How to Protect Yourself from Locksmith Scams in Downtown Miami

• Too-Good-To-Be-True Prices

Being locked out of your house is a terrible feeling. It’s also a situation that some locksmiths take advantage of. When you’re searching for a locksmith to help you get back into your home, look out for low prices that seem too good to be true. All too often, a locksmith will list services at a very low price on their website, only to leave you with a bill worth a few hundred dollars. Keep in mind that these low prices are usually just the consultation fee, not the fee for the work that needs to be done. Before you get a locksmith to come through to your home, ask for a full quote. If they can’t quote you without seeing what needs to be done, don’t let them start any work without giving you a quote first. Obviously, you do want to get back into your home, but this doesn’t mean you need to pay an exorbitant price to do so.

• Vague Quotations

When you start getting quotations from locksmiths for work that’s required at your home or place of business, be sure to take a closer look. Some locksmiths tend to leave out all the costs associated with a job so that the client will accept the initial quotation. Before you tell a locksmith to go ahead, find out whether the quotation includes all the necessary costs. In fact, find out exactly what the quotation includes if the descriptions are very vague.

• Unnecessary Costs

When it comes to installing a new lock or rekeying a lock, locksmiths tend to charge per keyhole/cylinder. This can range anywhere from $15 to $30 per keyhole but some locksmiths have a flat service fee, which could change the price. Make sure that a locksmith isn’t charging you to replace the existing pins when rekeying a lock – this is unnecessary. There have also been many instances of locksmiths claiming a lock is broken, so they can’t rekey it without replacing the entire lock. If your current key is able to lock and unlock the door, there’s no need to replace everything just to rekey.

• Misleading Proximities

Some locksmiths will base their call-out fee on their proximity to you. Before you accept a quotation that includes this fee, find out exactly where they’re located and what they charge per mile so that you can calculate these travel costs yourself.

• Questionable Reputations

Most people will turn to a search engine when looking for a locksmith near them. This highlights the importance of building a strong online reputation. The more reviews a locksmith has and the more positive they are, the more likely it is that you will hire them to assist you. Unfortunately, a number of locksmiths aren’t building their online reputations in an ethical way. Before you contact a locksmith, have a browse through their reviews. If there are several glowing reviews in between very negative reviews, something might be off. It’s easy to get friends and family members to post reviews instead of waiting for customers to leave their own. Along with checking reviews on Google, take a look at their reviews on Facebook too. Another way that you can make sure you’re dealing with a reputable brand is to call them up and see how helpful and friendly they are over the phone – does their demeanor match their reviews?

Outlining these scams is not meant to make you suspicious of every locksmith in Brickell Miami, it just helps to know what red flags to look out for.

If you want assistance from a reputable locksmith with a sound reputation in the Miami area, contact Quickly Locksmiths today.