Lock Picking 101 Forum
A community dedicated to the fun and ethical hobby of lock picking.
       

Lock Picking 101 Home
Login
Profile
Members
Forum Rules
Frequent Forum Questions
SEARCH
View New Posts
View Active Topics


Live Chat on Discord
LP101 Forum Chat
Keypicking Forum Chat
Reddit r/lockpicking Chat



Learn How to Pick Locks
FAQs & General Questions
Got Beginner Questions?
Pick-Fu [Intermediate Level]


Ask a Locksmith
This Old Lock
This Old Safe
What Lock Should I Buy?



Hardware
Locks
Lock Patents
Lock Picks
Lock Bumping
Lock Impressioning
Lock Pick Guns, Snappers
European Locks & Picks
The Machine Shop
The Open Source Lock
Handcuffs


Member Spotlight
Member Introductions
Member Lock Collections
Member Social Media


Off Topic
General Chatter
Other Puzzles


Locksmith Business Info
Training & Licensing
Running a Business
Keyways & Key Blanks
Key Machines
Master Keyed Systems
Closers and Crash Bars
Life Safety Compliance
Electronic Locks & Access
Locksmith Supplies
Locksmith Lounge


Buy Sell Trade
Buy - Sell - Trade
It came from Ebay!


Advanced Topics
Membership Information
Special Access Required:
High Security Locks
Vending Locks
Advanced Lock Pick Tools
Bypass Techniques
Safes & Safe Locks
Automotive Entry & Tools
Advanced Buy/Sell/Trade


Locksport Groups
Locksport Local
Chapter President's Office
Locksport Board Room
 

Customers Who Do It Themselves and FAIL

This is the old Locksmith business info area and will be broken down to fill in the new sections below.

Postby LockNewbie21 » 16 Aug 2006 17:35

Well i have an unofficial locksmtih story. So, i am on vacation down in OC maryland. This seems to happenwhn i go camping every year.. yes i do go camping in a trailer.. well its a nice one, but theres hillbilies there. So i am driving, i had all my Picks, files, the like in my truck for emergency. Yea last year they had a baby locked in a van for a hour :roll:

Well my cousin lost her car keys, its a cavalier, i have one. Theres no transponders or anything. So, first the doors locked, well theres a reason my antenna is wrapped in electrical tape and bent a certain way. So opened the car.

No they can't find the key's, I rembered i stoped in a hardware store 2 mins. up the street for a lock to screw with while i was down there, happened to be a sweet guitar store next door :)

Anyway, they had a wall full of key blanks. So remeberign all this I said give me 10 mins. I will impression a the lock and have a key, This lock is what i practiced on most.. becuase i have the same car so...

Well my uncle..puts beer down, and couldn't imagine a way to make a key without looking at the working key. I said it would cost 1.50 okay 3 dollars incase i screw up. i'm not a pro. And thats it. Theres no transponder nothing.

Well Till it was all said an done, they blew my offer off after i went and bought two blanks, went to the dealer, who charged 30$ for a new kew. He said there was a charge for looking everything up, and suckered them into a replacement keylles entry remote. I think it was all in all 150$ till this was all done.

I got a good laugh, when they got back, the keys where in the truck bed, someone just closed the tail gate.. thus hiding them.

SO i was pissed, really at there ignorance, and taught my little cousin how to impression, got it my first try.

So the math is.. 150$or something close.. or 3.00$ for two key blanks?

Really is amazing, I can't wait till i start doing lockouts, stupid people make the world go round, by funding the people turning the world :wink:
[deadlink]http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h17/Locknewbie21/LockNewbie21Sig.jpg[/img]
LockNewbie21
 
Posts: 3625
Joined: 21 Feb 2006 2:26
Location: The Keystone State

Postby LockNewbie21 » 16 Aug 2006 17:37

had all my Picks, files, the like in my truck for emergency.


I meant trunk.. miss spelled
[deadlink]http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h17/Locknewbie21/LockNewbie21Sig.jpg[/img]
LockNewbie21
 
Posts: 3625
Joined: 21 Feb 2006 2:26
Location: The Keystone State

Postby unbreakable » 16 Aug 2006 20:26

LockNewbie21 wrote:Well i have an unofficial locksmtih story. So, i am on vacation down in OC maryland. This seems to happenwhn i go camping every year.. yes i do go camping in a trailer.. well its a nice one, but theres hillbilies there. So i am driving, i had all my Picks, files, the like in my truck for emergency. Yea last year they had a baby locked in a van for a hour :roll:

Well my cousin lost her car keys, its a cavalier, i have one. Theres no transponders or anything. So, first the doors locked, well theres a reason my antenna is wrapped in electrical tape and bent a certain way. So opened the car.

No they can't find the key's, I rembered i stoped in a hardware store 2 mins. up the street for a lock to screw with while i was down there, happened to be a sweet guitar store next door :)

Anyway, they had a wall full of key blanks. So remeberign all this I said give me 10 mins. I will impression a the lock and have a key, This lock is what i practiced on most.. becuase i have the same car so...

Well my uncle..puts beer down, and couldn't imagine a way to make a key without looking at the working key. I said it would cost 1.50 okay 3 dollars incase i screw up. i'm not a pro. And thats it. Theres no transponder nothing.

Well Till it was all said an done, they blew my offer off after i went and bought two blanks, went to the dealer, who charged 30$ for a new kew. He said there was a charge for looking everything up, and suckered them into a replacement keylles entry remote. I think it was all in all 150$ till this was all done.

I got a good laugh, when they got back, the keys where in the truck bed, someone just closed the tail gate.. thus hiding them.

SO i was pissed, really at there ignorance, and taught my little cousin how to impression, got it my first try.

So the math is.. 150$or something close.. or 3.00$ for two key blanks?

Really is amazing, I can't wait till i start doing lockouts, stupid people make the world go round, by funding the people turning the world :wink:


Nice man, at least you proved to them you could, THEY must have been pissed...... :lol: :roll:
Image
unbreakable
 
Posts: 1682
Joined: 28 Oct 2005 18:55
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada

Postby LockNewbie21 » 16 Aug 2006 21:06

Yea was pretty cool my cousin is like 13 and cares nothing of locks, but thought it was pretty cool. I gave him the key :lol: He thought it was great.. to bad if he would have took the car for a spin i'm going to jail :lol:
[deadlink]http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h17/Locknewbie21/LockNewbie21Sig.jpg[/img]
LockNewbie21
 
Posts: 3625
Joined: 21 Feb 2006 2:26
Location: The Keystone State

Postby devildog » 16 Aug 2006 22:22

Wait, so you did or didn't get to show them that you made a working key for 3 bucks? What did they think about blowing $150 then? What'd they say right after you showed them the key?
"I think people should be free to engage in any sexual practices they choose; they should draw the line at goats though."

Elton John
devildog
Supporter
Supporter
 
Posts: 1719
Joined: 3 Jul 2005 1:14
Location: Texas

Postby Mutzy » 11 Dec 2006 4:51

I've heard of guys smashing their windscreen/window to get into their car (more expensive than locksmith opening services) and window locks smashed. (Waaaayyyy more expensive, since the guy did it late in the afternoon.

New glass panel + after-hours servive call + labour involved = poor tight peeved off individual. :roll:
ImageImage
Mutzy
 
Posts: 622
Joined: 12 Mar 2006 0:18
Location: Queensland, Australia.

Labor

Postby raimundo » 11 Dec 2006 10:43

Labor:
$50 per hour
$100 if you watch,
$200 if you watch and comment
$400 if you worked on it first.
8)
raimundo
 
Posts: 7130
Joined: 21 Apr 2004 9:02
Location: Minnneapolis

Re: Labor

Postby Romstar » 11 Dec 2006 10:48

raimundo wrote:Labor:
$50 per hour
$100 if you watch,
$200 if you watch and comment
$400 if you worked on it first.
8)


If I followed that, I would lose a good part of my business. This place is filled with do it yourselfers, and they sometimes get in over their heads.

Romstar
Image
Romstar
 
Posts: 2823
Joined: 18 Apr 2004 3:13
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada

Re: Labor

Postby mrdan » 11 Dec 2006 12:47

Romstar wrote:This place is filled with do it yourselfers, and they sometimes get in over their heads.

Romstar



Heck, They are the ones that keep us all in business. :lol:

So, ROCK-ON DO IT YOUR-SELFERS!! ROCK ON!!!! :lol: 8)
mrdan
 
Posts: 356
Joined: 5 Aug 2006 1:34
Location: Dallas, TX

Re: Labor

Postby 77luke » 15 Dec 2006 4:23

raimundo wrote:Labor:
$50 per hour
$100 if you watch,
$200 if you watch and comment
$400 if you worked on it first.
8)


:lol:
If you always do what you have always done- you will always get what you have always gotten!
77luke
 
Posts: 66
Joined: 29 May 2004 23:52
Location: Minneapolis, MN

Postby Mutzy » 16 Dec 2006 6:23

it's like holden commodore ignitions. It seems like they are designed to fail :)

They're (almost) our best means of income :D
ImageImage
Mutzy
 
Posts: 622
Joined: 12 Mar 2006 0:18
Location: Queensland, Australia.

Postby kodierer » 16 Dec 2006 6:47

yep its sad. I have coat hangered a door open before, but I had an idea of what was inside that door, and I didn't have tools, and the nearest locksmith was over a 100 miles away, but it would be stupid to try such a technique if you didn't already know what was inside that door.
Image
kodierer
 
Posts: 819
Joined: 27 Aug 2004 12:45
Location: Utah

Postby linty » 16 Dec 2006 9:05

i remember going to help my friend get into his buick century, and his dad was already there trying to get in with a steak knife...A STEAK KNIFE...
seriously macguyver, slow down...we'll go eat steak after i get it open okay?


i get tons of cars coming in with the door already taken apart and just about everything that could have been broken has been broken. as a policy i won't put together anything automotive that i don't take apart, because i don't want to attach my warranty to it.

i especially like when customers bring me their pin tumbler lock in a zip-loc bag. in fact, i work for a 30 year old business that was founded when the first owner tried to take apart his lock and had to bring it to another locksmith in a zip-loc bag :)
linty
 
Posts: 631
Joined: 26 Feb 2005 22:42
Location: Ottawa, Canada

you gotta like these do-it-yourslef kind of people

Postby New-York-Locksmith » 17 Dec 2006 11:48

I would guess that most of the locksmiths over here, tried to do it themselves before they knew anything about this profession. I know that, that's one of the things that got me into locksmithing in the first place...
New-York-Locksmith
 
Posts: 121
Joined: 3 Sep 2006 5:01
Location: New York, NY

Postby ldnlksmth » 17 Dec 2006 22:35

I charged a guy an afterhours service call because his key was upside down.

he opened his door successfully and then couldn't remove the key. I tried to talk him through it on the phone (try rotating the key 180, put your thumb on the plug etc) and it wouldn't go.

I showed up, turned the key up to 12 o'clock and pulled it out. I then cleaned and lubricated the lock, made him a duplicate and charged him $75.


I had to go drill out 427 locks (I remember the number very clearly) because a disgruntled (why is it we never hear about the gruntled employees) security guard superglued every lock in his building together before quitting.

It was the excuse they were looking for to set up a new master key system, re-assign keys and rings and they ended up upgrading their padlocks to use the same key. Now their TMK (GGMK) opens everything, the security staff only have to carry one key instead of the 30+ they needed before.
keys, we don't need no stinking keys!
ldnlksmth
 
Posts: 227
Joined: 6 Aug 2005 12:39
Location: London Canada

PreviousNext

Return to Locksmith Business Information Archive 2003-2014

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest

cron