Have you ever locked your keys in your car, home or office? Have you found yourself staring at the front of a safe for hours trying to remember the combination? Remember when you needed one master key so you could rid yourself of a cumbersome key ring? The yes answers to these questions mean you have come into contact with a locksmith or two. These experiences can be positive or negative, but I bet your opinion of the profession changed one way or the other after the experience. In this blog I will try to give you the information will give you some piece of mind in an otherwise stressful situation.
Steps to ensure your locksmith experience is a good one
1. Stay calm: Losing the power of holding your own security measures
in your hands can be very stressful. Don't let it panic you. There are
plenty of locksmiths out there, and only a phone call away. Use your
phone, or find one, if it's locked in your car. Choose a listing through
your favorite search engine, and hire a car locksmith.
2. Be positive: When you call a "locksmith" you will inevitably get a dispatcher. Explain your situation briefly and ask for the rates associated
with your particular situation. The dispatcher will likely take your pertinent information and pass that along to a technician in the area. When you get the call from the actual locksmith then you can go into detail about your dilemma. You may still have to wait for the on site arrival of the technician to get an actual price for the service. Again, be positive.
3. Negotiate a fair price for the service: This is where things can go south in a hurry. Please keep in mind that the equipment, training and insurance that locksmiths have is very expensive. If a job only takes them a few minutes to complete it does not mean that it's cheap. The tech may have used a tool that cost thousand of dollars to accomplish the task. Also keep in mind the time of day that you need a locksmith. Work done at odd hours will be more expensive. Is there room to negotiate? Yes, but be realistic. Nobody with Thousands of dollars of equipment and years of experience is going to save you from a lockout at 3am for fifty bucks.That's about it. When service is completed try to part ways knowing that a job well done by a professional is going to cost money but it should be well worth it. You will have your keys back, your safe opened, or finally be able to retire the janitorial set of keys attached to your hip.
