Locksmith prices????

[EGGO]

Time to hire a "cleaner."

 

[olds]

I locked myself out once. I went to my truck and got my cordless drill. I drilled out the lock and replaced it with a new one from Home Depot. Total cost was around $25.

 

[13Gigatons]

You must have been really really tired.

Your only option now is to water board the locksmith until he returns at least $500.

 

[kranky]

I think people are being too tough on the OP. If you've never used a service it's not easy to know exactly what questions to ask. I don't blame anyone for assuming that a locksmith's quote of $85 would include actually performing a service beyond just showing up.

I think the thing to remember is to ask lots of questions in these situations:
- Requesting a service where they have to come to you
- You want it right away
- You have never done business with the company before and especially if you never used such a service before

Businesses who come to you in emergencies don't care if you hate them, because they don't need your repeat business, they know most people won't call around to get quotes and you can't really hurt them with word of mouth. They aren't all ripoffs but shady ones can survive.

 

[alkemyst]

ask for a government bail out for your stupidity.

Also lobby to ban locksmithing.

 

[akshatp]

The ownage is strong in this one young obiwan

 

[Wheezer]

LOL...wow....guess you're thinking that you shoulda drove back to work huh?

Hell I would have just for the $85.00...I don't know anyone that has to work and makes 85/hr......obviously not you either.

You know, you could have asked the guy before he even stated "how much is this gonna cost me?" and then told him no.

don't worry, the soreness of your ass will wear off with time and just chalk it up to a lesson learned.

 

[keird]

OP I feel bad for you. Not only did you get screwed, you posted this in ATOT - fully aware of the scathing replies.

Thanks for the PSA, though. Next time this happens and I'm confronted with a scam artist, I'll be genuinely angry with them rather than dumbstruck and in shock at the cost.

 

[oddyager]

Originally posted by: KingGheedora

Originally posted by: duragezic
I still don't get why you didn't go back to the gym and get your keys. Even once I heard the initial $85, I'd have went back to the gym and returned unless it was several hours away which doesn't make sense given its your gym. And hell, had I decided to not go back and accept the $85 to come over, as soon as the asshole checked it out and uttered "plus $420 to..." I'd say "sorry to waste your time, here's the $85 for coming" and went to the gym no matter what.

It would have taken me around four hours round trip to go back and get my keys. My keys are in my gym bag at my office, which is an hour away when the trains are running normal time, but at night the line near me slows to a crawl at this time of night (i got home at 10:45pm). I have to transfer two times, which also adds more wait.

Where do you live in NYC you can't hail/call a taxi?

 

[Demon-Xanth]

When I got my house, I replaced EVERY lock with ones that had matching keys for a total of $115 myself from Lowes.

 

[keird]

Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth
When I got my house, I replaced EVERY lock with ones that had matching keys for a total of $115 myself from Lowes.

Were the doors open when you were replacing them?

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: keird

Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth
When I got my house, I replaced EVERY lock with ones that had matching keys for a total of $115 myself from Lowes.

Were the doors open when you were replacing them?

still cheaper then the 170 the OP was charged.

LOL man i hope you at least got a reach around!

 

[13Gigatons]

Originally posted by: kranky
I think people are being too tough on the OP. If you've never used a service it's not easy to know exactly what questions to ask. I don't blame anyone for assuming that a locksmith's quote of $85 would include actually performing a service beyond just showing up.

I think the thing to remember is to ask lots of questions in these situations:
- Requesting a service where they have to come to you
- You want it right away
- You have never done business with the company before and especially if you never used such a service before

Businesses who come to you in emergencies don't care if you hate them, because they don't need your repeat business, they know most people won't call around to get quotes and you can't really hurt them with word of mouth. They aren't all ripoffs but shady ones can survive.

Yes but when they want to drill out your lock for $420, install a new one for $170 and they ask for CASH, JUST SAY NO !!!!!!!!!!!!

and then go back to work and get your key.

 

[Aharami]

OP, on a more serious note, this place sounds VERY shady. If I were you, I'd change out the lock they put in there. Who knows if they have a master key or something and can come by and easily rob you when you're not around. This is just a bad situation. Changing a lock isnt hard - get one from Home depot or Lowes and change it yourself. The extra $100 will be worth it for the peace of mind

edit: but then again, they are locksmiths. IF they wanted to rob you, they could get in there, their lock or not

 

[dman]

I guess it's a lesson learned. You might be able to take them to small claims court for performing the 'extra' work without your approval (Maybe Judge Judy) and/or charging more than you authorized. If you have a receipt you can call around and get a few estimates and then use that for your case.

The challenge, now, is in getting ahold of their business address. I'm sure they need a business license to operate in NYC, so you could probably get them in trouble if they aren't registered properly. Of course they'll possibly just change names and start over again, but that'll cost them money.

For $5-600 potential money back, I'd consider it, but I wouldn't say you are wrong to just chalk it up as a life lesson.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: Fayd

Originally posted by: gsethi

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
lol next time break the window.
climb in, replace window for much less.
hell, for less than 100 dollars you can get a very nice drill and a buncha bits and drill through yourself assuming its not an apartment. run an extension cord to the yard outlet

LOL..i did that once. Locked the door and forgot all keys (including car keys) inside the apartment. Parents were ~4-5 hours away.

Ended up going to the back side of the apartment and broke the smallest window through which I could fit into. Replacement of the window only cost like ~40 or so (it was a small ~2'x~2' window)

when i was still in HS, my brother and i found ourselves locked out.

luckily, i left my bathroom window open (2nd floor, it's about 8 inches tall, and 16-18 inches wide)

luckily, we had a 12 foot ladder sitting around outside the house.

i'm not small enough to fit through that hole, but luckily (x3!) my brother was.

When I was in jr high I locked myself out. There were no first story windows open, but my parents' bedroom window was open on the second floor and it had a small roof below it. I took the detachable wooden ladder from our pool deck, but it wasn't tall enough. I piled up some cinder blocks from under the deck, put the ladder on top, and managed to pull myself up onto the roof. I didn't want to break the screen though. My parents had a vehicle parked outside the garage unlocked, and inside that vehicle was a first aid kit. I got a pair of tweezers out of the first aid kit, poked it through the holes in the screen and used it to slide the screen latch over. BAM, I was in.

 

[ViviTheMage]

were they russian? serious question,,,,

 

[edro]

Cash only. :rolleyes;

They must have intimidated you.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

BAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA sucker.

 

[Deviant Grasshopper]

Originally posted by: KLin
I hereby nominate this thread for 2009 ownage of the year award. :laugh:

No kidding... hand in your man card.

I can't believe you agreed to that ridiculousness.

 

[Elganja]

so much fail

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Originally posted by: waggy

Originally posted by: keird

Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth
When I got my house, I replaced EVERY lock with ones that had matching keys for a total of $115 myself from Lowes.

Were the doors open when you were replacing them?

still cheaper then the 170 the OP was charged.

LOL man i hope you at least got a reach around!

Exactly, I'm assuming that $170 was just for one door, not the 5 doors I replaced locks on. And if they told me that it'd cost $420 to drill them out, I'd go to Lowes again and pick up a really nice cordless drill and bit and just do it myself and keep the drill

 

[silverpig]

You shoulda taken a limo for the ride to the gym and back and picked up a decent hooker for the middle hour.

 

[Ramma2]

Who carries that much cash around with them? It's an odd day if I've even got a single in my wallet anymore.

 

[JoPh]

this thread is amazing. i just read everything.

AMAZING!