rekeyed Schlage F keyed entry no longer locks immediately

[rc17]

Thanks, everybody. After discussing the situation yesterday with a Schlage customer service rep and *still* failing to get the cylinder out while following his instructions, I took the handle with cylinder inside to my local hardware store and asked for help from the guy who does lock rekeying there. They have a whole aisle full of Schlage locksets there, so he is very familiar with how to disassemble and rekey them. He tried and tried and could not get the cylinder out either. Finally he observed that there is something wrong with the spring-compressible cap on this particular unit, which is preventing the cap from compressing fully so that the cylinder can exit the handle. He showed me that when he presses down with a thin file on the front of the cap from the front of the handle, it compresses all the way -- but when he presses down on the back of the cap from the back of the handle, it does *not* compress all the way. Since the cap won't compress fully, the cylinder simply won't fit through the exit hole.

Once again the good news is that when I called Schlage today and relayed this info to them, they agreed to send me a new lockset to replace this one. And, even better, this time they are going to key it to my existing key code at the factory, so I won't need to extract the cylinder and rekey it when it arrives.

Thanks for all your inputs about these locksets. If I were starting from scratch, knowing what I know now, I would buy something else. But since I already have a house full of Schlage locks and Schlage is replacing a bunch of them for free under warranty, I'll stick with these for now.

I'm really glad I found this helpful forum, and I really appreciate everybody's time and kindness in trying to assist me. Thank you!!

[cledry]

Thanks, everybody. After discussing the situation yesterday with a Schlage customer service rep and *still* failing to get the cylinder out while following his instructions, I took the handle with cylinder inside to my local hardware store and asked for help from the guy who does lock rekeying there. They have a whole aisle full of Schlage locksets there, so he is very familiar with how to disassemble and rekey them. He tried and tried and could not get the cylinder out either. Finally he observed that there is something wrong with the spring-compressible cap on this particular unit, which is preventing the cap from compressing fully so that the cylinder can exit the handle. He showed me that when he presses down with a thin file on the front of the cap from the front of the handle, it compresses all the way -- but when he presses down on the back of the cap from the back of the handle, it does *not* compress all the way. Since the cap won't compress fully, the cylinder simply won't fit through the exit hole.

Once again the good news is that when I called Schlage today and relayed this info to them, they agreed to send me a new lockset to replace this one. And, even better, this time they are going to key it to my existing key code at the factory, so I won't need to extract the cylinder and rekey it when it arrives.

Thanks for all your inputs about these locksets. If I were starting from scratch, knowing what I know now, I would buy something else. But since I already have a house full of Schlage locks and Schlage is replacing a bunch of them for free under warranty, I'll stick with these for now.

I'm really glad I found this helpful forum, and I really appreciate everybody's time and kindness in trying to assist me. Thank you!!

If you had used a locksmith instead of a guy at the hardware store it would have been an easy fix.

[billdeserthills]

Thanks, everybody. After discussing the situation yesterday with a Schlage customer service rep and *still* failing to get the cylinder out while following his instructions, I took the handle with cylinder inside to my local hardware store and asked for help from the guy who does lock rekeying there. They have a whole aisle full of Schlage locksets there, so he is very familiar with how to disassemble and rekey them. He tried and tried and could not get the cylinder out either. Finally he observed that there is something wrong with the spring-compressible cap on this particular unit, which is preventing the cap from compressing fully so that the cylinder can exit the handle. He showed me that when he presses down with a thin file on the front of the cap from the front of the handle, it compresses all the way -- but when he presses down on the back of the cap from the back of the handle, it does *not* compress all the way. Since the cap won't compress fully, the cylinder simply won't fit through the exit hole.

Once again the good news is that when I called Schlage today and relayed this info to them, they agreed to send me a new lockset to replace this one. And, even better, this time they are going to key it to my existing key code at the factory, so I won't need to extract the cylinder and rekey it when it arrives.

Thanks for all your inputs about these locksets. If I were starting from scratch, knowing what I know now, I would buy something else. But since I already have a house full of Schlage locks and Schlage is replacing a bunch of them for free under warranty, I'll stick with these for now.

I'm really glad I found this helpful forum, and I really appreciate everybody's time and kindness in trying to assist me. Thank you!!

If you had used a locksmith instead of a guy at the hardware store it would have been an easy fix.

Of course, if he had used a locksmith he would never have gotten free locks from Schlage

[rc17]

Yep, I'm sure you're right that a locksmith could have fixed it for me -- but not for free. I haven't actually used a locksmith in recent memory, but my impression is they are not cheap. Not that there's anything wrong with that - I know some of you are locksmiths, and you've earned the right to charge appropriately for your specialized skills. Since this was supposed to be a warranty replacement, I didn't feel like shelling out $$ to get it fixed when Schlage owed me a properly working replacement. I've put this messed up lockset on a back shelf in my garage for the day when I need another lock. If/when that time arrives, I will either use it as is, if it's for an application where I don't need the keys to match anything else, or else I'll go ahead and pay a locksmith to fix it so I can rekey it.

[Tyler J. Thomas]

I didn't feel like shelling out $$ to get it fixed when Schlage owed me a properly working replacement.

I thought you admitted that the lock worked just fine before you started taking things apart?

[rc17]

Tyler, this was a brand new lockset that Schlage sent me as a replacement for an old lockset that had failed. The new one worked fine with its original keys, but because of the problem with the cylinder cap, it could not be rekeyed to match my existing keys (without taking it to a locksmith and paying for a repair). I think "properly functioning" includes the ability to be rekeyed. It's not very useful if it can't be rekeyed to match my existing house keys.

[cledry]

Tyler, this was a brand new lockset that Schlage sent me as a replacement for an old lockset that had failed. The new one worked fine with its original keys, but because of the problem with the cylinder cap, it could not be rekeyed to match my existing keys (without taking it to a locksmith and paying for a repair). I think "properly functioning" includes the ability to be rekeyed. It's not very useful if it can't be rekeyed to match my existing house keys.

If you just wanted the cylinder out so you could rekey it yourself I would have done that for $5 plus $2 for a new cap, at my shop. It would have take a few seconds. Of course if you didn't mind waiting a free lock from Schlage can't be beat.

[Squelchtone]

Tyler, this was a brand new lockset that Schlage sent me as a replacement for an old lockset that had failed. The new one worked fine with its original keys, but because of the problem with the cylinder cap, it could not be rekeyed to match my existing keys (without taking it to a locksmith and paying for a repair). I think "properly functioning" includes the ability to be rekeyed. It's not very useful if it can't be rekeyed to match my existing house keys.

If you just wanted the cylinder out so you could rekey it yourself I would have done that for $5 plus $2 for a new cap, at my shop. It would have take a few seconds. Of course if you didn't mind waiting a free lock from Schlage can't be beat.

To this point, my ex landlord who lives in the neighborhood went on vacation and locked their upstairs bedroom (their current tenant is .. not trustworthy and there is a shared grand stair case common to all units (in fact I think she moved out today from the pick up truck with mattresses I saw when I drove by) and my landlord calls me earlier this week telling me they left their bedroom keys on vacation and got home and called a locksmith who said it would be $150 to come pick open the Kwikset knobset on the interior bedroom door. (they keep their porch door key ouside under a flower pot so they could at least get inside, just not in their bedroom) I told them I'd be right over and had it picked open in no time free of charge.. I asked them which exact locksmith they called, so they pulled up google on their iphone and they just dialed the first number which was a google ad to a locksmith next state over who wanted $19 to come out but then said it would take $150. I say this because unless rc17 has a known locksmith shop in mind, he'd probably end up calling some scammer phony locksmith number and shell out a ton of money to replace his $30 dollar box store lock. So it's easy to say "why didn't you just call a locksmith" but go ahead and try doing that with all the scammers having better placed ads and search results than actual area locksmith shops and legit mobile locksmiths. The best thing we can do is start a real locksmith directory here or on it's own domain and have it vetted and make sure it's always 1st in google search results. That would provide a real service to folks needing a locksmith. Surprised ALOA doesn't already run such a Directory such as SAVTA does.

Squelchtone

[cledry]

The easy response is go to a locksmith shop. How many scammers own a shop?

Certainly if you call a locksmith out you aren't going to get something done for $19 or for free. Depending on location a call should run a minimum of $50 during regular hours to about $75. That is just the trip charge. Most locksmiths then charge about $15-$25 to pick open a lock. If you get prices far out of this range then you are going to get burned. Weekend rates and nights will obviously be more.

I am surprised the scammer actually quoted their full price, they don't normally do that. They charge $19 or $29 to come out and then tell you the price.

[Squelchtone]

The easy response is go to a locksmith shop. How many scammers own a shop?

Certainly if you call a locksmith out you aren't going to get something done for $19 or for free. Depending on location a call should run a minimum of $50 during regular hours to about $75. That is just the trip charge. Most locksmiths then charge about $15-$25 to pick open a lock. If you get prices far out of this range then you are going to get burned. Weekend rates and nights will obviously be more.

I am surprised the scammer actually quoted their full price, they don't normally do that. They charge $19 or $29 to come out and then tell you the price.

it was late in the evening, and I wonder if even the scammer didn't really want to come out (an hour away). My ex-landlady is from Jamaica and she told me she was suspicious because the people she called over the state line sounded Jamaican on the phone, and she was suspicious because there were a couple different people on the phone and after she said no, they called her back a couple times to keep the con going. Guess people know their own people best. Too bad for most that mental red flag and that sinking feeling of oh oh, this might be a scam, happens after they already paid and the con artist left. *I mention the nationality of the scammers, because it's interesting to me since most of the scammers so far in the US seem to be Middle Eastern Arabs or Israeli. I wonder if there are any Eastern European or Turkish ones.

[TORCH [of KCK]]

...... legit mobile locksmiths.   The best thing we can do is start a real locksmith directory here or on it's own domain and have it vetted and make sure it's always 1st in google search results.  That would provide a real service to folks needing a locksmith.    Surprised ALOA doesn't already run such a Directory such as SAVTA does.

Squelchtone

Squelchtone,
I'd be up to calling local city hallsssss,
(Approximately 19 -25 of them in KC Metro)
to request lists of business license holders for locksmithing.

I'm wondering how many others would be up to help gather information in other areas ?  More importantly, who would compile such information ?
Having categorize as:
  * reputable business shop
  * reputable home shop
  * dis- reputable scammer

Maybe if this could be completed,
Then we ALL could repeat to review the
locksmithing & locksporting suppliers.

Just imagine if these two were completed & maintained for global results, that would be something amazing.

[GWiens2001]

Keep in mind that some of the scammers use their own phone number, but the name and address (in the advertisement) of a reputable locksmith business, whether it is mobile, sticks and bricks, or both. (Actually doubt there are ANY sticks and bricks that are not mobile as well).

Gordon

[TORCH [of KCK]]

Up to the point where such a database would exist,

I think that it's needed to get people who are searching Internet for a locksmith, to make their inquiry with & via the Better Business Bureau's website.

[billdeserthills]

Up to the point where such a database would exist,

I think that it's needed to get people who are searching Internet for a locksmith, to make their inquiry with & via the Better Business Bureau's website.

Awww and isn't it cute that you think the BBB really cares
Let me tell you how the BBB reacts when a complaint is made
First the BBB sends a letter to the business named by the complainer
Now the business has 30 days to write an answering letter, and all they need to do
is explain that the fault is not theirs, because of X & as long as an answering letter is filed
in a timely manner, the complaint will be closed by the BBB

The reason I know is I have several times received a complaint letter from the BBB

I have also been a past member of the BBB, in fact I still have the beautiful genuine wood plaque
I purchased from them, which was supposed to increase my business. Unfortunately when my business
failed to increase, I dropped out of the BBB. I was told in no uncertain terms that I must also immediately return my plaque.
I told the BBB they could have the plaque back as soon as they refunded the money I had paid for it
They said I could go ahead and keep it and if they saw me displaying it they would sue me, but I still have it

I apologize if I'm harshing on your mellow, Torch
I guess I'm still not over learning the BBB were in it only for themselves and I've had many years--
I do like that your desire of a legitimate source of info would benefit all real locksmiths

[jeffmoss26]

Guys...the site already exists through ALOA.
http://findalocksmith.com/search.aspx
www.aloa.org/membership/aloa-member-directory.html