Homelocksmith Avis 79

Got an estimate quote of £49 to open a door and new locks starting at £39. When the locksmith came out he quoted £200 to open the door. £250 for a new lock. Job was done in under an hour, was a simple case of popping out the lock and replacing.
We were in a bind so paid but genuinely feels like extortion.
On the positive side they came within a couple of hours on a Sunday (had said they would be 30 mins but don’t want to split hairs).

DO NOT USE. In the telephone quoted £59 arrived and charged £350 to open a bathroom door. BE AWARE

I never imagined I would need to write something like this.
My 80-year-old mother was locked out of her home and searched online for a locksmith. She found Home Locksmith (homelocksmiths.co.uk) advertising a £59 call-out fee.
She called, was reassured on the phone, and expected a simple lockout service.
When the technician arrived, instead of attempting non-destructive entry or properly assessing the lock, he immediately started drilling the door. My mother is elderly and was distressed — she trusted that this was necessary.
At the end of the job, she was charged £1,790.
From £59 to £1,790.
She felt confused, pressured, and frightened. In that moment, she just wanted to get back into her home. No elderly person should ever be put in that position.
After researching further, I discovered what appears to be multiple websites operating under similar branding NEAT JOB LTD, with an romanian officer named DUMITRU FLORIAN, including:

homelocksmiths.co.uk
budgetlocksmith.co.uk
urgentlocksmith.co.uk
locks-unlock.co.uk
click2unlock.co.uk
yourlocallocksmith.co.uk
locksmithoncall24h.co.uk
doorunlock.co.uk

Consumers should be extremely cautious when dealing with businesses advertising very low starting prices online.

My advice:
Always request a full written quote before work begins.
Do not allow drilling unless absolutely necessary.
If vulnerable or elderly, have a family member present before agreeing to major costs.
I am sharing this so other families do not go through what ours did.
We already filled complaints to Trading Standards, HMRC, NCA, AML and Google.

Price went from £59 labour and £95 parts to £430 with zero intelligible reasons from Locksmith. Couldn’t explain why, just kept looking at phone and coming up with random numbers. Contact centre staff (bloke on whatsapp) rude and unhelpful. Also days later still no Invoice. DO NOT USE.

Called for a quote and told them i'll call them back. When called back the guy simply hanged up on me and blocked my number.
Glad these guys didn't come actally.

Called them quotes 30 mins arrival and £50 call out fee + materials needed. Arrived 1 hr 30 mins later. Accessed the locked door with ease (around 3 mins) no additional materials needed. Then quotes £228.00 for the job. Unbelievable! I point blank refused to pay that and the guy (George) eventually relented and charged £150. PLEASE AVOID.

Appalling to open a door on a piece of wire for 250. Avoid at all costs , karma will bite

Power to my Yale electronic lock on the front door died on me, had to call a locksmith to sort it so I could get into my flat. Spoke to a lady on the phone, explained my situation. Asked her if they can help to sort the lock, she said they would have to break the Yale electronic lock and replace with a general mechanical lock. It will be £49 call out and around £25 to £75 max to open the lock. When the locksmith turned up, told me he’d have to break through the lock and I’d have to replace it with a standard lock afterwards. He quoted me £49 for call out, and £149 to break my lock so I could get access to my flat. So the initial quote from the lady on the phone had doubled, called her to check the price and she said the price will vary depending on the lock and how much work is involved. The worst locksmiths I’ve ever dealt with, the guys asked how I wanted to pay, and made me pay before he would do any work. Broke the lock so I could get home, but they didn’t replace it. So now I have to get another locksmith to fit a new lock. Will not recommend this company to anyone, locksmiths charge what they want, no consistent prices on website. Rip off scamming company, should have realised considering all the negative reviews online.

Avoid at all costs. Were called out on a Friday night which I appreciate was out of hours. They sent a proper cowboy who "fitted" a new cylinder. The cylinder was the wrong size, stuck out way beyond the fitting & a dream for a burglar who would want to break in. Son purchased one at Screwfix next day & fitted. Got charged £319 for shoddy, bad work by the locksmith supplied by this company who havent had the decency to respond to my email requesting a refund on the cylinder. These are the companies that give trade a bad name. Do not use Homelock even if you are desperate. Would have given half a star if I could.

We contacted this company to resolve a broken cylinder lock. We were quoted £45.00 to attend and a lock replacement starting from £20 if the lock needed replacing.

The lock was removed by the locksmith who then went on to try and sell us a £12.99 cylinder for £120.00. I queried this being in the construction industry, and tried to call the company to clarify the price.

The company had diverted our number to the locksmiths mobile. The lock smith proceeded to message his "boss". All this seem to be part of the act.

I challenged him again as he was trying to sell a lock for £175.00 that I could buy for £39.90.

The locksmith who attended was very polite however his "boss" was clearly inflating prices by taking advantage of the situation.

The locksmith arrived and a convertible BMW which I thought to be odd as you would assume they would arrive in a van.

We paid the call our fee that suddenly went up to £49.00 and I supplied my own cylinder and fitted it in 30 seconds.

I'm surprised that I can find any mention of them being approved or part of a governing body.

Fortunately we didn't fall for the inflated prices however I can see how vulnerable or desperate persons could easily be conned out of money.

Such a shame as when calling a locksmith you expect a trustworthy and honest company, not a national company hiding behind trading as names and using local guys in cars with a small tool bag with a drill and a screwdriver.

Called out on a Tuesday evening at about 6:30 while only the wife was at home.
The call out and labour fee was reasonable at £49
They then charged £85 for a lock barrel for the UPVC door.
My wife paid this because she was afraid of causing a conflict while she was home alone.
The same barrel would have cost less than £15 at Screwfix.

Scam. Avoid at all costs. They charged at 12:00 at noon on a Wednesday £367 for opening a door and changing a cylinder. Please not only with this company but asked for estimates when you call to get emergency locksmith they do not tell you anything till is done that is the scam. The reviews on this should be a give away. this predator companies MUST not be in business I really hope they go bust. many other people doing this work. Not needed

AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!

I wish I read the reviews before using this company. I had to use them yesterday 22/03/22. Called them up as I had obviously lost my keys, spoke to the lady on the phone (This is the start of the scam), who tells you it’s £49 call out and if it’s a simple lock that’s all you pay....., she went on to say if he can’t gain access he may need to do extra work, it may be an extra £25 for the replacement, I questioned this at that stage as I thought it was suspiciously cheap, but I naively thought I might just be getting a bargain, and how complicated can a standard lock be which are in 100,000s of Terrance houses in England. Anyways the one positive thing is he turned up within 30 mins ( which I would as well for the money I these guys charge ), walks up to the door and this is when the second stage of the scam starts. He said this isn’t a “basic lock” (again this is just a normal rented Terrance house, no major upgraded security locks, nothing), then he produces a calculator, starts with the spiel of call out / labour / lock / emergency call out, suddenly my bill was £259.00, obviously disgruntled at the massive difference in cost he questioned it as this is a different ball park cost to what I was quoted, yes an extra 50/60 quid I wouldn’t have minded but and extra £170!!. I had to pay it, as by this stage I just wanted to get into my house. Took him less then 7 minutes to change my lock ( took him 3 minutes to remove the initial lock, sounds pretty basic to me right?!?).

Please don’t fall into this trap as most of us have!!!

They will over charge you! You WILL be scammed!

TOTAL SCAM.

I'm not even sure it is a real company.

Cost 260 for a new lock that cost under 20 quid. It's so badly fitted. They won't even come back out to even look at it.

We are going to have to pay another lock smith to come and replace it.

God awful. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible.

£130 per hour rate.

And they charged £90 +VAT (£110) for a replacement part, when it only needed a part worth £30 from screwfix.

Pathetic robber barons. And when called out on it by anyone who remotely knows what they're talking about, they get unpleasant and defensive.

Never use these awful, awful people.

This company is a con. My daughter called them out last night. They charged £49 and wanted to put her door in or drill the lock and quoted £250+ Thankfully she didn't let them drill the lock or bash the door in. We got a proper locksmith out who got in with no damage.

These are scammers. I have called the number advertised asking they repay the money. The woman reckons she needs to speak to a manager and hung up on me as it was the emergency line.

Avoid

Should not even give these one star as we have been ripped off completely. Yes we expected a call out charge which is £45.00 but the final bill was over £200 just for replacing a simple straight forward lock which took them around 30 minutes max. We are pensioners and they have trust pilot on their site with good reviews which we trusted completely. We wish we had asked every item to be written down at the beginning
because he said that was the charge at the end.

They lure you in with fake websites that are highly prominent on Google. The best thing you can do is find an independent locksmith yourself; these people take inflated commission and I would recommended avoiding.

If i could give a lower start rating i would.
I was working away from home and my wife rang me in tears that she had locked herself out the house and our 15 month old son was in his cot
a neighbour googled and found these poeple who say they will be here within 25 minutes
They took over an hour to turn up and then charged my wife £130 for drilling a lock
I asked to speak to the manager which took him a day to get back to me and then he tried to justify the charge and said if we were to use them in the future i would get a discount. not worth it in my opinion

OK I £130 is alot of money but I was more annoyed that they did not bother to keep my wife updated with where they were and then when the manager phoned me he tried to use all the excuses traffic, time of day, what jobs they have etc
He also attempts to say that the price was discounted already as that it should have been around the £180+
The manager also states he will speak to his locksmith and get back to me which was about 5 days ago

AVOID AT ALL COSTS