Need help quick

[SteveR]

I'm not sure anyone will believe this, but I'll give it a shot anyway.

I live in central Oklahoma, we're going to get our first hard freeze here tonight (down into the teens). The neighbors next door are good friends of ours...the husband left for Afghanistan (Air Force) several days ago and his wife left town last weekend. She called today and told us she didn't leave the heat on, so they are almost certain to have serious water damage due to pipes freezing (temps have been below freezing since last night, and are dropping into the teens now). She isn't returning until Sunday. She told us to do anything we can to get in the house and turn the heat on.

The locks are BHP, front door is a single cylinder deadbolt of this type:
http://www.betterhomeproducts.com/specs ... lts/AN.PDF
ITEM# 10655AN

http://www.betterhomeproducts.com/specs ... k_park.pdf
FINISHITEM# 45526DC - Entry SetGrade

Can I buy a pickset or something that would work as a pick locally, maybe at a hardware store? We have Lowes, Home Depot and Ace Hardware.

Thanks for any help. The lockshops we called are either not doing service calls due to the weather or won't do this without the owner present.

[lockjaw]

I'm not sure anyone will believe me but I'll give it a shot anyway...

Dear Sir,

Good day and compliments. This letter will definitely come to you as a huge surprise, but I implore you to take the time to go through it carefully as the decision you make will go off a long way to determine the future and continued existence of the entire members of my family.

Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Dr. (Mrs.) Mariam Abacha, the wife of the late head of state and commander in chief of the armed forces of the federal republic of Nigeria who died on the 8th of June 1998.

My ordeal started immediately after my husband's death on the morning of 8th June 1998, and the subsequent take over of government by the last administration. The present democratic government is determined to portray all the good work of my late husband in a bad light and have gone as far as confiscating all my late husband's assets, properties, freezing our accounts both within and outside Nigeria. As I am writing this letter to you, my son Mohammed Abacha is undergoing questioning with the government. All these measures taken by past/present government is just to gain international recognition.

I and the entire members of my family have been held incommunicado since the death of my husband, hence I seek your indulgence to assist us in securing these funds. We are not allowed to see or discuss with anybody. Few occasions I have tired traveling abroad through alternative means all failed.

It is in view of this I have mandated DR GALADIMA HASSAN, who has been assisting the family to run around on so many issues to act on behalf of the family concerning the substance of this letter. He has the full power of attorney to execute this transaction with you.

My late husband had/has Eighty Million USD ($80,000,000.00) specially preserved and well packed in trunk boxes of which only my husband and I knew about. It is packed in such a way to forestall just anybody having access to it. It is this sum that I seek your assistance to get out of Nigeria as soon as possible before the present civilian government finds out about it and confiscate it just like they have done to all our assets.

I implore you to please give consideration to my predicament and help a widow in need.

May Allah show you mercy as you do so?

Your faithfully,

Dr (Mrs.) Mariam Abacha (M.O.N)

N/B: Please contact Dr Galadima Hassan on this e-mail address for further briefing and modalities

[Anero]

you are in a tight spot, best bet is to try and find a locksmith, sucks tho i've seen the damage frozen water pipes can do.

[Romstar]

Oh please, come on.

If he's a thief he'll kick in the door (might have to if its serious), if he's a cop he don't need our help.

Personally, I believe him. The problem is, what to do about it.

I honestly don't have an answer, other than try other avanues of entry, such as wondows, or a cellar door or something similar.

There are no simple tools adaptable to picking except for paper clips, safety pins and hair pins.

If you take thte time to read a little here about the theory, and maybe a little on raking you might get lucky with some improvised tools.

Other than that, there really isn't anything you can buy at the hardware that will work as well as a pick.

Good luck,
Romstar

[Shrub]

Kick the door in, you will surley get a carpenter out to repair it tomorrow,

[SteveR]

Nevermind, one of their kids had left his window unlocked so we got in that way. Thanks for the help. The last resort was to break the cheapest window...that would have been cheaper than broken pipes & a flooded house.

[Schuyler]

Glad you got in!

If your situation has given you an interest in locks and security, you should stick around and do a little reading.

[lockjaw]

If he's a thief he'll kick in the door (might have to if its serious), if he's a cop he don't need our help.

That doesn't quite exhaust the universe of possibilities. A thief or a cop aren't the only two possibilities. I'm not sure how you reduced the whole situation to two possibilities. There are many reasons why someone might want to non-destructively or covertly enter a property and only a small proportion of them are altruistic or benign.

Personally, I believe him. The problem is, what to do about it.

You also believe in faster-than-light travel.

I don't think it serves the interests of this forum to be dispensing advise on specific means of NDE to anyone that can confect some personal crisis story. I appreciate that no such advise was dispensed but that is what was being sought and that should be discouraged.

Personally, I believe the story is a crock of 'road apples'. It reads like artifice -- it's implausible and it has (redundant) appeals to patriotism, bad befalling the good, urgency and charity. It is formulaic (it even used the old persuasion trick of 'innoculation') and manipulative. It is second-rate 'social engineering' or 'pretexting'.

The response to pleas like this should be as judicious and circumspect as that of the alleged locksmiths who were contacted and refused to perform any such task without the presence of the property owner.

Most locksmiths wouldn't come out to give the "concerned neighbour" entry to the property (as he himself concedes). The consent of the property owner hasn't been established by the "concerned neighbour" to the satisfaction of the recalcitrant locksmiths so why then should the onus and standard of proof be altered because the solicitation is coming via an online forum? The reason to dispense advice on NDE should be the same as the very reason why no (ethical) locksmiths would come out to a job like that: the consent of the property owner can't be established.

I suggest a policy of erring on the side of mistrust. Dispensing advice in reponse to a bleeding heart story will bring this forum into (further) disrepute and plays straight into the hands of "old school" locksmiths who would prefer we didn't exist.

[Romstar]

That doesn't quite exhaust the universe of possibilities. A thief or a cop aren't the only two possibilities. I'm not sure how you reduced the whole situation to two possibilities. There are many reasons why someone might want to non-destructively or covertly enter a property and only a small proportion of them are altruistic or benign.

Its easy to reduce it to two possibilities. I can think of a dozen reason why someone may wish to enter a premesis covertly. My CV is quite extensive where it concerns those types of applications. Unless you suspect that they are going to bug the place, or its an ex-husband looking to wank into the laundry or poison the new boy friend, it easily boils down to two possibilities.

Personally, I believe him. The problem is, what to do about it.

You also believe in faster-than-light travel.

Yes, I do believe in FTL travel. Its a scientifically provable possibility. The problem isn't math, its mechanics. Are you going to resort to ad hominum attacks now as well?

Based on where he lives, and the fact that these problems arrise all the bloody time where I am from, I can easily see his story as being true.

Your problem is quite simply that you don't trust people while I choose to believe that most people are honest. Unfortunately, because of the very large number of people in the United States, we have no shortage of stories with bad intentions.

I am not surprised at all at the reactions of the local locksmiths. I would have recomended that the owner contact a locksmith, or even the local police to aid in verification, but that sometimes isn't a possibility or it doesn't work.

In any case, the fact is, they got in and I do not think that anyone with a little forethought would have missed the open window.

Romstar

[SteveR]

lockjaw, I don't blame you for being skeptical...I just read my story and it sounds pretty stupid, but it is true.

We just called the Mom to tell her everything is OK, and she told us why the window was open. Apparently their son lost a tooth several weeks ago, and insisted that they leave his window open so the tooth fairy could get in. After some discussion he won, and they forgot to lock the window. Lucky for them.

Anyway, thanks again for the help, and this story, as goofy as it sounds, really is true.

[Romstar]

lockjaw, I don't blame you for being skeptical...I just read my story and it sounds pretty stupid, but it is true.

We just called the Mom to tell her everything is OK, and she told us why the window was open. Apparently their son lost a tooth several weeks ago, and insisted that they leave his window open so the tooth fairy could get in. After some discussion he won, and they forgot to lock the window. Lucky for them.

Anyway, thanks again for the help, and this story, as goofy as it sounds, really is true.

Good luck to you Steve.
Romstar

[Anero]

i have to agree with romstar here, i do know alot of people do come to the forum with BS 1 time questions about school lockers and crap but the damage caused by frozen and broken pipes is extreme

look here : http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Frozen+Water+Pipe+Damage

anyways glad it was sorted out SteveR, and sorry for the harsh post but we are trying to gain a little more respect to the public and releasing information about bypassing 1 single lock to a new user isn't the best thing to do in most cases.

[jimb]

[quote="lockjaw]Most locksmiths wouldn't come out to give the "concerned neighbour" entry to the property (as he himself concedes). The consent of the property owner hasn't been established by the "concerned neighbour" to the satisfaction of the recalcitrant locksmiths so why then should the onus and standard of proof be altered because the solicitation is coming via an online forum? [/quote]

I was in a situation like this about a week ago. I think I'll post the story in the FREE STUFF CONTEST ..... and see what happens.