Locksmith, I was fleeced

[Belleende]

Well, sold my flat privately in London yesterday. Arrived to take final readings in 28 degrees, with 7 mo baby in tow to find my keys didn't work. Called locksmith one, a no show. Locksmith 2 turned up inside 30 minutes, drilled the lock, changed it for a new one and tried to charge me £710 for it.

I paid him £650 and am disputing the bill. Anyone know what the going rate for drilling and replacing a Yale night latch?

Locksmiths are very, very expensive. Did you ask for a quote before they came?

If you sold the property yesterday, have the current owners given you permission to force entry?

The quote was in the range of £300, but was told would depend on what needed to be done. So lots of wiggle room.

I had to force entry! Handing them a set of keys that didn't work would have meant I was in breach of completing the sale!

Why did your keys not work? Who changed the locks and should they have changed them back to the ones your keys fitted?

Also, how did you pay because you might want to consider talking to your card company/bank plus might your insurance cover you?

I don't understand why your keys didn't work. Who changed the locks?

Why didn't the keys work?

If the locks were changed by tenants, would your landlord insurance cover the cost?

In office hours day time and that was the charge? Definitely report him

The keys went in the lock but just didn't turn. My flat shares a door with another flat, those tenants reported the lock as faulty to their agent weeks ago, they were fobbed off.

The locksmith said the barrel was faulty and had to be drilled, but I don't believe a word he said.

I have challenged the bill, they have offered 25% off, I am still not happy with that, so have challenged them again to break the bill down so I can see what I have been charged for.

They have really good on line reviews. I suspect he is a lone trader working under their banner and tried to pull a fast one. I am going to make life v uncomfortable for him.

So the cost should be shared by the other landlord then? If you or the other flat's tenants had got the door open, you could have swapped the barrel for about £10!

I know, but I had to hand the keys over as the flat was completing at noon!

I will pass on the majority of the cost to the agent of the other flat. They knew there was a problem, they ignored it so it had to be fixed as an emergency. They won't get a key until they pay me

I locked myself out recently and had to get the front door lock drilled out and replaced. The guy arrived in a couple of hours and charged £80 including new lock with 3 sets of keys. (Not in London though).

Hi, google „locksmith scam“ - it’s sounds very similar to your situation. I would contact the police.

Our locksmith for work does it for under £100 (not London, but still!)

We changed the whole cylinder for 270 in London
Sorry not great...

The last time my key snapped in the lock (around 3 years ago?) it cost £75 for an emergency call out . This is London.

When we moved in (London) a couple of years ago, a locksmith replaced the lock in our door (UPVC so just the one lock) and provided 5 keys, for about £120. It wasn't an emergency call out though - I wonder if yours pushed the costs up because it was an emergency call out. Even so, that sounds vastly excessive.