Ripoff Report Needs Your Help!
X  |  CLOSE
Report: #233438

Complaint Review: DEPENABLE LOCKS AND USA LOCKSMITH - NEW YORK New York

  • Submitted:
  • Updated:
  • Reported By: Montrose New York
  • Author Confirmed What's this?
  • Why?
  • DEPENABLE LOCKS AND USA LOCKSMITH NEW YORK NEW YORK, New York U.S.A.

DEPENABLE LOCKS- USA LOCKSITH PHONE BANK COMPANYS PRETEND TO BE LOCAL.THEY ARE NOT. NEW YORK CITY New York

*Author of original report: DEPENABLE LOCK IS A PHONE BANK FOR MANY COMPANYS

Show customers why they should trust your business over your competitors...

Is this
Report about YOU
listed on other sites?
Those sites steal
Ripoff Report's
content.
We can get those
removed for you!
Find out more here.
How to fix
Ripoff Report
If your business is
willing to make a
commitment to
customer satisfaction
Click here now..

For those of you who have been following the stories of scammers posing as locksmith using fake addresses and phone numbers unmercifully ripping off the general public, (and all of you should be) there have been some encouraging events unfolding in the quest to stop such illegal activity from continuing.

First, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) seems to have finally taken notice of this matter and is beginning to take action. At first the IDFPR seemed to be turning a blind eye to this matter, but after numerous articles, news stories and complaints by locksmiths, the IDFPR is now working with the Illinois Attorney General's office to enforce legislation.

Speaking of the Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, she filed a 37-page lawsuit against two companies perpetrating the illegal activity.

The following is a partial excerpt from the official press release regarding the suit:

MADIGAN SEEKS TO CLOSE DOOR ON PHONY STOREFRONT LOCKSMITHS Chicago Attorney General Lisa Madigan sued two New York locksmith companies and their owners and officers for setting up fake addresses and phone numbers in Illinois that led locked-out consumers to believe they were dealing with a local company, when in fact their calls for help were dispatched to the Bronx, New York, and, often, unlicensed Illinois locksmiths were instructed to respond. Cook, DuPage and Lake Counties received complaints. Madigan's lawsuit names as defendants Price Line Locksmith, Inc., a New York corporation, doing business as Priceline Locksmith, Inc., and Locksmith 24 Hours, Inc.; Gilad Gill, individually and as President of Price Line Locksmith, Inc; David Sasson, individually and as President of Price Line Locksmith, Inc.; Superb Solutions, Inc., a New York corporation; and Shlomo Hadar, individually and as President of Superb Solutions, Inc. Madigan alleges that Price Line solicited and advertised for at least 17 companies under assumed business names that claimed to be Illinois-based businesses. However, outside of their registered agent's location in Skokie, the defendants do not have a location in Illinois. The ads for the companies with the assumed business names were placed in the Yellow Pages, on various Internet Yellow Pages' search engines, its own individual Web sites at www.chicago-locksmith.com, www.USATotalSecurity.com and on telephone directory assistance. Additionally, Price Line is not licensed to do business in Illinois under any of the assumed business names used by Price Line. It's time to close the door on a New York company that does everything in its power to represent that it's a local Illinois company, Madigan said. Price Line not only operated several phony businesses, they employed questionable practices when actually doing locksmith work. Madigan's suit seeks to prohibit Price Line from doing business in Illinois, revocation of any and all licenses to do business in Illinois, a declaration that all contracts with consumers are unlawful and that restitution is paid. The lawsuit also seeks a civil penalty of $50,000 and additional penalties of $50,000 for each violation found to have been committed with the intent to defraud. Additionally, the suit seeks $10,000 per violation committed against a person 65 or older. Consumers who face emergency situations such as lockouts often are targets for con artists, Madigan said. We allege that Price Line preyed upon this stress and in the process, broke the laws of our state. The case is being handled by Assistant Attorney General Henry Ford, Jr., in Madigan's Consumer Protection Division.

Leland
Montrose, New York
U.S.A.

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 01/29/2007 10:03 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/depenable-locks-and-usa-locksmith/new-york-new-york/depenable-locks-usa-locksith-phone-bank-companys-pretend-to-be-localthey-are-not-new-yo-233438. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

Search for additional reports

If you would like to see more Rip-off Reports on this company/individual, search here:

Report & Rebuttal
Respond to this report!
What's this?
Also a victim?
What's this?
Repair Your Reputation!
What's this?

Updates & Rebuttals

REBUTTALS & REPLIES:
0Author
1Consumer
0Employee/Owner

#1 Author of original report

DEPENABLE LOCK IS A PHONE BANK FOR MANY COMPANYS

AUTHOR: Leland - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Thursday, May 17, 2007

(CBS 46 Investigates) -- It's happened to most of us! You're locked out of your car or home and need a locksmith ASAP.

Before you make the call, we have a warning!

A CBS 46 investigation busted phony locksmiths ready to take your money and your security.

We first discovered the scam in Sandy Springs.

Here is how it works:

An imposter locksmith lists their phone number under the same name as a reputable locksmith but the imposter's number is deceptively listed first.

Several victims thought they were calling Sandy Springs locksmith, a local business of 40 years, but when the person arrived, the problems began.

The technicians, claiming to be Sandy Springs, would often break the locks and overcharge to fix the problem.

Burt Kolker, the president of the real Sandy Springs Locksmith says, "They are using our good name for profit".

CBS 46 traced the imposter back to a New Jersey company operating out of a Dunwoody apartment building.

We called the supposed locksmith out to our photographer's apartment. With our undercover cameras rolling, he said he needed to break our lock. We confronted the worker who claims he is just a "technician"

The Associated Locksmiths of America or ALOA put out a warning concerned that similar scams could be happening to legitimate locksmiths all over Georgia.

The Illinois attorney general filed criminal charges after similar scams in his state. They charged unlicensed locksmiths for operating under false names. But in Georgia, locksmiths are not regulated.

One Sandy Springs victim says he is just as concerned with security as he is the overcharge. His college-age daughter was home alone when the scam artist arrived at his house. Dr. Andy Andrews says, "She is by herself the whole week. Who knows what could have happened."



Respond to this report!
What's this?
Featured Reports

Advertisers above have met our
strict standards for business conduct.

X
What do hackers,
questionable attorneys and
fake court orders have in common?
...Dishonest Reputation Management Investigates Reputation Repair
Free speech rights compromised

WATCH News
Segment Now