Conned by locksmith

spanish_inquisition

connedbylocksmith wrote: »

London

I’m not sure if I have a case here so would appreciate any advice. Unfortunately, I locked myself out of my house earlier on today. I googled “Locksmith *local area*” and clicked on the second link. I don’t know if I can post the link here.

In my panic, I just wanted any locksmith to come. The lady on the phone (the receptionist, I imagine) said the price would be £55 but the price would be agreed upon when the locksmith arrived and looked at the lock.

Some guy called Vlad turned up, in casual clothes and a beat up car. He looked at my front door lock and said it was a high security lock and it would be difficult. I asked him if he can fix it and he said “I don’t know, I’ve never done this one” then said “I could just drill through it and replace it”. When I asked for the estimated cost, he said “180” then “200” then a higher value.

I didn’t feel that I could trust him to do the job so I declined his services. He said I’d still need to pay £55. He gave me a receipt with a value of £66 as VAT wasn’t included.

My questions are:
1. Should the receptionist have told me that VAT is not included in the £55?
2. Should the receptionist have told me that there is a call out fee?

I tried to call them back to complain but they were really unprofessional, shouting at me over the phone, saying “YOU SHOULD HAVE ASKED IF VAT IS INCLUDED!!!!”. They then refused to pick up my call and as soon as they heard it was my voice on another phone they put the phone down.

The website doesn’t have an address, only a contact number. The website has photos of a few men who are the “technicians” with names underneath the photos. I have reverse searched these images and the same men come up on a similar looking website in a different language and the men have totally different names.

Feel for you in these circumstances.

It is often the norm that commercial quotes are given without VAT, but clearly, you are a domestic customer - so this is pretty sharp practice.

Seems very wrong not to disclose the callout fee beforehand.

You could consider speaking to the Citizens Advice to find out your rights.

Unfortunately, I smell a rat. I presume there are no testimonials on their website?
Best of luck - these suppliers and similar need to be rooted out.

SteveJW

Friend of mine is a self-employed locksmith
He has various photographic id allowing him to work on post office, ministry of defence and police property.
Plus various others
Steve

Jumblebumble

mattyprice4004 wrote: »

I’m not sure how that’s relevant - most of the £500 will be the time to break into the old one (it sounds pretty tough!), a call out fee and out of hours rates on top too.
They’ll also charge a profit on the lock itself (as they should being a business).

I’m sorry OP, but naivety doesn’t make them conmen.

Yes but quoting without VAT for presumably the sole reason of making themselves cheaper than their competition is conning people and so is charging to send out someone who admits they do not know how to do the job.
Anyone who disagrees with this analysis is welcome to PM me next time they have an issue that needs someone to be called out and I will be happy to charge them a callout fee come and to tell them I cannot fix the problem and they will presumably be happy to pay.

db2016

if they mentioned drilling the lock, then they are cowboys, a decent locksmith would try pick it / non destructive entry!



any idiot can drill a lock or use a breaker bar to "break" in.

waamo

kevinbreck45 wrote: »

just we need a professional locksmith. So I relied on my Dubai Locksmith provide you residential locksmith services 24 hours 7 days a week. they are providing trusted and reliable services all over the Dubai like lock change, new installation, safe unlock, cabinet lock change, garage door lock, lock repair dubai, door unlock etc.Call Now:

Is your call out fee to London less than £66?

adonis

Sometimes you can get locksmith cover with your house or contents insurance, worth checking policies to see if you are covered.
Check the excess as well before you claim.

rajeshk4u

Originally Posted by rajeshk4u
I Googled the price of "BS3621 Maximum Security Nightlatch" on the Yale web site it is £64.98

mattyprice4004 wrote: »

I’m not sure how that’s relevant - most of the £500 will be the time to break into the old one (it sounds pretty tough!), a call out fee and out of hours rates on top too.
They’ll also charge a profit on the lock itself (as they should being a business).

I’m sorry OP, but naivety doesn’t make them conmen.

It is dishonest to entice a customer with a low initial quote and to bait them into accepting their services and then charge something else when they turn up.

If he being quoted £500. The lock is available at retail for £64.98. That is a gross profit of £435.02. Assuming, he can do the job in 30minutes, that is an hourly rate of £870 per hour.

Furthermore, as a locksmith, he will be able to get the same lock at trade prices. So he should be charging the customer the retail cost of the lock which should be £64.98. That is the worst case scenario, assuming he can't pick the lock....


Having a quick look at
https://www.locksmiths.co.uk/faq/locksmith-prices