Rarely do you meet a professional who is committed, honest, passionate, and fair in pricing. This describes Garrett, the one-man show behind Key Doctor. As with so many "opportunities" in life, his detour towards locksmithing was unplanned: Garrett had become laid off as a research scientist. Not long after, serendipity intervened while he was observing a locksmith working on a little problem he was having and they got to talking. The locksmith, noticing Garrett's uncontainable curiosity, invited him to be an apprentice. Fast forward to last week when a fellow Yelper learned I was struggling to find a non-dealer to duplicate a difficult key.
We've got a couple of older/used cars, each of which only came with one key fob. That's not uncommon but it does present some anxiety. I reached out to 4-5 locksmiths and also spoke to ACE and the Costco key-making roadshow (a van that schedules appearances 2-3 times/year). Several of the locksmiths could manage a 12+ yo Chevy sedan but none could duplicate the fob of a 20 yo E-class. The same was true for ACE. And the Costco roadshow was unable to accept either challenge. I was bracing for the MB dealership when a fellow Yelper reached out and said he just had a terrific experience with Garrett who duplicated a 20 yo Lexus (nearly as difficult as the German luxury cars). I contacted Garrett who promptly quoted me prices for BOTH and they were each about 30+ percent below dealer/ACE. He was out of the Chevy fobs but had been meaning to place an Amazon order for those anyway. He let me know two days later that they'd arrived and we scheduled a meeting place (he's mobile). It took just under an hour and I simply paid him in cash.
In the meantime I had ordered a blank fob from eBay for the MB. Fyi, while the eBay listing very clearly stated it's circuitry and fit was compatible with our E-class/year, when Garrett tried to program it he learned that my spare fob was a 433 MHz (as listed) when our MB requires 300 MHz (I think it's the wave length at which the key talks to the ignition). Not to worry, Garrett had several of the 300 MHz fobs on hand and we simply traded! The MB programming proved as challenging as forecast and ultimately took several hours (the dealership had requested a 1/2-day drop off but I thought that was just a scheduling wish). It was actually the first time Garrett had done this era of MB and, at points, appeared to be learning on the job. But this is tremendous praise. He shared where the stumbling points were and how he intended to navigate them. His innate "scientist" really showed through and provided confidence for us. Sure enough, we got a eureka text from Garrett when all was solved. I have not found or learned of any other locksmiths that can do German cars yet, never mind at substantial savings, and again, with the grace and exactitude that radiated from the Key Doctor. Highly recommend! read more