinations, it's no harder for a lock to be made with one of say 10k key combinations than it is to have it made with one of ten (indeed it's normally random with a much higher level of possible combinations).
And when you buy a device with a lock that is sold at a premium as secure, you have every right in the world to expect it to have at least the same number of combinations in use as that 50p lock from poundstretchers (admittedly that lock won't take much to break but at least it's not a case of buy a couple and get keys to a large percentage of in use locks).

Can you imagine the fuss if say Yale were selling locks and it turned out that they only used say 5 different keys for a particular model?

It's not even got the excuse that the locks are worn by the sounds of it (the reason with older model cars it's sometimes possible to open one car with the key from another, with very old cars they even used the same limited number of keys or none at all - but that was before car theft etc took off).

Personally in this sort of case I'd actually feel justified in making a big fuss about it*, and getting Trading Standards involved, as when you buy a "gold rated" security device you expect it to be reasonably secure in all aspects, as having a construction that is very hard to break doesn't do you much good if a thief can just use one of a handful of keys to unlock it.

Having said that, if the standard isn't one that is legally enforceable (British Standard or similar), I can see that being a get out clause.

*Something I'm loathe to do with most things.

Lirin

You'd be surprised how many Fords will at least open with any random Ford key. Used to be quite handy if we'd misplaced one. Think it's different on newer models now.

Yale keys as well- I have one that opens a few different locks- Yale are commonly known for it! It's the last lock I'd use for security.

Certainly make a fuss about it, see what they offer.

Empty_pockets

I thought Magnum locks had a lifetime warranty?

liam8282

butler_helen wrote: »

However, the two locks, purchased from Halfords in different cities in different years by two different people (me and OH) open and lock with the same key!

How long have you had the locks?

The first lock you have had for years, presumably trouble free, so I doubt there will be very little you can do about this.

When did you buy the other lock?