Not a fan.
Made an appointment for the next day at 3pm to have them open a lock at my new rental. They couldn't accommodate a same-day request, so I thought the appointment was reasonable. Gave them my name, phone number and address. No worries.
On my end, I took leave and found childcare for my sick kid to make it to this appointment. Then (the day of), I called before my appointment to confirm we're still on for 3pm. WE'RE CONFIRMED.
By 3:30pm, no locksmith. I call back to see what the status is. Oh -- looks like we took your phone number down wrong. Dude takes down the correct number, then says the locksmith should be there in 15 min, since his previous appointment ran long. (Not thrilled to wait 45 minutes, but I get that mistakes happen.)
I DON'T HEAR ANOTHER WORD TILL AFTER 5PM.
For a 3pm appointment.
That's when Mark the locksmith called to say he was at my place. TWO HOURS after the appointment and I didn't get a single call before then?
(Keep in mind, this job is to get into a HOUSE. His expectation: me, sitting in the driveway for two hours without any word.)
He said his other job just took surprisingly long.
Two things with that:
1. After breaking into Nakatomi Tower, that dude from "Die Hard" could give Hans Gruber an estimate on how long it was going to take to break through 5 mechanical locks to get into the vault.
If Mark the locksmith started his previous assignment even an hour prior to his assigned time with me, he'd have a rough idea how long something was going to take. So, he could've sent an update or cancellation before 3pm even rolled around.
2. Mark the locksmith was not actually in "Die Hard", working on 5 mechanical locks guarding millions of dollars in bearer bonds. Meaning, there was NO REASON he couldn't -- again -- peel himself away to call or text an update.
The best part was when I was calling around to other local locksmiths and, upon revealing what had happened with Hoernel, I find out this is not the first time they've heard of Hoernel folks standing people up.
If you're active-duty -- or just straight up someone who doesn't appreciate a business taking a dump on your time -- I recommend giving these guys a wide berth.
Seek assistance elsewhere, my friend.
(Try BCS Locksmiths in Racine -- they're good people.) read more