quicklocksmith247.com AKA 247 19 Quicklocksmith Bait and Switch, Extreme Overcharge SALT LAKE CITY Utah
My 23 year old daughter is on her own in the big city of Salt Lake. She's very bright and very capable. She locked her keys with her fob in her 2008 Acura TL. She searched online for a locksmith and found what appeared to be a good deal at quicklocksmith247.com, which claims among other things in big, bold print, "$19 Locksmith Services In Your Area", and "We'll Beat Any Price!" Lower down on the main page it states, "Car Lock-out" Prices are "$19 Service Call plus $35+".
When the locksmith showed up, he looked intimidating to her, spoke with a heavy accent and told her it would be $148, rather than the $19 + $35 or so ($54 or so). When she said that sounded like a lot, he said she could just bill it to her insurance company and get reimbursed 100%. This was entirely untrue although she has full coverage on her car.
Then I called the same company posing as a potential customer from the same zip code a few blocks away with the same year, make and model of car with the same issue. The first price they quoted me was "$19 + $35 and up". When I pressed for a more accurate quote, the service representative, Brittany, told me "$80-$120", and told me to not worry about it because my auto insurance would cover it. When I said I'll shop around, Brittany called me back a few minutes later and dropped their estimate to $55-$90.
A few more calls to local locksmiths directly and I found this was a $60-$75 service call at most. I called and spoke to the onsite manager of quicklocksmith247.com, Jose', first before posing as a potential customer then afterward, and asked him to make this right for my daughter. He said he would not, because she agreed to the work and paid the bill. I caught him in several lies, to which he would seemingly without conscience work to sidestep, finally resting on the position that it was just business and business is business. Wow. Charging a young, single girl $148 for a straightforward lockout service that should have been $60 or so is just business??? Wow.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
It Gets Better!
#2Author of original report
Mon, October 12, 2015
After writing this rip-off report, I received another call from the same quicklocksmith247.com call center but slightly different toll-free number. So far I've received calls from 888-316-6140, 800-774-4002 and now 800-774-9042. This time I was offered the lockout service for a maximum of $60. When I let them know once again that I was just posing as a potential customer a few blocks away from where my daughter was located this morning when she was charged $148 for the very same service for the very same year, make and model of car and asked them to make this right to her, they refused. If this is not illegal it should be and is at the least extremely unethical.