I was locked out of my home during a barbecue and called 411 for an emergency locksmith (after calling my super and having him tell me he would not come at all to do it). The company said it should be under $100 to or in that range to get the services done.
The man came asked me if they gave me a price over the phone to which I said "no just a price range". The man drilled my lock, and went to pull out a new cylinder from his kit. I told him I already had one and went to get it from my tool boxy right inside the door. He installed his anyway and said "yours won't fit trust me" without even bothering to look at the cylinder I had from another apartment. He asked me to step out side, and pulled the door shut.
"now we go get money", he said as he put the keys in his pocket. I had no shoes on, and I had several guests who came in from out of town and left their purses, luggage etc inside. 2 people were leaving from my place to take a plane. He refused to let me in to even put on shoes and said we have to go to an atm because you have to pay in cash. He said "it's the law" when I asked how he could withhold the keys and refuse check or credit card. We went outside and as I walked to an atm he said I had to go with him in a car to my personal bank because an ATM wouldn't give me enough money. Suddenly the price was now $300 dollars because I had a "high security lock" the lock was so "high security" that he managed to break into my apartment and swap it out with a new one in 10 minutes FLAT!
I got in the car and he drove for over 20 min to the middle of nowhere. I just moved in 3 weeks prior and had no idea where I was. I went into the bank and removed $400 to pay him. When I came out the price became over $700. I had no cell phone, shoes, idea where I was, and was dressed like a bum. He said he would leave me right there and take the keys with him if I did not pay him the rest of the money in cash. He said "don't worry you will get a receipt". The new price was paid and he wrote a new receipt after driving me back to my place. I insisted on a business card or something with his info on it so I could show it to my landlord (because the super refused to let me in) to get reimbursed. The man claimed he was a freelancer without business cards and the reason it cost more is because its a very busy day and the number I called dispatched him as a freelancer.
NOWHERE in his charges does it say anything about there being an overcharge for a freelancer.in the end he charged $79 for a lockout, $350 labor to drill the lock, $225 for a new cylinder (I could have got at the corner hardware store for under 50) then an additional $50 for installation (why wasn't this part of labor?) and $62 for taxes.in all this man ripped me off for $765 for 10 min of work. He spent more time driving me to get the money then he did on my door. His explanation in the end was "lockouts are very expensive, this is why landlords keep supers, it's cheaper then paying you back for lockouts". If I had my cellphone with me I would never have given him the money i would have just called a car company to come get me, go home and called another locksmith to remove the lock he put on.
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