SK Locksmith

Final price was over TWICE the quoted price over the phone. I asked over the telephone what the price estimate would be to open a residential apartment door at 8 PM. The telephone person said it would be $ 29 for the housecall and approximately $ 25 for the door opening — depending on the door. Upon arrival, the locksmith charged over $ 130 — claiming that opening this door would cost $ 89. I realize that a telephone estimate before you see the door might be subject to change, but this is ridiculous. The person on the telephone should be able to give an accurate range of possible prices. (My door was very standard — nothing special). Finally the listing on Google showed the business address as being a block away in a residential neighborhood– when in fact the business was not located at this address at all (The operator confirmed this over the phone). So we have 2 examples of how the company has misrepresented its service in a way to the detriment of the customer. This is not acceptable at all.
Let me mention that the locksmith who did the service was prompt, polite and competent. But his price was way out of sync with what the operator told me.
UPDATE: Business owner said that it was my decision to accept or decline the service. The problem was, the locksmith who came out did not update that estimate before performing the service. He just did the service first and then provided the larger bill, leaving me no choice but to pay.
The lesson learned here: to avoid unscrupulous locksmiths and repairmen, you should NEVER let a repairman begin work until you have received a written estimate.
I personally think this price increase is meaningless. From the customer’s perspective, it took less than 5 minutes to open the door. Whether it took 5 minutes to open an easy door or a hard door makes no difference to the customer. What’s important is that it took 5 minutes.