Mr Locksmith Mr Prolock Locksmith Scam Vancouver Vancouver, Internet

This is a warning to consumers about an on-going locksmith scam in the lower mainland. Terry Whin-Yates, Royce Whin-Yates and family have been taking advantage of people in need and taking their money. Others associated with this scam are Michael Lee and Jackie Wu as he targets Chinese as he believes they are less likely to complain. Also associated with the scam is Ken Lapp owner of the web spam company Standard Marketing. You can see pictures of these individuals on the sites listed below. The References at the bottom of this post detail his reputation on various site on the internet where former customers have complained etc.

Here is list of their Websites:

http://www.mrlocksmith.com/
http://www.mrlocksmithburnaby.com/
http://www.mrlocksmithrichmond.com/
http://www.automotivelocksmiths.com/
http://www.mrprolock.com/
http://www.standardmarketing.ca/

The Scam (actually Scams) of Terry Whin-Yates:

1. Locksmith Services scam: Terry Whin-Yates runs a locksmith service that sells false locksmith services. He advises on techniques such as:

1. Low biding, high billing
2. Unnecessary drilling and replacing applying additional charges
3. Up-selling unnecessary services and unqualified security advice to increases the sale

He teaches these techniques to those who buy into his business plan.

He uses the following individuals in this service:

Terry Whin-Yates, himself
Royce Whin-Yates, his son who does the Automotive work
Brian Whin-Yates, his son
Michael Lee, who bought into the scam and works out of East Vancouver
Jackie Wu, who bought into the scam and works out of Richmond

2. Internet Spam and dishonest advertising:

He uses an internet spam company called Standard Marketing run by Ken Lapp, and against the terms of service of these sites he practices the following "black-hat" techniques or tricks to fool internet browsers:

Keyword stuffing, writing unreadable material to fool search engines into judging
Duplicate sites, sites that are identical to each other in content to improve ranking as a group but failing to provide value to searchers False Google Maps listings, using mailboxes as business listing to fool consumers into thinking he is nearby
Competitor Domain names, he uses the names of competitor locksmith companies to forward traffic to his site when they think they are going to a different company page


2. Locksmith Class scam:

Terry Whin-Yates teaches how to rekey a weiser cylinder for over $1000. You can buy a kit that will teach you this from most hardware stores for $20. He teaches little else of value if you are seeking employment in the locksmithing industry. There are legitimate courses available on locksmithing but they are rare and hard to locate. He takes advantage of this fact and offers a low value solution that could cost you a $1500 more than it is worth.

3 Locksmith Franchise scam:

Terry Whin-Yates is advertising a "Mr Locksmith" "franchise," in which he will teach you how to take advantage of the public using the methods above. This will cost you over $10 000. He will give you the impression of the profitability of this scheme with false statistics and by using his accomplices as examples showing them to be busy. This is all an act to obtain your money. The "franchise" has no support and the numbers are not authentic.

Reference Links:

Better Business Bureau rating of F with 3 complaints unanswered:

http://www.bbb.org/mbc/business-reviews/locks-and-locksmiths/mr-prolock-in-burnaby-bc-1208591

Rip Off Report posting with screen shot evidence of his deceptive advertising practises:

http://www.ripoffreport.com/advertising-deceptive/24-hour-mr-locksmith/24-hour-mr-locksmith-mr-proloc-F8354.htm

(((REDACTED))) post explains the same as the ripoffreport.com post

(((REDACTED)))  Post from a former customer who was video taped by Terry Whin-Yates and his son Royce Whin-Yates without permission:

(((REDACTED)))
Gigpark post by a former customer of "Mr Locksmith" with an interesting rant following in the comments section:


http://www.gigpark.com/recommendations/a461c5ce6

Google Maps listing for "Burnaby Locksmith - Mr Prolock Locksmiths"  with a UPS Store as the address:

http://maps.google.com/maps/place?cid=2406921803397992823&q=burnaby+locksmith&hl=en&ved=0CGMQ-QswAQ&ei=SmDmTNe9KaGItAPBvanxBA&sll=49.240365,-122.992852&sspn=0.095922,0.134058&ie=UTF8&ll=49.302069,-123.2024&spn=0,0&z=12

Another Google Maps listing for "AA Automotive Locksmiths" at the same address:

http://maps.google.com/maps/place?cid=2406921803397992823&q=burnaby+locksmith&hl=en&ved=0CGMQ-QswAQ&ei=SmDmTNe9KaGItAPBvanxBA&sll=49.240365,-122.992852&sspn=0.095922,0.134058&ie=UTF8&ll=49.302069,-123.2024&spn=0,0&z=12

Another fraudulent locksmith listing on Google Maps for "Mr Prolock Vancouver" also a UPS Store:

http://maps.google.com/maps/place?cid=6216703630119482762&q=mr+prolock&hl=en&dtab=0&sll=49.253017,-123.058891&sspn=0.109582,0.308647&ie=UTF8&ll=49.341902,-123.213387&spn=0,0&z=12
  CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report.