Locksmith scam

[emmmab]

Writing this to warn people about a known locksmith scam that I had no idea about and fell victim to recently.

I called 'London Locksmith 24h'. They trade under 'Lock Services London Ltd'. This is their website: https://londonlocksmith24h.co.uk/ DO NOT use them.

I needed to regain entry to my property. When their worker arrived, he insisted that destructive entry (drilling) was necessary. He carried out the work, and when he was done he charged me £555 (!) which was never agreed upon.

I challenged this and he became aggressive, shouting at me and threatening to leave my door without a lock to it. I am female, it was night time, and I live alone. I was frightened of him, and of being left vulnerable to attack or robbery without a secure door. I was pressured into paying most of the bill and forced to pay on the spot.

Apparently it's known behaviour that reputable locksmiths are trying to warn their clients about. I went to see Callow Locksmiths after it happened and they told my that frustratingly they'd heard of lots of cases like mine. They told me that the cost (drilling, emergency call out, replacement lock) would have been around £190. They also told me that the lock never needed drilling or replacing - they would have picked it.

After the worker left, I looked the company up again and hidden under fake 5* reviews I found numerous reports describing the same experience I had, including reports of intimidating single women, as well as extorting people for unnecessary work in an emergency situation, forcing them to pay on the spot and becoming aggressive if they refused.

Key thing to note - a good locksmith will ALWAYS try to enter non-destructively (i.e. picking the lock). If a locksmith arrives and tries to drill straight away, ask them to leave. The master locksmith association has this advice https://www.locksmiths.co.uk/faq/how-to-spot-rogue-locksmith/

The whole thing has been really disturbing. Hoping that writing this will stop at least one person around here from falling victim to it!

[Moovart]

I have had three episodes where I needed an emergency locksmith out of normal working hours and each time I called the usual local locksmiths' emergency call out and each time have never managed to get those local locksmiths to come out. They were "busy on other jobs" and had a several hour wait although one said he had to take his son to a football match!! Honest at least.

I resorted to an online "emergency locksmith" and paid over the odds but they got me into my house at night and that was appreciated.

If you can wait until normal working hours by staying with a friend or relative overnight or whatever then you're more likely to get one of the local locksmiths at a reasonable price.

If you can't wait then ring around and always get a price before the emergency ones attend including for drilling and replacing the lock if necessary.

[hellose5]

Vital details for anyone - thank you - we can definitely recommend Callows as prompt, experienced, local and know what they are doing.

[Pugwash]

Have used Callows for many years for locks/keys etc. My team at work always used Callows as always reliable and helpful.