Complaint Review: Around The Clock Locksmith (443) 534-9604 - Pasadena Maryland

 Yesterday, Horton was found quilty of 3 criminal charges for his actions when providing locksmith services to me on Feb 9, 2009.  Praise God!  I urge all those who are victims of Around the Clock Locksmith and Joseph Horton to please attend his sentencing scheduled for tomorrow (Oct 28th, 2011) at 1:15pm, District Court Annapolis, MD.  Hope to see you all there.

Have you been ripped-off by this company after 8/2/10?  If so, PLEASE contact Ms. Lucy Cardwell of Maryland's Attorney General at [email protected]  She NEEDS to hear from you.  If Ms. Cardwell's e-mail is blocked from this posting, do a Google Search on "Around the Clock Locksmith" and read my other reviews to get the information. Let's FINALLY STOP THIS GUY!!

I totally agree with you same thing just happened to me on the 4th of July.

He will definately not go scot free and will rot in jail as long as the LORD Lives. I refused to sign his papers and reported to the bank the immediately. I think he has all sort in his van that he robs with i mean card cloning machine and probably a photocopying machine because i wounder how he will be able to forge people's signature.

But he will rot in prison. ROBBER!

Thanks to the hard work and dedicated readers of and Ed the owner of Rip Off Report Joseph M Horton, owner of Around The Clock Locksmith is SHUTTING DOWN!

The publicity generated by ROR has resulted in the following in just the past few days!

1) Maryland AG slapped him

2) BBB FINALLY gave him an F rating

3) He was FIRED from his part-time job as a firefighter with the Branchville station of the Prince George's County MD fire department

4) He was KICKED OUT of the Associated Locksmiths of America, a professional locksmith organization.

We are now working on getting him EVICTED from his apartment complex for being a peeping tom. Luckily all the women VICTIMS of his weren't attacked by this PERV!

Here is a photo of that scumbag Joe Horton. I hopefully will post a copy of his BOOKING PHOTO soon.

Be sure to call the Branchville, MD Fire Department and ask them why they have such a criminal riding around on their firetrucks.

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Mr Horton, you sir are a liar. You can only respond with a pre fabricated statement, probably written by a scumbag lawyer. You will not attest to any of the complaints registered against you. Having ben in the industry for 13+ years the only other people that have had that many complaints against them are the Scammer companies out of NY and Florida, but then again you are no different then them other than you are not an Israeli here on a student visa, which is actually to the advantage of your ripoff victims. You have assets and property in the US.  Hope that big house you bought over on Creekside is in either your mother or your wife's name.  I have seen invoices from Around The Clock, $600 plus dollars for a residential lockout in Odenton in the early evening. Mr. Horton, shut down your company and find a new line of work, you are "persona non grada" in the locksmith industry and in the local business community.  And as far as your statement that compaints happen, I urge anyone to BBB.org search other local locksmiths. Most have had 0, yeah thats right ZERO complaints in the last 36 months. In closing, CONSUMERS BEWARE, JOSEPH HORTON AND AROUND THE CLOCK LOCKSMITH (ILLEGALLY ADVERTISING AS POP-A-LOCK) ARE NOT A REPUTABLE COMPANY AND GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY WILL RIP YOU OFF!!!

Around The Clock Locksmith charges fair and reasonable rates for their services. This is a case where a customer is mad at themselves because they had to pay for locksmith services because of their mistake. Around The Clock Locksmith provides a unique service that responds immediately to assist our customers in a time of need.

Attorney General Gansler Issues Cease and Desist Against Maryland Locksmith Company 
Around the Clock Locksmith Allegedly Overcharged Consumers

BALTIMORE, MD ( April 7, 2010) - Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler announced today that his Consumer Protection Division has issued a Cease and Desist Order against a Maryland locksmith, ATCL-MD, Inc., T/A Around the Clock Locksmith and its owner Joseph M. Horton. The Consumer Protection Division has charged Around the Clock Locksmith and Horton with billing consumers exorbitant fees, such as more than $4,300 to replace a lock and deadbolt, and fees as high as $1,400 simply to respond to a consumers request for locksmith services. According to the Divisions Statement of Charges, Around the Clock Locksmith refuses to give consumers an estimate of its fees or provides extremely low estimates. When consumers balked at paying the undisclosed fees, the company allegedly charged the consumers credit card without prior authorization.

In addition to overcharging consumers, Around The Clock Locksmith and the companys owner, Joseph Horton, are accused of falsely using a competitors name to steal the competitors customers and misrepresenting that the company is a member in good standing with the Better Business Bureau. The Consumer Protection Division ordered the company and Horton to immediately cease and desist from engaging in these and other unfair or deceptive trade practices. A hearing is scheduled for June 28, 2010, after which the Division will determine the amount of any restitution, penalties and costs that Around the Clock Locksmith and its owner must pay.

You cant provide a low estimate to get your foot in the door and then charge multiples of that estimate to perform the service, said Attorney General Gansler. The Order requires the company to provide realistic estimates and to stick by them.

Consumers should always ask for price estimates before requesting any service and be wary of companies that will not provide estimates. Consumers may contact the Consumer Protection Division to find out if there have been complaints filed against a business by other consumers. For more information, consumers may call the Consumer Protection hotline at (410) 528-8662 or 1 (888) 743-0023 toll-free.

This guy is a ripoff, google his company and see how many complaints show up... This guy is NOT a Locksmith, he is a CRIMINAL. If you look on the MD Courts website you will find that Joseph M Horton, and his company of Around The Clock Locksmith have both been charged with credit card fraud charges. The good thing is that it normally doesn't take long for jokers like this to have burnt enough people that he has to move on. Maybe back to carolina? Consumers Beware, Always do some research ahead of  time and have a working relation with a REPUTABLE locksmith. When you call the first number you find online or in the phone book you end up with situations like this.

Around The Clock Locksmith charges fair and reasonable charges for their services. Like other mobile bussinesses, we too have to charge for our services. While it may not seem fair to the consumer, you have to realize that businesses have overhead and expenses. I f those expenses were less, than we would in turn charge less.

Again, you can charge what ever fees you wish. But you must be truthful and disclose ALL YOUR FEES to your customer PRIOR TO CHARGING THEIR CREDIT CARD!

In your daily business practices, YOU DO NOT DISCLOSE ALL YOUR FEES until AFTER you have performed the service and charged the customer's credit card.

Your fees are excessively inflated and not within the industry standard for the service provided.  I believe this is why you do not disclose all of your fees to the customer, for if you operated honestly by disclosing your excessively inflated fees, you would not win the customer's business and the customer's business would go to your competitor(s).

You operate under UNFAIR BUSINESS PRACTICES by not disclosing all your fees, CHARGE AND COLLECT UNAUTHORIZED FEES from your customer's credit card. In my case, I refused to sign your receipt of LIES and you forged my signature, not once, but twice!

If your fees are justified, why not disclose them to your customer before the service is performed and before you charge their credit card? DO NOT TRY TO LIE and state that you do disclose all your fees prior to performing the service and charging the customer's credit card. There are numerous complaints filed against you and Around The Clock Locksmith in Pasadena. These can be found on the Internet, the BBB, ALOA, Maryland Attorney General, Consumer Protection Division, Civil suits and an article in the Maryland Gazette "Pasadena Locksmith Ban from FT George Meade, all for this same business practice!

Around The Clock Locksmith charges fair and reasonable charges for their services. Like other mobile bussinesses, we too have to charge for our services. While it may not seem fair to the consumer, you have to realize that businesses have overhead and expenses. I f those expenses were less, than we would in turn charge less.

You can charge what ever fees you wish but you MUST divulge your prices to the consumer so that the consumer can choose if they wish to use your services or your competition's.

By misleading your customer as to what your total costs and fees will be, is an unfair business practice and can be viewed as FRAUD!

If you are justified in the fees you charge, why not inform your customer before you provide your service and collect and charge their credit card? You know if you told your proposed customers your outrageous fees, they would simply call your competition.

Around The Clock Locksmith charges fair and reasonable charges for their services. Like other mobile bussinesses, we too have to charge for our services. While it may not seem fair to the consumer, you have to realize that businesses have overhead and expenses. I f those expenses were less, than we would in turn charge less.

Your Rating on BBB.org is D-
D- the only grade lower than that is an F!

17 complaints in 36 months should tell you that you are doing something wrong.
I find it interesting that you compare yourself to Circuit City, they are now our of business.
As someone who runs a business, I would suggest you take the approach that the customer is may not always be right, but the customer is the customer - and that's who pays your salary.
Again, ask the people who worked at Circuit City how their approach worked out for them.
Good luck-

Why did you remove the Ft. Smallwood Rd lisiting? It had 17 poor reviews. The bad reviews all telling the same story of how you quote one price and collect the customer's credit card and charge it hundreds of dollars more.

If so many complaints have been resolved, why are there so many bad reviews and complaints filed againts your company along with the recent March 31st newspaper article in the Maryland Gazette. You even rip off the soldiers that protect your right to own your own business! You are a snake!

Consumers, just call Maryland's Consumer Protection Division and find out how many complaints have been filed against this company. If he has stolen money from you please file a complaint with Ms. Lucy Cardwell, Assistant Attorney General at: [email protected]  She is waiting to hear from you. I also urge you to join the others by filing a civil case.

Why has your company been ban from FT. George Meade? 

Due to your rip-off scam of charging your customer's credit card undisclosed fees and then get them to sign your receipt and if they refuse to sign the receipts, you sign it for them!

Why do you have a listing for POP-A-LOCK when you do not work for that company and they have asked you to remove the listing?

Why do you claim to be licensed and a proud member of the BBB on your web site when all of this is LIES?

Do your fellow fire fighters know how you steal from customers in vulnerable situations? Why can't you be a REAL MAN and operate your business honestly?

Michele points out that our company has had complaints with the Better Business Bureau. That is a true statement, however I will add that we are a business that deals with the public. Any business owner or management would agree that when you do business with the general public you can not make everyone 100% happy. When we recieve a complaint from a customer we respond to it immediately. You should also take note that the few complaints that we recieve have all been resloved and the Better Business Bureau's site shows that in our profile. Look up Circuit City on the Better Business Bureau and take a look at the number of complaints that they have not to mention the amount of complaints that haven't been responded to. My point is this, every business has complaints, the important thing is that they have been resolved.

If any further questions should arise, please feel free to contact us directly at: [email protected]

Around The Clock Locksmith has never changed their phone number. We have had the same phone numbers since we have been in business. You should get your facts together before you jump to conclusions.

If any further questions should arise please contact us at: [email protected]

This is still the same rip-off theif who will quote you one price and charge you 5 times the quote on your credit card. 

If you have a complaint to file please contact Ms. Lucy Cardwell at: [email protected]

Joseph Horton (443 534 9604) AKA: Pop-a-Lock and Around the Clock locksmith multiple listings ALL THE SAME PHONE NUMBER=ALL THE SAME GUY!!!

If you have a complaint to file, please contact Ms. Lucy Cardwell at: [email protected]

She is waiting to hear from you.  She is the Assistant Attorney General in Maryland.

On Feb 9, 2010 this guy had 4 complaints filed with the BBB. As of March 22, 2010 he now has 15. He must be stopped!