I was moving to Bridgewater NJ with the help of my brother in U-Haul. When we arrived at our new house in Bridgewater NJ, we found out keys for new house are buried somewhere in the loaded U-Haul. Instead of unloading the truck to search for keys, we decided to call a locksmith to save time and effort
A quick search over smart phone came up with America's Locksmith services for Bridgewater NJ. We called the number and were told, it will cost $20 to have a technician come onsite to look at problem and it will cost $35 to open the lock. Technician will analyze the difficulty level and will let us know if additional money is required. We agreed.
Technician arrived after 20 minutes in a beat up car without logos or any card/paperwork to indicate he works for the company. He looked at the door and found out dead bolt is not engaged and announced it will cost $180 cash to open the door. We asked why so much and pointed that company has given us $35 quote. He said that's only to open mailbox locks, door lock rate is $180 and if the dead bolt was engaged he would have charged us $400 to open the door.
Since amount was outrageous, we declined his service, paid him $20 for his trip and said thank you. He left the house, a minute later my cell phone rang and someone from America's locksmith office (same lady that i spoke to originally) was on the phone asking why I declined to use locksmith service and if he did anything wrong. I pointed out he is asking for $180 and the fact that dead bolt is not even engaged. She offered last price of $100 since technician was already onsite. I declined again and offered $75 instead which they refused and hang-up on me.
We borrowed a screw driver from new neighbor and opened the door ourselves within a minute without damaging it. Thankfully there was enough room in the door to stick a screwdriver in the lock and a gentle push opened the door.
Needless to say we were very happy we did not pay locksmith scam artists $100 and saved that money. Not everyone would be that lucky though.
Shame on you America's Locksmith Bridgewater NJ for ripping people off.