A woman blogs that she found herself locked out of her apartment because her keys were getting stuck and the lock wasn’t working. So she called an emergency locksmith who arrived 15 minutes later, drilled off the cylinder, replaced it, and presented her with a bill for $613. When she refused to pay, the locksmith called (what were presumably) the cops. When they arrived the said, “Pay the man now or you’re under arrest.”
The emergency locksmith ripoff is not new. A normal locksmith would have charged around $60-$80 for this deed. Often shady locksmiths will snare you in by advertising the lowest price in the phone book. This is why it’s important to:
- Agree on an estimate before they start services
- Find a local reliable locksmith before you need one, and put their number in your cellphone.
- If you can’t come to an agreement before services begin, sleep at a friend’s house and wait until morning when you can call the regular local hardware store or locksmith guy.
Eventually the woman walked to her bank ATM, followed by the locksmith and the cops in their cars, where she withdrew the money and paid him the full $613.
This is Something That Happened To Me [No Great Illusion] (Thanks to Elle!)
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People are stupid, more details at 11
Wait a minute. Why are the cops involved? Why didn’t they just tell him to sue her in small claims court? What was criminal about what she did?
There’s two sides to every story, and this side is not very convincing. Something tells me this person lacks common sense.
Many many businesses have high fees for “emergency” services. It’s not cheap being able to provide such a service on the spot.
Not telling her up front and not quoting her anything at all over the phone makes the locksmith suspect. Same about the credit card machine and telling her they could make a credit card imprint (illegal in NY).
She should have gotten the price before the locksmith started to work. I needed an extra key made in an emergency and was quoted something along the lines of $400 to get a locksmith to come to my apartment. NYC is expensive. I couldn’t afford that and went without. Had a friend come over with a spare key the next day and made a copy at the hardware store for less than $5. Really sucked to be without the key.
Her refusal to pay the locksmith is a crime – theft of service. That’s why the police got involved.
“When they arrived the said, “Pay the man now or you’re under arrest.”"
If you sincerely feel you are in the moral high ground let them arrest you, big deal. People are way too scared of cops.
I’m not sure where Ben lives, but in no way would you ever pay $60-$80 for an afterhours visit from a locksmith. If you’re waking someone up in the middle of the night, or expecting someone to sit around during off-peak times waiting for your call, and not charge you the $120-$200 afterhours surcharge you are dreaming.
Yes she got somewhat overcharged, but thats her fault for not getting the quote over the phone.
The callout fee was fine, the $85 or so for drilling was probably a scam since 99% of locksmith should be able to open without drilling. Perhaps it was a high security lock? Right there would explain the cost for the replacement lock and special keys.
“Perhaps it was a high security lock? “
No, it was not. This is how much they charge for normal (drillable) locks. They do not stock high-security locks.
She also asked for a quote over the phone, they refused to give her one. It’s not like she didn’t try.
Given the failure the OP described (key turned but nothing happened) drilling was probably required. It would have been somewhat complex as well (must immobilize tumbler as it was broken).
Tons cheaper to have just smashed in a window. If she was on the 2nd floor or above, kick in the door. Then again, no sane person would have believed the locksmith would charge $613 to drill a $#@!() lock.
Negotiate the price first people!
The last time I needed a lock repaired, the locksmith told me he usually works until late at night, because that’s when most people lose their car keys or get locked out of their homes.
Just to let everyone know these scams are happening all over the country. I am a real locksmith in the Chicago IL area. I discovered and have been fighting these phony locksmiths for apx. 8 years.The first thing you have to understand is that this is not a small outfit but a nationwide organized crime syndicate run by Israeli foreigners that seem to have major ties in the telecommunications field. They have flooded phone books, internet, 411 directories with hundreds of thousands of ads nationwide. Many of the listings have phony addresses listed. They advertise 19.00 locksmith service when they really charge much more with bait and switch pricing tactics. When you try to contact the company about being ripped off they are no where to be found and the address they list turns out to be a pizza place or other unsuspecting business. If you dig hard enough you will usually find out they are in another state. The workers seem to be almost always Israeli foriegners who are working Ilegally in this country. I have seen even much worse than this. Example Ray Miller a senior citizen from streamwood IL was forced to pay 1710.00 to have his lock drilled on his home. This is a vey large international scam that makes the nigerian scams look like small potatoes. I have even traced one of these scammers to a company called AMDOCS out of Israel. which is a company used to do most of the billing for most of the phone companies around the world. You can search this on you tube and watch some fox news reports on this company and the suspected espianage even tying it to 911 trade center. The real locksmiths in this country are not shady and do not rip consummers off like this. A company that is called Dependable Lock inc. has had many actions from different attorney generals around the country for ripping off consumers nation wide. I was even sued by this company in federal court in chicago which I was dismissed from the charge by the federal judge. I was able to bring national attention to this company by helping reporters and state investigators around the country. I even got good moring america abc news to do a segment on this scam. Shortly after I was dismissed out of the lawsuit the federal postal minspectors raided Dependable Locks clearwater florida office where they have one of their phone boiler room operations. David Peer and others were charged with money laundering, wire fraud, mail fraud, structuring a business by using Illegal foreign workers etc. I even met with the former governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, who might I say helped out with this problem in illinois and didnt charge a dime or ask for any favors from real locksmiths. I encourage anyone who is a victim of these scams to file a complaint with their attorney generals office in their state.
The cops who made this lady pay these scammers should be suspended.
This scam is real and they have clogged all forms of advertisments withntheir ads and real locksmiths are out advertised by these theives.
They are not locksmiths.
They are organized crime from Israel.
They are ripping off desparate locked out consumers all across the united states for un told millions.
If you want more info visit http://www.allhourlocksmiths.com there are links to many news storys from around the country concerning these phony locksmith scammers.
Mike
I googled what you’ve posted and learned more – interesting yet frightening! Thanks for the informative post.
This whole thread makes me even more grateful for my safe, secure, somewhat rural community – I can leave the door unlocked half the time with no real concern. The one time I did lock myself out, I just crawled in through the pet door
mike, i think you need to find a way to contact the woman who was scammed.
I think Mike needs to get his meds adjusted, although I do find it amusing that someone can (a) believe that Amdocs is part of a global Israeli conspiracy that caused 9/11, and (b) that the company decided, in between spying on every American and destroying NYC skyscrapers, to invest time and effort in running a sleazy locksmith ring.
This seems to be a civil case not criminal. The cops should not be involved as no crime was commited. Perhaps this lady has a case against the cops. Likely the cops received a nice little bit of cash from the locksmith.
So where was this??? She should be broadcasting the name of this company all over the internet.
So how much of the $613 did the cops get?
Read the original blog post by the women, if i where in the situation i would be more pissed by how the police treated me then the price
I would have also went with another company if they wouldn’t give me a price quote over the phone like she asked
Everyone makes mistakes
tl; dr = girl got pwn3d, really has no other recourse than to blog about it/whine on the Interwebs., whips out the “I’m a young scared crying girl living alone in the big bad city” card. “I’m scared of this person who knows my apartment number and how to get in” – gee, dramatic much?
Hopefully her landlord reimburses her for some of it, but that probably won’t happen.
WD40
Why why why didn’t she post the name of that locksmith and the police officer?!
Wow, I would be calling up the State Attorney General right now. If that isn’t price gouging, I don’t know what is.
I’d be calling the FBI. Cop and locksmith conspired to commit armed robbery.
Why not just call the building super?
Next time she gets locked out, she should call me.
I have a very nice headboard I would like to show her.
I think the person should be publishing the name of the locksmith, as a warning to others.
I hate to join the blame the consumer crew, because it’s clear that this woman was ripped off because of her naivete, and the detail about the cops getting so actively involved is also disturbing.
However, if there’s one lesson she or anybody else reading this should learn from this ripoff — ALWAYS, ALWAYS get a price before you agree to purchase something, whether it be a good or a service. Understand what they claim to expect you to pay and where that price comes from, even if it’s a service like this where the end price may vary. Preferably get some kind of estimate in writing. It may not have completely solved her problem here, but at the very minimum having an oral quote to claim and understanding where that quote came from (so that it’s harder to claim extra services) would have either provided her with a fighting chance, or, if the company is merely a ripoff and not dishonest, would have allowed her to call another, cheaper locksmith.
She says in the article that he had a broken down list of the charges. I would love it if she would have scanned that in so we could see how the charges were broken down to what. I’m wondering if the lock was a Medeco lock. These locks can easily be worth $200 or more depending on the style. Another $100 for the 20 minute job….would love to see the break down though….
Don’t get me wrong…it’s expensive as hell, but still might be justifiable…in which case…her landlord/Sup should still reimburse her….I’m sure that maybe a bit of a fight.
“I’m wondering if the lock was a Medeco lock. “
It wasn’t. These aren’t high-end locks.
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Theory: The cops got $50 each for their “support.”
I’d think more that they’re lazy and wanted both parties out of their hair.
This is a CIVIL contract dispute over breech of contract (the payment). The only cause of action the locksmith has against the op is to file for an artisan’s lien against the property or sue her in civil court. You can’t get arrested for something like this, especially if the payment amount is in dispute. On what charge were the police going to arrest?
If the police could arrest you for refusing to pay for a service with contractual terms in dispute, I could start a contracting business and just charge anybody I felt like 10x times the estimate, and have them arrested as soon as they refused to pay.
As the ‘locksmith’ called the ‘cops’ we can assume that there is a possibility of the ‘cops’ being fake.
APARTMENT. Should not have cost her anything. She should have called the land lord, or building maintenance to get the lock fixed instead of calling a locksmith herself.
The cops are probably getting kickbacks.
Because she didn’t lose her keys? The lock was defective? The key turned the lock, the lock did not move the bolt. The landlord should pay for that, since she has a reasonable expectation that the lock to her apartment will work.
The landlord only really has to pay for the cost of the lock, he isn’t obliged to pay for an emergency locksmith.
The OP needs to file a formal complaint for abuse of power under the color of authority. The Cop was acting like a gangster & also didn’t want a witness to the wrongful abuse. This type of abuse is why so many civilians are scared of the supposed good guys. Also never talk to a LEO you don’t know from adam without a witness or recording device they are not all good.
As for the crooked Lock Smith I would make sure I posted his bill everywhere I possibly could to expose his extortionist practices. Also you could go after him for if he advertised credit cards but refused to accept one. I would become everyones nightmare involved in this.
Now nothing excuses the OPs not asking for an upfront quote in this situation that would have avoided the whole mess.
Speaking AS A COP, the advice that I would give is to contact the internal affairs division of the NYPD and report these assholes. Then contact the AG office and the state and local licensing board and report the locksmith. Then get an attorney.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1uIlDWwAus&feature=related
NYTimes has a story about locksmith scams & lead gen companies that populate local searches & phonebook ads:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/10/your-money/lead-gen-sites-pose-challenge-to-google-the-haggler.html?_r=2