Locksmith quoted £50 and charged £351.60

[Squeezed1]

I got locked out of my new flat today. My autistic son opened the door and made a run for it, I ran out after him and the door shut behind me.

My landlady couldn't find her copy of the key (she has dozens of keys due to her actual job - but she has some pretty serious health problems, so I felt terrible bothering her with it in the first place)

I looked online and found a locksmith company that will come and pick the lock and let you in for £50. Happy days. No pressure on my landlady. She was happy for me to proceed and said ofc the £50 would come off my rent.

Locksmith came and had a 2 second fiddle with the lock and said he couldn't pick that type of lock (standard yale) so he'd have to drill through and replace the lock otherwise I wasn't getting in the flat. I had my 3 kids with me.

He wanted payment there and then and said I'd have to recoup the £ from my Landlady. I asked for the total £351.60

I had no choice but to pay it.

I feel a bit conned. Is this the norm? To advertise a service at a reasonable price and then turn up and quadruple it?

My bank account is pretty much empty now and whilst I'm sure my Landlady will get the money to me somehow, she has said as much and she's a really nice person so wouldn't not help me, it all feels pretty shit.

@OhwhyOY data protection doesn't cover personal use.

A PP on one of the earlier pages successfully disputed a payment with their bank for exactly this and they were refunded. It's worth a try and I can't afford to not try.

That is what I said - but your original point i responded to was 'a photo isn't personal data' which is wrong. It is. It is just that data protection applies to businesses. A photo is still personal data.

Sounds a rip.off
I wouldn't pay that much.
As others have said see if you can have a spare key somewhere else.

You probably paid about twice as much as you needed too, which in the grand scheme of things isn't great but considering some of the other experiences on that site you might consider you got off lightly.

I would be more worried that a dodgy locksmith would take a copy of the key from the new lock they had installed and sell it to someone along with the address in a pub somewhere. If someone is bad enough to want to rip people off by installing overpriced locks, they might well be bad enough to do this.

That's why you always want a locksmith you can trust - locksmith is an important and high trust job. Because they have access to the hardware before they fit it, and can do stuff like this. This is why I always fit my own.

It's very easy to do with eurocylinders and there are loads of videos on youtube showing you how - also showing how easy it is to break into older style locks which after watching gives most people a real wake up call on security. I upgraded all my locks after watching these, because I don't want someone to be able to break into my house in 10 seconds with a pair of pliers.

How exactly would the OP have got away with not paying an organised gang of criminal locksmiths preying on the vunerable?
How would that have worked, can you give us some helpful hints?

I've spoken to my LL and asked her not to pay for anything. If the bank doesn't reimburse me then it's my problem I guess and lesson learned.

I was so tempted to call the company and tell them I've reported them to the police after seeing their reviews. I haven't, don't want the fallout from aggravating a bunch of crooks, but boy am I tempted.

ask what the final price is before they start work.

This is untrue. From personal experience disputing a very similar transaction for my mum, it's absolutely worth trying.

Haven't read the full thread but yet, I think it was a con, or at least an incompetent locksmith unwilling to admit their inability.

There was a BBC consumer-type programme years ago with a sting operation with a pretend home-owner finding themselves locked out and hiring a number of locksmith companies to pick the lock ('master locksmiths' are able to do this). They were filmed with a hidden camera with a master locksmith watching (he had picked the lock himself in about a minute) and they showed a number of locksmiths who claimed to be unable to pick the lock and therefore needed to drill/replace the locks, at more expense.

Yep that's exactly what he did, he obviously does it all of the time. They're very clever in how they manage to stay in business, they just change the business name and website and carry on scamming people.

RThat's not the usual thing IME. How many LL's live close enough to the property to rush over with a spare key? What if ther letting agency is closed for the weekend, or out of office hours?

The usual thing is for occupants to have a spare key either hidden, or held by a trusted neighbour.

OP was quoted 50 quid to turn out and pick a lock; afast job only her lock wasn't pickable.

The locksmith then offered a different price for a much more expensive service; taking a longer time and includes the price of a new lock and keys ; she accepted it. So yes, she has to pay the higher bill which is NOT the Landlady.s responsibility.

As frustrating as it is, it wasn’t your landlady’s fault that you got locked out and she shouldn’t have to reimburse you. She should perhaps contribute something for the inconvenience of her not having the spare key to hand.

He has ripped you off. £80-£100 should have been the MOST he should have charged. Anyone saying £351 is OK is talking crap. I would be contacting Trading Standards tomorrow. It was not a bank holiday or weekend, no WAY should it have been a third of a grand for a fucking LOCK CHANGE. Do not let him get away with it @Squeezed1

I hope your landlady does pay you back full amount but don't be surprised if she turns around and changes her mind at that price. I'm sorry you've clearly been scammed, the reviews are appalling in the company. Unfortunately I love to make sure I check on everything before calling a company I need at the time so even in an emergency take 5 minutes to sit and check the company your going to ask for help is a good one. But it really is worth paying the extra on insurance to cover keys. Hubby once locked his in and they were out within 20 minutes and got him in..Ive locked care keys several times in car and again they've been out super quick and got car open. Ours is only £20 for a whole year all keys in family and compared to your one bill we've definitely had our moneys worth.

Oh and defo keep in touch with bank. My mum on 2 occasions has got all her money back from things that were rip offs. And in all fairness if you barely bother the bank there usually very good at paying back

I actually did this three times. I lived in a rented flat, and the Yale lock had a button on the inside which got stuck 3 TIMES. I called a local guy the first time he climbed into a window for me, with a ladder as luckily I had left a balcony window open. He didn’t charge me much to do this. The second time the wind slammed the door shut which was on ‘the latch’ and jammed the lock button. Same guy came back, managed to basically smash about to un stick the button lock with a lot of wiggling around he was there so long maybe was £100 for his time. The third time the button got completely stuck I just couldn’t turn my key one day, no slamming of door just a lock fail. He came again, had to drill into the door and change it all out, it cost me about £150. I got really mad at the landlord for this dodgy lock as I told him after the first 2 times and he didn’t care about it and it was so stressful and expensive.

It’s really hard to find local locksmiths as the ads on Google fool you with local looking phone numbers but they are from city outfits and scam you, I spent ages googling to find someone self employed who actually lived in the local vicinity. I called loads and if they told me they were going to be hours as needed to drive miles I just hung up as knew it was a scam. Found this bloke who lived in the next town who was a decent bloke, I obviously paid him for his time and effort but he even cleared up his own mess from the drilling.

I hope you get your money back I had luck with a chargeback on my bank this year it was pretty easy

Probably completely unfair of me, OP, but I would be thinking 'oh shit, what have I done?' if my tenant did this a few days into their tenancy!

Definitely try to get a chargeback from your bank. They are usually really helpful, worst case they may charge you a small fee.

Both me and the landlady have adhd so believe me she gets it 😂

When I went to meet her to get the spare key she told me she'd actually misplaced her own door key that morning.

I don't expect her to reimburse though. I'm pursuing the charge back via the bank.

Not what happened though is it?

Locksmith advertises 'lock pick' service for £50, then turns up and lies to her telling her the lock cannot be picked.

It can be picked, I posted a video up thread of such a lock being picked, these super common Yale locks can be picked easily. The locksmith lied, and he did so on purpose to carry out his con.

He then claims he has to drill the lock out - and does NOT tell the customer how much he is going to charge to drill out the lock and supply a new lock and fit a new lock. He dodges the question and does the job.

THEN he hits the customer with a steep price for the service he has conned her into accepting. At which point she is then compelled to pay up, because she is by herself with two kids and he's a man getting confrontational about being paid!

How you can fathom that this is not a con and she has not been ripped off, overcharged for services she did not need, I really can't work out!

It's not an unusual con unfortunately, there are a variety of 'flavours' but it all boils down to:

Suck in the customer with a low price for a vital/emergency service.

Claim that this service cannot be carried out however xyz service can be.

Don't give the full price until AFTER the work is done.

Intimidate the client for the money/bodge up the price a bit if you can get away with it further.

I've seen it with plumbing, decorating, handy-work, general repairs, car repairs and more.

Personally I couldn't accept the money back from the landlord even if she did offer. In no way should she have had to pay because you locked yourself out. I've never managed to lock myself out to the extent I'd ring a landlord in the first place.

You probably don't have an autistic child who absconds coupled with the fact you'd just moved into a new
property with just a yale on the door.

Did you miss all of those posts where I said I wasn't going to be taking a penny from the landlady. I will survive on fresh air for the rest of the month and go to the food bank.

For what it's worth actually, not that it is any of your business, I DO have a child with autism actually. Who is a flight risk. That doesn't make me feel entitled to suggest its the landlords responsibility to change a lock. If something like this happened to me, I'd accept it was my responsibility as the parent of the child and the person who locked myself out.