Weird Requests from Customers...

[dmcintyre86]

Today has been a day of Odd requests:

Today i received a call from a man who wanted keys made for the doors to his 2006 F-150 Truck...He insisted that he only wanted the doors done, not the ignition. He has a working ignition key but didn't want the same cuts for the door.
****I'm trying to understand why someone would want two different sets of keys to their vehicle one for doors...and another to start it?...but i'm baffled...

Then about an hour before that...I received a call from a man regarding his deadbolt on the Garage-house door. He told me that sometimes the lock works and sometimes it doesn't work. He wanted it fixed regardless of what needed to be done after I had a chance to assess the issue...what caught me off guard was that he is out of town for the entire week. the house is empty and he wanted me to coordinate the service visit with his trusted next door neighbor, and once the work was completed he could pay with a card over the phone with me. I asked if he had gone out of town and was worried the home was left unsecured bc of the deadbolt issue...Response: No- the rest of the home is locked up tight and he just wanted someone to come out while he was gone to make the repair...
*****I get a weird feeling from the situation, I feel i need to verify ownership of the property in this situation...i don't understand why he needs this single lock serviced here and now if the home is secure and the neighbor is looking after things for him...wouldn't someone wait to be present for the service call...i just get that "sketchy" feeling and my Liability Radar is at full power.

Im curious to hear from other Locksmiths...What weird and bizarre requests have you gotten? How did you handle these requests.

And how would you handle the requests i've listed above??

Thanks Guys
=Dave

[cledry]

First one sounds plausible. I suspect the ignition lock may have been changed and he just didn't explain himself.

Second one sounds too strange and I would walk away from that one. Tell them that the owner needs to be present. Although assuming the neighbour has an operating key it would show that they have access to the property and logically if they have access then repairing a lock shouldn't be a security issue. Get the card up front and a DL number and info prior to doing the work.

[mhole]

Some customers actually prefer to have work done in their absence, but I find these customers also tend to be amongst the fussiest customers, and I insist on someone who has authority to OK the job being present to avoid return trips and ridiculous misunderstandings due to Chinese whispers.

Invariably these jobs are poorly explained over the phone, and you arrive to find some bizarre imported hardware or something else to complicate the job, which you then have to torturously explain to the absent owner, having spent an hour contacting them on their unanswered Mobile Phone. Avoid!

[mseifert]

On the ford Truck .. The guy may have replaced the door locks with some from a junk yard and only need the door keyed..

The the second ...

[billdeserthills]

Dave I like to remember that every time I say "No" to a client, someone else just said "Yes" and also invaded My territory to do that job. I do many jobs for folks who are out of town and I often just mail a bill to those folks. I have had very little trouble collecting my pay, plus I don't hafta pay any credit card fees, which is one of my hobbies. If you don't feel comfortable take the credit card, at least you'll get the lion's share of the money.

Instead of worrying about whether or not a person is allowed to be somewhere, I simply record a driver license # and a license plate from whoever pays the bill, on the invoice. I have unwittingly let the wrong person(s) into places, over the years, but since I have kept a record, I have never gotten into trouble with the police, beyond a simple interview over the phone. Thing is, I want that money, and like I said, when I say No, someone else will take that money.


Far as weird requests, last week a guy came in my shop. He wanted a door lock for his 1944 International p/u truck that I could fit his ignition key too. It was easy after I remembered which pile of trash the lock was under. Later that day someone brought me a 1968 BMW trunk lock he wanted his ignition key to fit. I wound up using tumblers from one of my cam lock kits after a little filing on the BMW

[dmcintyre86]

The pickup truck guy never called me back.

And i told the "out of town guy" that i needed a picture of his Ca-ID/DL. Thankfully the picture he took with his camera phone has the same address for the home he provided. And the neighbor does have a working key to the house. I will get them to fill out the paperwork with their ID as well just to cover my butt!

[billdeserthills]

The pickup truck guy never called me back.

And i told the "out of town guy" that i needed a picture of his Ca-ID/DL. Thankfully the picture he took with his camera phone has the same address for the home he provided. And the neighbor does have a working key to the house. I will get them to fill out the paperwork with their ID as well just to cover my butt!

Good Going Man,
You get the money and covered yourself! That's great, not only that but you showed two possible clients that You do care about their possessions and maybe now they'll think of You when the next need arises.

[BrianSimons]

For me is just a regular job ! Try and get it done, because at the end it's about money!

[Squelchtone]

For you young guns out there, there was a time when cars had a different door key and a different ignition key, this was perfectly normal for GM (Chevy, Buick, Oldsmobile, Cadillac, etc), the round head key opened doors, and the square key went in the ignition. It's actually handy for giving the round key to someone to go get something out of your truck/van and know they can't use the same key to drive off as well.

Squelchtone

[billdeserthills]

For you young guns out there, there was a time when cars had a different door key and a different ignition key, this was perfectly normal for GM (Chevy, Buick, Oldsmobile, Cadillac, etc), the round head key opened doors, and the square key went in the ignition. It's actually handy for giving the round key to someone to go get something out of your truck/van and know they can't use the same key to drive off as well.

Squelchtone

Actually if you just copy the transponder (ignition) key on a standard (non-transponder) blank you will have this same situation. I do it on every car opening, just so the client has an extra key that will only open the door/trunk.

[mat22420]

personally i like job just make sure when go to open the house there no it it lol i do out of town work real estate people/ or management company stuff like that some times it personal owner don't have time to do when there aka busy person or own other house in other state reason i like is when it job like business you can work there any time alone as it gets done you can move it 1am if you need to and can charge bit bc normal they cant about the price to much bc there some where else not yet once have been cops working late on house or business also if do some how be some thing legal being done if pay cc you have paper trail an smiply dont talk to cops there not your friends an will twist any thing to make look like the bad guy get lawyer then say hey i was being pay to do work witch i thought owner of the home what not here his phone number cc info charges mostly will drop if go that far and person that did if caught get charged you did some you had no knowledge other wise would not of done start doing evictions it be cake and fbi serier there fun sorry for bad grammer

[mat22420]

also hope you have zezi paper for ca strick rules got to prison to not pass go right to jail for pick tools im states that have no need for all this paper work and if do i get zezi papers

[Wizer]

personally i like job just make sure when go to open the house there no it it lol i do out of town work real estate people/ or management company stuff like that some times it personal owner don't have time to do when there aka busy person or own other house in other state reason i like is when it job like business you can work there any time alone as it gets done you can move it 1am if you need to and can charge bit bc normal they cant <censored> about the price to much bc there some where else not yet once have been cops working late on house or business also if do some how be some thing legal being done if pay cc you have paper trail an smiply dont talk to cops there not your friends an will twist any thing to make look like the bad guy get lawyer then say hey i was being pay to do work witch i thought owner of the home what not here his phone number cc info charges mostly will drop if go that far and person that did if caught get charged you did some you had no knowledge other wise would not of done start doing evictions it be cake and fbi serier there fun sorry for bad grammer

Voisitko kirjoittaa jollakin ymmärrettävällä kielellä?
I can read books in English, but I could not try to comprehend the whole post.
Please use understandable language with some periods every now and then.

[billdeserthills]

personally i like job just make sure when go to open the house there no it it lol i do out of town work real estate people/ or management company stuff like that some times it personal owner don't have time to do when there aka busy person or own other house in other state reason i like is when it job like business you can work there any time alone as it gets done you can move it 1am if you need to and can charge bit bc normal they cant <censored> about the price to much bc there some where else not yet once have been cops working late on house or business also if do some how be some thing legal being done if pay cc you have paper trail an smiply dont talk to cops there not your friends an will twist any thing to make look like the bad guy get lawyer then say hey i was being pay to do work witch i thought owner of the home what not here his phone number cc info charges mostly will drop if go that far and person that did if caught get charged you did some you had no knowledge other wise would not of done start doing evictions it be cake and fbi serier there fun sorry for bad grammer

Voisitko kirjoittaa jollakin ymmärrettävällä kielellä?
I can read books in English, but I could not try to comprehend the whole post.
Please use understandable language with some periods every now and then.

x2, for me as well

[Smrtz]

Today has been a day of Odd requests:

Then about an hour before that...I received a call from a man regarding his deadbolt on the Garage-house door. He told me that sometimes the lock works and sometimes it doesn't work. He wanted it fixed regardless of what needed to be done after I had a chance to assess the issue...what caught me off guard was that he is out of town for the entire week. the house is empty and he wanted me to coordinate the service visit with his trusted next door neighbor, and once the work was completed he could pay with a card over the phone with me. I asked if he had gone out of town and was worried the home was left unsecured bc of the deadbolt issue...Response: No- the rest of the home is locked up tight and he just wanted someone to come out while he was gone to make the repair...
*****I get a weird feeling from the situation, I feel i need to verify ownership of the property in this situation...i don't understand why he needs this single lock serviced here and now if the home is secure and the neighbor is looking after things for him...wouldn't someone wait to be present for the service call...i just get that "sketchy" feeling and my Liability Radar is at full power.
=Dave

This sounds super sketchy... What did you end up doing?

I probably would have looked up the official owner of the property in question, and contacted them for permission/notification of sketchy activities... Also, I would have called my lawyer, do locksmiths typically have lawyers on retainer? It sounds like a good idea...