My 24 year old son's roommate moved out but did not give him her key so I decided to get the locks changed so she wouldn't be able to get back into the house. I called Orlando Locksmiths and told the girl on the phone that I wanted to get the locks changed on my house because a roommate had moved out and still had a key.
I asked her how much it would be and she said there was a $29 fee for coming out and then $25 per lock plus hardware. I assumed by the hardware she meant the locks. So I made an appointment for them to meet my son at the house. I no longer live in Florida.
The technician arrived as scheduled. He did the work and when checking that the key worked in each lock told my son the cost was $700. My son called me immediately. I spoke to the technician and told him all I wanted was to have the lock changed so the roommate couldn't use her key. He said oh that was rekeying. The work order said change the locks.
He contacted his manager who called me. I explained the problem and the guy said it was a miscommunication. He said if they took the locks out and put the old ones back in and did the rekeying it would cost about $400 so he would give me 25% off the bill. I told him I was not happy with this but didn't feel like I had any choice.
I probably should have been more hardnosed about it but not being local and I didn't want to put my son in an awkward position. My son said he though they needed to take the door knob and deadbolts out in order to change the locks. I can understand how he didn't know what to expect.
My problem is that I told the girl what I was trying to accomplish so she should have written it up as a rekeying even if I didn't use those words. Even if it was written as change the locks that isn't the same as change the doorknobs and deadbolts. Why didn't the technician ask about since the doorknobs and deadbolts were obviously working. They were only about 3 years old.
I should have told the manager that I didn't think I should have to pay for them to undo the work I didn't want them to do but I am not good at dealing with confrontation. But I wanted to warn the rest of the world about what I felt was a definite ripoff.
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