Finding a local locksmith & avoiding ‘the nationals’!
Hi guys, it’s been a while since I last added a blog entry. Life has been a tad hectic recently 😀
So, let me set the scene. You’ve locked yourself out, but you do have your phone with you. You’ve also got enough data and call credit to do a Google search, and call a locksmith once you have found one.
What’s the first thing you would search Google for? “Local locksmith” is a very popular search term. At the top and bottom of the page, you’ll see several paid for advertisements, which in itself isn’t always a bad thing. It’s always prudent to be aware of this though. Once you’ve clicked through to a locksmith’s website, do you know what to look for to make sure you’re not actually calling a ‘national’? In fact, do you even know what a ‘national’ is? Let me explain, they are for all intents and purposes an unnecessary middleman. A national will be just a call centre, there aren’t actually any locksmiths there. They’ll take your call, reassuring you that your local (unlikely to be local to you, more likely to travel from quite a distance) locksmith is on their way to you when in reality they haven’t even found you a locksmith yet. This ‘national’ will basically hire a locksmith on your behalf, and cream off a hefty profit for doing this. They are rarely in any kind of hurry to get this done, and will lie to you if you chase them up & profess the locky is on their way :/
This basically means that the locksmith that attends to open your door could’ve actually been hired by you directly, and cost circa £50-£60 less than if you’d not been tricked into calling a national!
This business model is leaving a very bitter taste in the mouths of customers and engineers alike. So, in conclusion – be smart when Googling/searching for your locksmith. Check feedback on the Google profile for the company you’re thinking of hiring, ask them outright if they’re the actual locksmith or if they are a national. It’s not a foolproof way of protecting yourself, but the knowledge of this very cynical practice will hopefully help. Make sure you know who is going to turn up by calling a genuine local locksmith. With Keychange you always get the locksmith on the end of the phone so you know who you are getting and how long they will genuinely take to get there.
- Trouble turning keys due to lack of strength? - 13th June 2019
- Finding a local locksmith & avoiding ‘the nationals’! - 2nd January 2019
- The changing weather & impact on locks, doors & windows. - 2nd January 2019
- Pet Sitters & your malfunctioning locks - 2nd January 2019
- uPVC Doors & windows - 2nd January 2019
