Total bait an switch. I locked myself out of my house and called for a quote. I was told over the phone it would be $20 to show up and starting at $65 for the lock. He said he was sending someone right away. Twenty minutes later, I get a phone call from the technician saying he was on his way and would be here in 30 minutes. Over an hour later, someone else shows up- I know it was someone else because both times I spoke to a man on the phone and this was a woman (which I gotta be honest, was pretty cool to see a female in a profession normally dominated by men)
She takes one look at the lock and says it's going to be $179. I explained that I was quoted $85 total, possibly more depending upon how complicated it would be. She say yes, this lock is $179. According to her, the price I was quoted was $20 to show up and the $65 was to look at the lock! She then goes on to tell me how "complicated" my lock is and all of the extra things she needs to do. My lock was the $40 standard issue knob from Home Depot.
She offers to leave if I don't want to pay but at his point I've been waiting for two hours to get into my house. So I gave her the green light. I stood there and watched her unlock the door in less than 1 minute literally using 3 tools!!! No joke, the total time she was here (including the tone it took her to go to her car and charge me) was less than 10 minutes.
I locked myself out and I'm OK with paying a professional to do a service for me. What I am not OK with is deceptive business practices where you double the quote once you arrive 2 hours later for a lock that wasn't "complicated,". So lesson learned, the price the quote you over the phone is a lie and they will jack that price up once they arrive. read more
