Run Local Locksmith 2 week warranty on $191 ignition fix, it stops working a month later Centeline, Michigan
We live in Austin, TX area and we had a terrible experience with Run Local Smith also. My car ignition wouldn't turn so i couldnt start my van. After struggling trying to unlock it we finally called this company. The guy charged us 191 dollars for 15 minute work. At first he sprayed some lubrucant in the ignition and tried moving the wheel. The air conditioner turned on, he quickly turned it off. Why? It only cicked me later that maybe the wheel had been unlocked already. But he tried to hide it. Then he said he needs to take out the ignition and clean it and will work like brand new. Well, guess what?! A month later the wheel locks again and this time nothing helps: not lubrucant, nothing... We call the company asking about the warranty policy.. And they say that its only 2 weeks. Can you believe it? In the receipt he wrote ignition fix. If he fixed it shouldn't it last a little bit longer than 2 weeks?! Or do they expect us to pay $ 200 every 2 weeks? Please always inquire about the warranty. That was a pricey lesson for us. Rip off company, thats all i can say.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Locksmithgonestraight
Middleboro,Massachusetts,
The Rundown on Runlocal (Former Tech)
#2UPDATE EX-employee responds
Tue, April 15, 2014
I worked for runlocal for about a year, and it was a horrible experience. I typically made 35% of what was charged, paid for my own gas and tools as well as stock. We were also in charge of our own insurance. THe company itself is basically a call center. They operate like a pyramid scheme, the company hiring a local smith who then subcontracts to newer or underworked smiths.
The advertising they do often reflects services and training not available to the smiths they have. Example; When I was new I knew nothing of ignitions and they attempted to send me to the jobs, I typically refused anything of the nature. I was often berrated for taking my time and picking a difficult lock that could be drilled in 5 minutes. I was also yelled at for charging too low, which regularly screwed me over.
To put it in perspective for us "techs" and I use quotes because a lot of these guys had no knowledge of locks, we'll do a quick math problem. If a tech goes to a job and charges $65 at a 35% commision and drove 25 miles there and 25 back, he made 22.50 minus what he had to chew up in gas in a van. In reviewing the websites for run local, and they're abundant and typically names your towns name + locksmith, the vast majority of information on the pages is false, including;
Prices- (the words and up are used way to god damned much)
Services available- (The call center has no idea what the smiths have the equipment or knowhow for)
Time / Availability- (The call center would schedule jobs at impossible times and places, and were dishonest in response time)
Products available- (Like above with services, the call center would gaurantee the smiths would have an abundance of stock we didn't.
RUNLOCAL is a call center. They provided volume of calls and nothing else.
I couldn't suceed with this company because I wasn't "ruthless" enough. Those are words from smiths I worked with. I've since left the company and started my own fledgling company, I'm much happier with being able to charge honest rates and help people.
If you're looking for a locksmith one tip to help weed out runlocal and other crap companies of the same like (captainlocksmith comes to mind) is to make sure the online ads have a legal street address in the area, at least the state, listed. Even my tiny company can use my home office as an address to establish legitimacy.