quicklocksmith247.com General Locksmith, Fort Worth TX Final Fee 10 x quoted starting price on website texas

I was locked out of my house when the deadbolt broke and the key would not turn the lock.  I found quicklocksmith247.com when searching online for locksmiths in my town.  The service fee of $19 and house lockouts starting at $35 seemed reasonable and the website also states any differences in cost will be communicated on site before the work is done.  So I called them and scheduled.

The independent contractor they dispatched was totally unfriendly, seemed irritated to have to be there, never identified himself.  After one minute of trying to get the key to work he said he'd have to drill it out.  He never mentioned anything about a higher price.  It took about 15 minutes total from the time he arrived for him to get the door open and install an extra deadbolt I had in the house, since he didn't bring one with him.

He then presented me with at bill for $598.62!!!  He said drilling out the lock was $499 by itself.  When I asked why he hadn't told me that before he did the work, he said, "The information said you didn't ask about price, that's why I didn't tell you."  After supposedly calling a manager they agreed to take off $100 and then wanted payment in cash, which I refused.  He finally agreed to take a credit card.  Which I gave him just to get him, and his wad of supposedly $20,000 cash he showed me as justification that he's not scamming the extra money by asking for cash, out of my house.

I called quicklocksmith247.com later to see if this sounded like their usual pricing, and Jennifer, who took the call, seemed shocked, took lots of notes, and asked me to call a day manager this morning.  I did call a day manager and they basically blamed it on me, I should have communicated with the tech, and he's an independent contractor, they don't give refunds.

I checked with two other local locksmiths after the fact.  One said his charge would have been $75, the other it could go as high as $200 depending on the kind of lock, but definitely what I was charged was way out of the norm for the industry.

I didn't expect the final bill to be $53, but definitely not over ten times that amount.  This seems to be a company that runs dispatch call centers for locksmiths around the country, so beware, they could come up in an internet search anywhere in the country it looks like.