30 • A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A LOCKSMITH ...
Beware of the fly by night
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THE STORY BEHIND TWO callouts that Andy Scott of XS Locksmiths in Edinburgh recently attended , will unfortunately sound all too familiar to many seasoned locksmiths , and in turn highlights a growing problem in the industry , both here in the UK and worldwide .
In previous issues , The Locksmith Journal has reported on botched jobs carried out by so-called locksmiths , with their unsuspecting victims contacting them after finding them ranking top of internet search results under very innocent and genuine search terms .
Andy has kindly sent in photographs he took of two such incidents and explains the plight experienced by many , which has the potential to tarnish the reputation of the locksmith profession , something Andy and the wider locksmith community , as well as Google , is keen to stamp out .
Andy says , “ In both cases the customer had returned to their homes in the early hours of the morning to find that they had lost their keys . And , in both instances , they did what most people are now very accustomed to doing when looking for the number of a tradesperson … they used their smartphone to search the internet and rang the first number they came to . And , in both cases , the same franchise despatched someone to attend the callout . “ In the first instance , the customer had left his keys in his golf bag back at the clubhouse . Locked out in the cold at 2:30am , he searched for ‘ nearest locksmith ’ and within 40 minutes , as promised on the online listing , 2 men arrived in an unmarked white van with cordless drill and saw in hand .
“ They proceeded to drill straight through the mortice lock and through the door leaving a one and a quarter inch hole in the door . The customer had already been advised on the phone that it would be £ 90 cash only , which he had ready . The men took the money and left without making any attempt to secure the property or any offer to replace the lock .
“ Fortunately the customer was able to secure the door on the Yale lock , which the men opened by sawing round the door . The next day he saw my business card on the noticeboard of his apartment building and his neighbour , who had used us before , was able to vouch for us and he gave us a call . We also have cards on the notice board at his golf club so he was reassured of our reputation , which was very important to him after having had such a bad experience .
“ The second customer was not so lucky , however . In this case , the lady ’ s door was secured on a 5-lever mortice lock only , which she was left unable to lock and had to resort to pushing a chair and bike against the door until morning . “ I do a lot of work for the housing associations in the area and was asked to go and replace this particular lock . The women once again , had returned to her home in the early hours of the morning only to find she had lost her keys and in desperation rung the first number that was listed in the results of an internet search . Similarly , two men arrived within 40 minutes in an unmarked white van and proceeded to drill a hole through the door , leaving a hole in the door and making no attempt to secure the property or offering to replace the lock , disappearing into the night with £ 90 cash .”
‘ the nature of the industry is changing and more and more businesses are run as mobile locksmiths ’
Andy was able to save both customers the expense of having to replace their whole door by patching the existing door and refitting a mortice lock in a different position .
And , although Andy operates a 24-hour callout service to his account customers , he will also take card details before attending the callout . “ There have been times when I ’ ve let someone into their property and had the door slammed in my face without being paid ,” explains Andy .
Andy has worked as a locksmith in Edinburgh for 37 years , 26 of those as XS Locksmiths . “ In that time I have seen the number of locksmith shops drop from 16 to just 4 , that I know of . The nature of the industry is changing and more and more business are run as mobile locksmiths . His advice to anyone looking for an emergency locksmith is to get a recommendation from someone .
www . xslocksmiths . co . uk
LOCKSMITHJOURNAL . CO . UK | JAN / FEB 2017 Sponsored by Burg-Wächter