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Have you ever needed a locksmith on a Sunday morning? That’s an emergency call-out, right? Sad to say, we did last weekend…

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Have you ever needed a locksmith on a Sunday morning? That’s an emergency call-out, right?

Sad to say, we did last weekend. I came home late Saturday night and my key stuck in the bottom lock. Managed to get it out OK, even though the bolt sort of came loose, and locked the door behind me.

Next morning, though, that bolt was unmovable. Couldn’t get out. Only one door. One of us needed to go to work by 10am. We unscrewed the whole lock but it still wouldn’t move. We called a neighbor and managed to get, through her apartment, to the hallway to see if we could open it up from that side but: no go. Nothing for it but to call a locksmith.

It wasn’t so bad. Right on this website there’s more or less our own Hell’s Kitchen yellow pages and I was soon on the phone with someone from the 25-hour locksmith listed on the Hell’s Kitchen Locksmiths page. He asked for a phone number; I gave him a cell phone number; he soon had someone here.

So then the price. Bottom line to do anything was going to be $225 cash, OK? OK. Have to do this.

The inspection determined that the lock was unfixable and needed replacing. That would be another $195. We said we had a spare lock we could use but he said he couldn’t use that as if it didn’t work we would hold them responsible. A ridiculous policy if ever there was one, but they’ve got you in a corner, so we demurred. (It turned out that ours wouldn’t have worked, as we needed the kind that comes with a whole new doorknob, but still.)

So while he was taking out the old lock and putting in the new one, I went off to the bank to withdraw the necessary money. He’d mentioned the total would be $430 and on the way I did the math. $225 + $195 = $420. I began gearing up to get cross about all this.

When I got back, however, the new lock and doorknob were all installed and he was sitting chatting. He began to write a receipt, the kind with a duplicate copy underneath. On my request, he redid the math and wrote it up for $420. But then, having written in our address, he asked for our name. Our name? The receipt itself, I noticed when he had left, did not have quite the same name as the company advertised itself by and had their address and phone number scribbled out. And they wanted, in addition to a phone number and our address, our name. I’d given a cell-phone number to be careful and now I made up a name. I’m not going to presume the locksmith is a crook, but I’m not going to be naive either.

Sigh. But then, I’ve seen people stranded outside their apartments waiting over an hour for a locksmith to show up, so I consider us luckier than we might have been. These guys were at least fast.

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Getting a Locksmith on a Sunday Morning in Hell's Kitchen

Have you ever needed a locksmith on a Sunday morning? That’s an emergency call-out, right?

Sad to say, we did last weekend. I came home late Saturday night and my key stuck in the bottom lock. Managed to get it out OK, even though the bolt sort of came loose, and locked the door behind me.

Next morning, though, that bolt was unmovable. Couldn’t get out. Only one door. One of us needed to go to work by 10am. We unscrewed the whole lock but it still wouldn’t move. We called a neighbor and managed to get, through her apartment, to the hallway to see if we could open it up from that side but: no go. Nothing for it but to call a locksmith.

It wasn’t so bad. Right on this website there’s more or less our own Hell’s Kitchen yellow pages and I was soon on the phone with someone from the 25-hour locksmith listed on the Hell’s Kitchen Locksmiths page. He asked for a phone number; I gave him a cell phone number; he soon had someone here.

So then the price. Bottom line to do anything was going to be $225 cash, OK? OK. Have to do this.

The inspection determined that the lock was unfixable and needed replacing. That would be another $195. We said we had a spare lock we could use but he said he couldn’t use that as if it didn’t work we would hold them responsible. A ridiculous policy if ever there was one, but they’ve got you in a corner, so we demurred. (It turned out that ours wouldn’t have worked, as we needed the kind that comes with a whole new doorknob, but still.)

So while he was taking out the old lock and putting in the new one, I went off to the bank to withdraw the necessary money. He’d mentioned the total would be $430 and on the way I did the math. $225 + $195 = $420. I began gearing up to get cross about all this.

When I got back, however, the new lock and doorknob were all installed and he was sitting chatting. He began to write a receipt, the kind with a duplicate copy underneath. On my request, he redid the math and wrote it up for $420. But then, having written in our address, he asked for our name. Our name? The receipt itself, I noticed when he had left, did not have quite the same name as the company advertised itself by and had their address and phone number scribbled out. And they wanted, in addition to a phone number and our address, our name. I’d given a cell-phone number to be careful and now I made up a name. I’m not going to presume the locksmith is a crook, but I’m not going to be naive either.

Sigh. But then, I’ve seen people stranded outside their apartments waiting over an hour for a locksmith to show up, so I consider us luckier than we might have been. These guys were at least fast.

rhm

Oct 18, 06:32 AM  &nbsp

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