locked out....£600 charge!

catz4m8z

I got locked out of my house and the charge was just over £600! I cant believe it!
Does this sound right!?
Callout was 85 (on a sunday)
labour charge 135
new lock 155
 door opening 155
rest VAT.

Ive been scammed havent I?

Brie

they charged you for opening the door?  I'm assuming this is not just for turning a knob/handle and pushing the door open.

housebuyer143

That does sound unreasonably high but did you ask the price when you called? An £85 call out on a Sunday actually sounds low so but door opening and labour charge seems odd - surely they are one of the same? 
A new lock would be like £40 normally so they have ripped you off there.

elsien

It’s not a scam. It’s  an emergency call out on a Sunday when people charge much higher rates. 

And the price of a new lock does depend on the type of lock and what they put in so I wouldn’t automatically assume that 40 quid is a rip off. What they may have done is used a very high-end lock which is more than you require - this is what happened with my grandmother when she did a weekend emergency call out. 

So yes, on a normal weekday when she’d had more time to think about it and get quotes she could’ve got the work done a lot cheaper but scam is a still a strong word to be using. 

Although I do agree about the door opening and labour charge being basically duplicates of each other. What were you quoted before they came out?

catz4m8z

The callout was normally £79 on a week day so I was expecting higher callout/labour costs and as I had left my keys in the door they had to drill through and remove the lock (was told it was a medium security lock not a high security one).
Everything is so expensive these days but this just feels excessive....really hoping my insurance will cover some.

I probably should have queried it more but you dont really think about it when you are stood on your doorstep freezing!

Keep_pedalling

Surely door opening should fall under the labour charge?

njkmr

Would possibly have been cheaper to put a window in...!
Pain of glass around £100 depending on size.?
Climb in and open door with spare key?

catz4m8z

well, now I know!

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

They charge an arm and leg as they know you're in a bad situation, door lock was probably 3 times the usual price as well but again once they've damaged the lock you need it replaced quickly.

They should have given you all the prices before hand, if they didn't you could complain and I would have thought they should try and pick the lock first but I guess it depends what type you have. 

grumbler

catz4m8z said:

Ive been scammed havent I?

Risteard's reply would be "it's perfectly legal".

I agree.

So, the question is - can scamming be legal?

Eldi_Dos

njkmr said:

Would possibly have been cheaper to put a window in...!
Pain of glass around £100 depending on size.?
Climb in and open door with spare key?

If done that way the property would be insecure until window repair was done.Someone would need to have been in attendance till window fixed which could have led to losing two or three days income.