Literally shaking with anger right now...

[AlwaysLearningDavid]

Happens WAY too often.

Get a call for an unlock. Head straight over, bump people on the schedule to get there right away. Show up in 20 or so minutes and...

There’s another locksmith there!

The customer is always an ass about it (and always a baby boomer woman, for some reason).

They tell you it’s your fault for not getting there sooner and “had them waiting” so they called someone else.

Which is 100% bull. They called multiple smiths at the same time.

I almost lost it.

So sick of these people.

I told the lady that what she did was incredibly rude and that she was lying about waiting, being only 20 minutes after the call. Could not care less.

I’m sure she’ll leave a negative review.

What do you do with these situations?

I should have charged her for the trip,huh?

[demux]

What do you do with these situations?

I should have charged her for the trip,huh?

If she was that rude to begin with, good luck getting her to pay anyway.

"You didn't actually do anything, why should I have to give you any money?"

Are you on good terms with the other smiths in your area? Sounds like you need a Vegas style Black Book to put people like that in.

[billdeserthills]

Happens WAY too often.

Get a call for an unlock. Head straight over, bump people on the schedule to get there right away. Show up in 20 or so minutes and...

There’s another locksmith there!

The customer is always an ass about it (and always a baby boomer woman, for some reason).

They tell you it’s your fault for not getting there sooner and “had them waiting” so they called someone else.

Which is 100% bull. They called multiple smiths at the same time.

I almost lost it.

So sick of these people.

I told the lady that what she did was incredibly rude and that she was lying about waiting, being only 20 minutes after the call. Could not care less.

I’m sure she’ll leave a negative review.

What do you do with these situations?

I should have charged her for the trip,huh?

The last couple of times it happened I managed to unlock the car before the other guy & managed to get the keys first--nowadays I don't open cars anymore
As you said, unlocking vehicles is always a hassle, usually the call comes at an inconvenient time & I don't need the stress for such a low-paying job

[RedStagKiller]

I think you just have to smile then turn around and leave. Absolutely nothing that you can do that will help you in a positive way. (short of seeing her car later and slipping some superglue into the lock, just kidding)

[stratmando]

No good dead goes unpunished, Have Great Customers, once in a while you get jerks, they will take a little wind out of you. You hope later to see it come back on them.
They are Out there. You did the right thing, she was an Ass.

[AlwaysLearningDavid]

Thanks for the replies. I know I just need to get over it and trash people are just part of life, but it feels good to vent and know that I’m not the only one that gets them.

[billdeserthills]

Last thing I tried before I quit opening cars was getting a credit card # & running the card for the total before leaving the shop, which worked well when I knew exactly what I would be unlocking

[Safecrackin Sammy]

Many moons ago when we did cars.... Nissan was spelled Datsun....

We advised the customer that if they didnt cancel before we arrived that we would bill their credit card for the service call fee. Its an oral contract for services when they call you and you have a right to get paid if they dont cancel.

[lockpicker69]

after hours,and indeed anytime of the day, get them to pay half the amount before you set off

[cledry]

We stopped doing car lockouts unless it was a slow day and the car was within a few minutes of a free technician. When I first started in the business I worked for a really big intimidating guy with a loud booming voice. He literally had me block someone in so that they couldn't leave and drove over and got paid as soon as he got out of the van. I was 20 years old, skinny and shaking like a leaf until he turned up.

We used 2 way radios back then for communication and some tow truck operator was intercepting our calls and getting the cars open before we showed up. My boss set a trap for him and was sitting inside a donut shop when the guy turned up to open the car of the wife of the boss. Long story short it stopped happening that very day!