The Locksmith Scam is a pervasive experience. When people are in need of a locksmith, most will consult Google or maybe the maps app on their phone. The results are almost guaranteed to lead you to phone numbers of call centers who will send out people trained not to fix your locks, but to charge you multiples of what an experienced locksmith would charge.
The reason for this is that people who need locksmiths are often desperate and willing to pay lots of money. Whenever people are willing to pay lots of money, there are usually also people who position themselves to take advantage of those in need. That is why the top results for a Google search will yield “Sponsored Locksmiths” most of whom will charge much more than members of our organization.
Every locksmith in our association has plenty of anecdotes of nice people who were taken advantage of. But don’t take our word for it! The New York Times wrote an excellent article about this scam and brought their investigative resources to bare on not only how the scam works but also who is behind at least some of it.
You may now be asking yourself, “The fake locksmiths are everywhere! How do I avoid them and get somebody who will solve my problems for a reasonable amount of money?” Don’t worry, since you are reading this you are probably not the mark. You are interested in not being taken and are aware of the danger. However it is still sometimes difficult for the discerning customer to find an actual experienced locksmith who won’t price gouge them.
The first obvious solution since you are at this organization’s website is to contact the organization member listed closest to you. If you are regionally somewhere else, here are some tips:
The Associated Locksmiths of America Inc. an international professional organization of qualified security professionals engaged in consulting, sales, installation and maintenance of locks, keys, safes, premises security, access controls and alarms. Learn More…
They are gamed. In the era of AI and Fiver, some five star reviews are easy to come by. There are entire businesses devoted to writing fake reviews for people. In fact, sometimes these businesses will send emails offering their services to members of our organization. These businesses are effective! See the Google results for “your city name” AND locksmith. Many of those hundreds of five star reviews are fake. Organic five star reviews take real locksmiths years and years to accrue even 100. Many of the “Google Guaranteed” and “Sponsored Locksmiths”, if you examine the range of their reviews, span only a year or two and they have hundreds. Call these for a quote too, if you like. It will cost them between $20-50 per click. That’s why members of our organization aren’t in those results: this is a large percentage of our total bill that we can’t afford without ALSO ripping off our customers, and we refuse to do that.
Describe the problem, offer to send pictures of your lock or other hardware causing problems, and ask for a range of costs. Some problems really are hard to diagnose without first taking the lock apart, but others are really easy to diagnose. A locksmith should be able to tell you how much it costs to make a replacement key for your Honda Fit, for example. Or unlock your Schlage electronic lock with dead batteries. There are few variables for these. The scammer will refuse to tell you the cost for even the simplest job because they intend to charge you hundreds
of dollars and know that if they told you this you would never call them out. They will insist that they only charge $19 or $29 to come out and will charge some paltry sum “and up” for labor once they see the lock. Know that the “and up” will be hundreds of dollars, maybe thousands, whatever the scammer thinks they can take you for.
If the person who answers the phone sounds like they are in a call center and doesn’t sound like they are local, doesn’t pronounce your city’s name correctly, doesn’t understand street names near your house, doesn’t seem to use professional lingo about locks, etc, they may be a call center scammer. If the person sounds like a local, even if they sound tired and disgruntled, there is a good chance that is a real locksmith.
Get multiple quotes. Going back to step one, if you ask for the total cost or at least get hourly rates you can start to get baseline comparisons.
We get Jesse so we don’t get taken by the scam of the week. This warning is about the importance of unlocking the truth about locksmiths.
You need a plumber, electrician or locksmith, so you grab the phone book or go online to look for one.
You see an ad for a company that promises quick, reliable service and low-low prices.
Before you make the call you’d better check them out.
“There are a lot of scams out there and a lot of frauds and there are a lot of people posing as companies that really aren’t legitimate companies. ” Read more…
Legitimate locksmith companies may also use similar names to improve their position in business directories, so use the following tips from the Federal Trade Commission to help avoid a scam:
Dependable Locks Inc. allegedly used a variety of aliases to appear as local companies in business directories across the country. Read more…
Locksmith Scam Customers in Atlanta, Georgia.