Help! London mumsnetters

[CoolHonda]

My young adult DD has just moved into her first flat in London. She is a long way from us and is struggling a bit. She came home and found her doorlock had jammed and called out an emergency locksmith. The locksmith was there for 20 minutes. Burst the door open (has left it damaged) but did replace the lock. She was charged £600!
This is a LOT more than she would have been charged here in her home town. Is this acceptable for London prices? Are we naive being shocked by this price? Can any of you kind London mumsnetters advise if this is within the price range? Thank you

Where did she get the locksmith from? I agree she has been ripped off but I would chalk it up to a very expensive lesson learnt and leave it. And yes she should have lock change on her insurance policy? Maybe up to a maximum amount but she should try and get reimbursed for some of the money at least. Can you afford to help with the cost too?

Sadly yes, she has definitely been ripped off. We are trying to deal with it but it doesn't look hopeful.

It's a lesson learnt. Perhaps contact the company before blasting on sm.

for your dd.

I’ve been ripped off by a locksmith like this too. So not normal London prices but normal scammer you could get anywhere. A professional locksmith wouldn’t have damaged the door and left it either! I’d be posting warnings on next door etc if I were her but not sure what else she can do. It may be worth talking to credit card company and see if payment can be stopped and then challenge them legally when they try to recover the money? If they are truly dodgy they may not bother?

@TheFlis12345

She’s been ripped off. We called a Banham emergency locksmith out a couple of months ago. He was there within the hour and had to do some minor damage to the door to get in but he fixed it before he left. Total cost was £130.

Agreed - and Banham is definitely the most expensive out there!

@SmidgenofaPigeon ditto. I had one new lock and one re-keyed and it was a weekend and I think it was around £240.

OP was this in like zone 1 or middle of the night?

Thank you all. Definite rip-off and a steep learning curve for a young adult on her own for the first time. She got hold of the guy on the phone to complain and he just laughed at her. Seems he is a nasty piece of work and she is scared to take it any further because he knows where she lives and lives alone. I feel so sorry for her.

So he didn’t even give her a receipt or any paperwork? She just handed over her card and paid him £600?

Did she pay by credit card or debit card?

If she paid by cc I’d be tempted to try and cancel the payment citing the work not being done properly (door was left broke ), he refuses to leave without payment, intimidating her - and she’s failed to with get it sorted or refunded from the guy.

She's been utterly ripped off – even allowing for a Saturday call-out, we've only ever paid £150 in north London. Report him to Trading Standards and while I don't want to freak you out, maybe pay for someone else to get the locks changed again in case he turns nasty and he's kept a key.

Op you never clarified by what you meant by him busting the door open!

If he bust the door open... then presumably he had to repair the door?