Story By: Jace Verhoeven
(TULSA, Okla.) May 23 Weve all been there, you lock your keys in the car. You might grab a phone book and look for a locksmith.
The FOX23 Solving Problems Team shows you why that could cost you a lot more. When FOX23 got a tip about a locksmith company that might not be on the up and up, we investigated. The problem centers on the advertisement for Liberty Locksmith in some Tulsa area phonebooks.
The ad claims its Tulsas most trusted locksmith and lists eight different phone numbers and addresses for locations all across Green Country. But we found out, the addresses dont even exist.
We went to all eight addresses in the ad, in Glenpool, Coweta, Sapulpa, Owasso, Sand Springs, Broken Arrow and Tulsa, not a single address matched a locksmith company.
We went undercover and called Liberty Locksmith's Harvard location. The ad shows 1905 South Harvard, but while standing where 1905 South Harvard should be, we had to wait almost 30-minutes.
A locksmith shows up, but it's not who we called. The number we called is actually a call center in New York, they contract most people to do their work.
The locksmith works to successfully open our door and then asks for $55, telling us he's charging us more because we went through the call center. If wed called him directly it would only have been $35.
Rick Brinkley with Tulsa's Better Business Bureau says that's not illegal, but the BBB is still revoking Liberty Locksmith's membership, for another reason. The problem the BBB has with this is that the advertising is very misleading to the customer. They think they are dealing with local businesses and they are just flat out lying to customers on where they are located.
Brinkley's advice for customers is: don't pay the extra money, instead call someone else so you aren't caught having to pay extra money just because you unknowingly called a company out of state.
Just last week, Liberty Locksmith told our state's occupational licensing department that it agreed to remove any specific addresses in future telephone book advertisements. Liberty also told the state license agency that it will open an Oklahoma call center to dispatch local calls. The state agency plans to make sure the company follows its promise. FOX23 News did attempt to contact Liberty Locksmith but our phone calls were not returned.
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