My son locked his keys in his car with the motor running. He called the first locksmith he found on the internet for the Jacksonville, FL area. He was told the cost would be $39.95 for a service call but there could be an additional charge (no more than $40) if it was a difficult entry and depending on tools that had to be used. A locksmith showed up more than an hour later (car running the whole time) and took less than 30 seconds to open the car. He then handed my son a bill for $133.21! My son questioned him but couldn't understand the technician because of his heavy accent. Being naive and inexperienced in such matters (first time to ever deal with a locksmith), he paid the bill. If I'd been there, I wouldn't have paid it. The additonal $93.00 for 30 seconds of work is the equivalent of an hourly rate of over $11, 000!

When I called the number on the invoice in the weeks after to question the bill, that's when the runaround really began. I was finally able to ascertain that I was calling a number in Tempe, AZ. I finally spoke with a "Steve", supposedly, second in charge, who took my information, said he'd look into it, and get back to me. He never did, despite my regular follow-up calls. About a week later, I finally spoke with a "Ben" who was supposedly "the man in charge." He did the same thing as Steve--no call back. My subsequent attempts to follow up were met with hostility by the receptionists and their persistent mantra that neither Steve nor Ben were "available." I have no doubt there were times when they were there because I could hear the dispatchers talking to them in the background--one even referred to me as an "asshole", which he denied upon returning to the phone.

It has been an all-around exasperating experience and I will register my complaints in every venue I can find.

I found another posting with an almost identical scenario on Complaints Board from 2008.

BEWARE OF COMPLETE LOCKSMITH--DON'T USE THEM!

JKW,
Fleming Island, FL