Short answer: The most common way people get burned hiring a locksmith is not a botched lock, it is the price. A quote of $15 or $19 on the phone becomes a bill of two or three hundred dollars once the door is open. Here is exactly how that switch works and how to shut it down before it starts.
The most common way people get burned hiring a locksmith is not a botched lock, it is the price. A quote of $15 or $19 on the phone becomes a bill of two or three hundred dollars once the door is open. Here is exactly how that switch works and how to shut it down before it starts.
It usually begins with a search result or ad promising an unbelievably low service call. The number often routes to an out-of-area call center, not a local shop, which dispatches whichever unbranded contractor is nearby. On arrival the technician explains that the advertised price was only for 'showing up,' and that your particular lock is 'high security' or 'has to be drilled,' so the real charge is far higher. Because you are already locked out, possibly at night, possibly with a kid or groceries waiting, the pressure to just agree is enormous, and that pressure is the entire business model. A related version pads a legitimate job with invented line items, most commonly unnecessary drilling and a full lock replacement on a lock that a competent tech could have picked open in minutes. The low number was never a real price; it was bait to get someone to your door.
Watch for a company that answers the phone with a generic 'locksmith services' instead of a business name, that cannot or will not give you a firm arrival-and-total estimate for a standard lockout, or that only offers cash and dodges questions about a written invoice. Be wary of quotes that sound too cheap to be real, because the honest range for a straightforward residential lockout in the Boston area generally lands somewhere around $75 to $175 depending on time of day, distance, and difficulty, and a $19 promise is a signal, not a bargain. On site, a technician who reaches immediately for a drill on an ordinary residential deadbolt, who has no branding on vehicle, uniform, or paperwork, and who refuses to show ID or a business card is showing you the profile of a scam, not proof of one, but it is more than enough reason to pause the job.
Do your negotiating before anyone drives out. Ask for a specific number for your specific situation: 'a house lockout, standard deadbolt, no drilling, total including the service call,' and get the range in plain language. Ask directly whether drilling is likely and what it would add, so 'we had to drill' can't become a surprise. Confirm they take card, not cash only, because traceable payment discourages inflated bills. When the tech arrives, have them confirm the quoted total before touching the lock, and if the number has jumped, you are allowed to decline and send them away; you owe nothing for a job you did not authorize. Saving a legitimate local locksmith's number in your phone now, before an emergency, is the single best defense, because the scam depends on you searching in a panic and grabbing the first result you see.
It usually begins with a search result or ad promising an unbelievably low service call. The number often routes to an out-of-area call center, not a local shop, which dispatches whichever unbranded contractor is nearby. On arrival the technician explains that the advertised price was only for 'showing up,' and that your particular lock is 'high security' or 'has to be drilled,' so the real charge is far higher. Because you are already locked out, possibly at night, possibly with a kid or groceries waiting, the pressure to just agree is enormous, and that pressure is the entire business model. A related version pads a legitimate job with invented line items, most commonly unnecessary drilling and a full lock replacement on a lock that a competent tech could have picked open in minutes. The low number was never a real price; it was bait to get someone to your door.
Watch for a company that answers the phone with a generic 'locksmith services' instead of a business name, that cannot or will not give you a firm arrival-and-total estimate for a standard lockout, or that only offers cash and dodges questions about a written invoice. Be wary of quotes that sound too cheap to be real, because the honest range for a straightforward residential lockout in the Boston area generally lands somewhere around $75 to $175 depending on time of day, distance, and difficulty, and a $19 promise is a signal, not a bargain. On site, a technician who reaches immediately for a drill on an ordinary residential deadbolt, who has no branding on vehicle, uniform, or paperwork, and who refuses to show ID or a business card is showing you the profile of a scam, not proof of one, but it is more than enough reason to pause the job.
Do your negotiating before anyone drives out. Ask for a specific number for your specific situation: 'a house lockout, standard deadbolt, no drilling, total including the service call,' and get the range in plain language. Ask directly whether drilling is likely and what it would add, so 'we had to drill' can't become a surprise. Confirm they take card, not cash only, because traceable payment discourages inflated bills. When the tech arrives, have them confirm the quoted total before touching the lock, and if the number has jumped, you are allowed to decline and send them away; you owe nothing for a job you did not authorize. Saving a legitimate local locksmith's number in your phone now, before an emergency, is the single best defense, because the scam depends on you searching in a panic and grabbing the first result you see.
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