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[EvoRed]

Only done a couple so far Toomush as only just started but the drill hasn't made an appearance as yet and, hopefully, it'll remain that way! Just euro's and nice latch slipping today! Tomorrow's bound to bring some horrors now!

[toomush2drink]

Its funny but up until now most of my lockouts have only been euro's,letterbox tool or euros i never seem to get mortice locks. I look about the area and see upvc everywhere but i just know if i started doing warrants every house i came up against would have a 110 on it.

[jason]

My last 4 warrants have included a Cruiser, a Battleship, an ERA mortice (Viscount) and a Yale which some friend to humanity had filled with a nail and araldite from the outside (no letterbox and it was an autolocking one to boot)

[EvoRed]

You can keep them Jason, and I'll stick to the euro's and latches!

Did you open the padlocks with the RB 2-in-1's?

[aaalocksmiths]

Hi All
i tried the 118247 when it first came out, had 2 jobs from it!!!!! i too called to test the system. i wasn't even on the list. when i called customer services the following day miraculously i was second on the list (yeah right).

i have, in my area found the thompson local and BT book to be the best for new work.

toomush! how do you get into this warrant work? i have looked into it and had no luck, i have done some for local bailiff companies but can't seem to get into the bigger companies.......

the only way to sort reactast and the such like out is for all the guys who are subbing to them to finish with them. if they haven't got any engineers then they can't come up with the locksmith.

i used to sub for them and have never regretted finishing with them one bit, despite the odd letter through saying i owe the money for a job that i never did, i'm better off without them.

i put it this way, without robbing the customer on parts each job is worth about £15-£30. i won't leave the house for that (unless it's some old dear). had a bloke on the phone last night, lost keys for a Rover. £160 for 2 sets of keys and 2 remotes, he only wants 1 set so it's £120now. well this guy can get it done in Bognor Regis for £80, he reckons. well he needs to get his car to Bognor Regis then doesn't he. about 200 miles.

what we have all got to remember is that we are worth our weight in gold, stand fast any driller killers. if a job is gonna cost so much then that is what it will cost. i finished with reactfast because i was not going to use the best part of 10 grands worth of machinery for a poxy 45% (ocasionlly haggled upto 55%).

stand by your prices, boot RF into touch and see what happens..

[79commando]

Had a good job the other night due to one of the big companies letting a customer down. My customer had phoned one of the big adds in the YP for a locksmith at 1400 hrs to be told they would have one within the hour. After a few hours no locksmith had arrived, they chased it up a total of 5 times over the next 7 hours and were finally told no locksmith was coming. They then tracked me down and I was there within the hour. All that had happened was a snapped key in the entrance door to a block of flats and unfortunately no one was in. As the flat owners finished work they had began queing up outside the flat well pi#### off. Turns out three of them were MPs who I had the pleasure in briefing them on the problems with the big add companies (multiple adds, not local companies and extortunate prices etc). They were fumming and promised that they would sort it out now that they knew the score; so here's hopeing.

[pinky]

nice one , heres hopeing

[nhughz]

They Probably will in Scotland, just finished 6 months working up there and they don't mess about i can tell you.

[aaalocksmiths]

One of the jobs i had when i worked for RF was a phone call at 1700 to goto Cheshire (not on your nelly it's an hour and a half's drive)!!!! well it turned out there was 6 jobs all within 15 miles of each other. so for that many i went. at each job they had been told there would be someone with them within the hour. the earliest job had been phoned in at 0930 (ish) (may of been closer to 1000) and the latest at 1400. now i didn't get to the first one until 1900 (didn't have satnav then). how pi**ed off were the punters???? very. i got all the grief until i pointed out how far i'd come and hadn't had the call until 1700. don't know if any of them called to complain but they said they would. does anyone get calls from some company based in London??

iv'e only done one job for them a couple of years ago. took 6 or 8 weeks to get paid, and i found out off the customer that they had been charged 180 smackers for a job at 2030 on a Saturday night!!!!!!!

unbelievable, calls like that now get told no simple as that. the more the public find out about these kind of companies the better. unfortunatly the telly programs seem to concerntrate on the same companies, still who knows one day maybe.................

[toomush2drink]

The public are wising up just done 2 jobs and the first had rung 11824-7 and got given the number of a company in southend which considering he was 5 mins from me and southend is about at least an hour away he wasnt happy. Luckily for me he complained to the operator and pointed out he wanted a "local" locksmith and they gave him my number. 2nd job was a straight forward opening, in in under 5 mins and charged £45. The guy was over the moon as he thought at that price i would drill the lock and charge loads for a new one. Wait till my van gets it new sign writing with "locks opened from £45" all over it. The way i see it is anyone who has paid more and sees my van wont be happy and will remember my company name.

[Rockford]

Hi Toomush,

Does your £45 offer extend into the evening and early hours ?.

I like the idea of advertising your pricing, but I doubt the likes of RF will lose much sleep. I don't know what their day rates are like down there, but up here they are around the £40 mark, and they gradually increase as the day progresses. It's not the labour that the likes of RF make the money on, its the parts.

Regards
Rockford.....

[toomush2drink]

Rf charge more down here and like you said they push it up through out the day. I charge that price from 9-7. Im looking to realy push the rpices after all this seems to be the only trade that doesnt do it. The only reason i can see for not doing that is if you have something to hide. Remember when the RF guy came on here giving it the large but when asked what they charged he wouldnt answer and said do your research ? well that got me thinking, ive nothing to hide so my prices are going on my van which is about and about everywhere i go. Signing it up is a small price considering how much other advertising is. Ive rung around a lot of competitors round here and i know they charge more or come in cheap and drill everything that doesnt move. Its an experiment but with one local lockie charging £120 call out imagine what one of his customers is going to think if they used him then see my van the next day, do you think they will use him again ? Ive also lowered my prices a little after all if i get more work from the price drop i should make up the minor price drop shortfall.
Another thought has anybody ever seen a reactfast van or do they only subcontract ?

[Rockford]

Let us know how you get on Toomush.

I believe ReactFast are starting to put out their own signed vehicles, and are offering subcontractors the opportunity to have ReactFast signage on their vans.

Rockford.....

[EvoRed]

£40?! I think the cheapest I have been offered a job from ReactFast is about £55ph and the most expensive was last week, Monday night around 10:30pm, £109+VAT! Imagine my embarrassment when I turned up to a Yale type latch on this job. I even picked it as opposed to anything else in a vain attempt to justify the excessive labour charge...

The funny thing is, this customer had had to call another Locksmith out earlier in the day as they did the same thing! This Locksmith had drilled the cylinder out and replaced it (with an Era)! He hadn't fully ripped them off as he only charged £55 which leads me to ask why on earth did he drill it rather than anything else for an extra £10 or £15 on a part? Anyway they tried calling this Locksmith again and he was in bed! I looked up his YP ad when I got in and he has about '20 years experience' and offers a '24hr emergency service'!

[EvoRed]

Forgot to add, when they failed to get the original Locksmith out of his bed, they rang 118 118 to be given ReactFast's number... Who believes that, for the likes of 118 118, you are treated the same and have the same share of customers directed towards you as these big guys?

I know Absolute Emergencies advertise in my area, as I do, on 118 247. I've been on this system for a month and have had nothing. I would be willing to bet on a different set of statistics for AE.