Lockies day Job

by **acl** » 13 Dec 2006 19:48

Tozzy,if youve comitted yourself to the job then you should have some kind of understanding of how the lock works and how to open it. If you cant pick it then a neat drill job should suffice. I know this is a picking site and picking is always first in my mind but if ts a lockout on a door do you say "cant do it ill have to get someone here who can" or do you drill a small hole ,get the customer in and take your money?

by **NKT** » 13 Dec 2006 20:18

I agree completely. I've truned down about 4 car job recently, simply because I know that I can't do what the customer wants, which is to open, re-key, cut new key, and program transponder whilst locking out the old one.

Could I have gone, then made up some stories? Of course! But I'm not about to.

As for when you get to the door and the customer was totally, utterly wrong about it, well, you can either crack on, or you can re-quote. I generally just get on with it, unless it is radically different. (I once had a customer ask my to fit a mortise lock. I got there, the door was sat on the floor, and there was no door frame! I told them it would be quite a bit more!)

As for being stumped on the door for an opening, if you are a locksmith, that should never happen. Sometimes you will ID the lock wrongly, but you keep going until they are in, and your own pride should stop you charging extra because you took a long time.

Worst job I had, I walked away after two hours, at 3am, in the rain. No charge & no damage. Felt really sorry for the customer, though.

by **NKT** » 13 Dec 2006 20:22

I realise that last post contradicts itself.

The customer couldn't let me drill anything as none of it was his property, it was all communal, borrowed and rented, and there was to be no damage, and I couldn't beat the locks fairly.

by **parapilot** » 13 Dec 2006 20:47

What were the locks out of interest?

by **Tozzy** » 14 Dec 2006 15:14

Thanks for your replies chaps

. I think the reason I asked was because I've only just started picking locks and can sense the difficulty involved (picked a really cheap wafer tumbler about 10 times so I know that I'm guaranteed to pick it on command if I had to, picked a 3 lever deadlock, a padlock and 2 profile cylinders (1 of them in 1 second actually lol)) and it just seems like there is no strategy involved. I'm certain that it's just my inexperience though. I have this 60 min video of someone picking locks in seconds and all I see is them sticking in a pick and prodding it about. I can't understand how this can be guaranteed to open every time. I presume the professional locksmith with a pick and tension wrench can guarentee you the opening of any lock?

by **Vincent-XXI** » 14 Dec 2006 16:04

I presume the professional locksmith with a pick and tension wrench can guarentee you the opening of any lock?

I wouldn't say that, they should be able to open most locks, common to the area, though theres always the locks that just refuse to open. Top end locks can be a pain to pick, impression ect and they may be soo uncommon to not warrant investing the time to learn how to open them or to purchase specific tools.

by **NKT** » 15 Dec 2006 9:30

The locks in my case were a rented apartment firedoor on the 3rd floor, behind two electric security gates with on override, with a single restricted section Ruko cylinder (iirc) behind which were the customers' brothers' car keys. The other doors were his brothers Mazda 323, which didn't want to open, no matter what I tried, inside the glovebox of which was locked his spare flat keys.

If anyone wants to PM me a way to open a 323 that doesn't involve the non-existant rear window catch or a half-brick and broken glass, I'd be very happy.

by **NKT** » 15 Dec 2006 9:35

That should read "with no override" (to the RFID tag that worked the security gates.)

Oh, and the car had the expensive tinted windows, too. :-(

by **acl** » 15 Dec 2006 9:49

Nigel you going to have to help us old boys out here mate, iirc??

by **jiggler** » 15 Dec 2006 13:03

NKT wrote:...and cash cows are the jobs you get where someone called a national first!

Do you mean you charge more for these jobs?

NKT wrote: a way to open a 323 that doesn't involve the non-existant rear window catch or a half-brick and broken glass

Didn't the old airbag special work for you? Just interested to know why this didn't work - rather than talking about any other methods in the open forum.

by **parapilot** » 15 Dec 2006 13:36

acl wrote:Nigel you going to have to help us old boys out here mate, iirc??

IIRC = If I Recall

by **acl** » 15 Dec 2006 17:20

Para,thank you sir.
Nige how much more effort does it take to type "if i recall"?!
For godsake it took me about 6mths to work out what "lol" meant and i have to agree with one of our more agressive posters when he said "isnt that what 12 yr old schoolgirls put in their text messages?

by **jiggler** » 15 Dec 2006 21:56

roflmao

or

rolling on floor laughing my a$s off :wink:

by **acl** » 15 Dec 2006 22:16

roflmao's been doing my head in too! for those that know me ...am i that much of an old idiot ? and do equally old chaps like mr morgan understand this shorthand stuff ?

by **jiggler** » 15 Dec 2006 23:38

Older is wiser.

That's what I tell myself as I get older. I hope to be wise one day, when I'm old

Lockies day Job

Who is online