07/07/2026
There are companies that have everything in place to appear as a legitimate business -a website, phone number, reviews, and vehicles. These companies, though, are not all real. And difficult to spot. It’s not often you will need a locksmith. Yet, if and when you do, the last thing that you want to happen, is to get scammed. And you definitely don’t want to be dealing with a fake company.
Customers are finding it harder to know who they’re dealing with due to fake listings, call centers, and bait and switch tactics. You can find these companies on sites like Google.
They operate as multiple companies yet operating from the same call center. The issue at hand is a customer thinks they’re calling a reliable locksmith company. They have someone come out and all seems normal. The customer, not knowing the difference, allows them to begin the work, expecting everything to be on the up and up. Until an issue comes up. Now workmanship comes into question. Until the bill comes. And now there’s full expectation to pay. Even though, in some situations, there hasn’t been a full service rendered.
These companies mislead, manipulate, and use bait and switch tactics. And they make you feel robbed. These customers are only left with the feelings of skepticism, frustration, and damaged trust by someone’s practices or lack there of.
As a locksmith, I must practice extra caution in delivering honest pricing, professionalism, quality of work, and transparency. I must also practice customer service at a high-level.
Fortunately, for the consumer, there are steps they can take to protect themselves. Even under a stressful situation, consider following these simple steps to protect yourself.
If you can, speak with the locksmith that will be arriving to help you. You can request pricing before the work begins. You can verify license and insurance. Once the work has begun and completed, you should get an invoice that has the full company name, license information as required by the state, an invoice number and date, a detailed description of the service provided, and a breakdown of costs. Some might even include the name of the locksmith that provided you the service.
At the end of it all, don’t just trust anyone. Do your due diligence. Verify before you need a company. This will save you a lot of time and possible problems.