Complaint Review: America's Locksmith Services

They are such rip off and bad service, they are over charged for change one lock, and I called the office to find out the why they over charge, and they said will give me call bad and they didnt, when I called the 3rd time, they were so rude. Can anyone tell me for just one lock charge me $199.00, and the tech. told my employee is only $99.00 by the time they charge on my card and show the invoice to my employee is $199.00. such ripoff, I will not recommand for anyone to use this company for the lock services.

the Toll-Free number!

Locksmithing is a local service.  Anyone who offers a local service through a toll-free telephone number is not someone to trust. It almost always means there is a middle-man between you and the person providing the service and that middle-man is going to cost you money.

In the past seven years I have run across two locksmiths who had toll-free numbers.  One was in Sacramento and the other in Philadelphia. Both of them were clearly Russian.  Both showed up in personal passenger cars with no company names. The two that I dealt with were reasonably able to do the work and both charged what I felt were reasonable rates. Still, I cannot help but feel that toll-free locksmiths with Russian accents are some sort of scam. I now only deal with local locksmiths with brick-and-mortar stores.

This is a huge scam now with people posing as locksmiths, misquoting a price to you upfront and then changing it drastically when they get to your place after they have done the work. Go to the FTC(dot)gov website to read up on this scam.

I had the same thing happen to me. I have since found out that these scammers operate all over the country using fake names and addresses they 'borrow' without the actual owners or business permission. If you are searching for a locksmith it appears that they are local, but they aren't. They send out untrained and unsavory people in unmarked vehicles and if you refuse their service, they become intimidating and threatening.

The best way to not experience this scam is to line up a real, trusted, local locksmith before you actually need one and keep that business name and number in your phone and computer database to call when you do need their services. That way you know you are dealing with a reputable company. If you have a AAA membership or other roadside assistance service and you are locked out of your car, call AAA as they vet these locksmiths so you don't experience this scam.

I am sorry you had to experience this scam. These scammer locksmith companies count on us being desperate, that's why this particular scam seems to work so well.

I'm a producer with KSL TV and we are looking into other claims of locksmith scams when I ran accross your report.  Would you be willing to tell me about your experience?