Not a week goes by that you don't see people seething on social media or fuming in forums about being ripped off by a rogue locksmith, sometimes it's a relative or friend who's been ripped off, sometimes it's the poster themselves who have been overcharge for basic locksmith services, but do you know who's also fuming? Legitimate locksmiths that get tarred why the same brush...

Basically the title of this post is incorrect; because most locksmiths do not over charge for basic work; this is a misconception and based on the fact that people with complaints tend to shout the loudest' whereas happy customers don't even leave a positive reviews half of the time so the figures are skewed a little.

Most locksmiths are professionally trained, and the rogues are few and far between but do account for almost 100% of the complaints and bad feedback that you see online. I said almost 100% because they are always those hard to please customers that will give a decent, professional locksmith a bad review even when they have done a good job for a good price, basically you simply can't please some people.

 

Shouldn't all locksmiths be professional trained?

A question that's often asked in response to negative reviews and feedback is "Shouldn't all locksmiths be professional trained?". Well in an ideal world yes, yes they should, I mean why work in an industry that you're not competent in? But in reality there are lots of locksmiths touting for work in the UK that just aren't competent and some haven't even had any training and are simply winging in with each callout.

This is because unlike some professions, take a heating engineer for example, where the trade is government regulated and the engineer is required by law to be gas safe and have certain qualifications, the locksmith industry currently has no regulation meaning that anyone can set up as a locksmith and start touting for work and they are doing nothing wrong in the eyes of the law. So what you get are basically "handy men" claiming to be locksmiths, who'll turn up after you lock yourself out and proceed to break into your home using drills, hammers, chisels etc.

 

If these amateur get to into your house what's the issue?

Well they are two main issues, the first issue is that a professional locksmith will have been trained in none destructive entry methods and will more than likely own manual and electronic lock picks which he/she will use to gain entry without any damage.

An amateur has no such skilled or proper tools and will immediately reach for a drill to drill out the lock or a hammer to knock out the lock usually damaging both the door and the surrounding frame.

The second issue, which is in a way linked to the first issue, is the cost...  an amateur will cost you much more than a professional and here's why?

Lots of amateur locksmith will survive off one of weekly or monthly jobs because no one ever refers them or calls them back so they will tend to use sneaky tricks to bump up the final invoice sometimes to ridiculous amounts and what was advertised as a basic £60 entry fee with have a tonne of extras added on such as fuel, night rate, mileage supplements etc, I've even seen a charge for having to get out a drill? Not only that, but remember they will have destroyed both your barrel and your locking mechanism during they break in.. Sorry I mean entry, so even if your spare keys where in the house you'll need to be sold a new barrel and a lock and at a premium too, sometimes 5 times the retail price. I've seen £800 - £1000 invoices for a simply lock out.

Use a professional and 7 out or 10 times (these stats have been provided by the UK's only official locksmith training college, Train Locksmiths) they will have picked the lock either using manual or electronic lock picks and if your spare keys are in fact in the house then you only have the standard entry fee to pay and even if the lock could not be picked due to the model or its age a professional will have specialist tools with him to drill out/remove the barrel only rather than destroying the entire mechanism keeping the costs down... All in all it simply doesn't pay to use an amateur locksmith.

 

How can the public avoid falling victim to a rogue/amateur locksmiths

This is the difficult part because with cheap advertising and DIY drag and drop web design tools that are freely available anyone can build themselves an online presence for their locksmith business whether professionally trained or not.

With the launch of official Ofqual qualifications for the industry back in October 2019 there is talk of the industry getting regulated at some point in the future but at the moment it's down to the customer to check out qualifications, reviews and feedback rather than simply clicking on the first sponsored listing that comes up on google.

The highest qualification that can be achieved by a locksmith is an Ofqual level 3 diploma, there are other private qualifications available but most are now worth the paper they are printed on as many are 3 or 5 day course which as anyone knows, is no long enough to learn an entire trade.

SInce it's launch number of locksmiths up and down the country have got themselves qualified including Glasgow Locksmith, Ayrshire Locksmiths and Lancaster Locksmith LT Locksmiths.