Many people only think about hiring a local locksmith during an emergency, which is the worst possible time for a number of reasons. First, emergencies are stressful and because of that fact you may not be in the right frame of mind to make the right decision. In other words, you don’t want to pick the first locksmith in an online search or in the phone book (remember those?) just because, well… they are first. Secondly, while hiring the right locksmith may not be rocket science, you want to ensure that the people who are working to protect your home or office are both reputable and perform high quality work. Lastly, even the FTC made mention of finding the right local locksmith. They cautioned “that some locksmiths advertising in your local phone book may not be local at all, and that others may not have professional training.” Which brings me to the first tip.
1. Go Local!
The FTC warns that not all locksmiths that claim to be local or local at all. In fact, they go on to say “Some who claim to be “local locksmith” companies have multiple listings (sometimes 30 or more separate listings in a single phone book) with different names. But the calls to each of these numbers go back to the same central number in a distant city where operators dispatch untrained individuals to do the job.”
What’s worse is that the “local locksmith” that is dispatched to your home or office may only accept cash and ask for significantly more money than what was quoted over the phone. To ensure that the locksmith you’ll be hiring is local check out their website and their local address. Sometimes it’s a good idea to search for the given address in Google Maps to ensure that it really is a place of business.
Take five minutes and watch the beginning of this ABC report to see scamsmiths in action. Keep watching and at 11:14 you can see a good example of a scam setup business site and dispatch ring. It’s a wild report that exposes a huge scam operation about these “local” locksmiths.
2. Ask Friends and Family
This may sound like a no-brainer but you’d be surprised at how often this is overlooked. The best way to find a locksmith is to ask somebody who has used a locksmith in the past. If you don’t know anybody who has hired a local locksmith then check out their online reviews, you can check out some of ours here.
3. Look for the ALOA Badge
ALOA stands for Associated Locksmiths of America. ALOA is an organization that provides training and certification for locksmiths and other security professionals–and it also lets consumers know which locksmiths they can be sure to trust. In order to be a member of ALOA, a locksmith company has to meet stringent standards. In order to make sure that the local locksmith company you’re vetting is an actual member of ALOA you can perform a search by going here.
