24 Hour Sacramento C and C Locksmith

Review: Locked out of house. Locksmith charged fees far in excess of those stated by phone or other similar services surveyed later.

On June 10, 2013, I was locked out of the house with the wrong key. At my neighbor's, I saw a full page Yellow Pages ad of a certified and licensed "Revdex.com Accredited Business" at XXX-XXX-XXXX. Their call center stated it would be $19 for a service call and a $25 initial service fee with possible additional charges. I assumed it would be about $44 or so.

The locksmith used a small device to open our very common Kwikset door and deadbolt locks which both have the same key. He charged $370 for opening the 2 locks which he called "very complicated". I was taken aback. This seemed terribly exorbitant, but I felt backed into a corner. The receipt I was given reads 24/7 Locksmith Services at XXX-XXX-XXXX with no address.

I got information on other services that seemed to charge much less. I contacted my credit card service and laid out the issues. They said the charges would be disputed. Later, we received an email receipt (It is unknown how they got that address.) with the name 24Hour Locksmith Services at 911 K St., Sacramento, CA 95814 and the serviceman's name [redacted] M. Desired Settlement: I am working with my credit card company which is disputing the charges. This locksmith service should not be using the Revdex.com logo if they are not accredited. They deserve a minus rating for their work. We see from the Revdex.com review that others have already had similar experiences with this company. A panel of consumers would have them blacklisted.

(Note: Mrs. [redacted] is small and 84 years old. We think she was taken advantage of by the locksmith and his "service". Submitted by Mrs. [redacted]'s e-mail correspondent.)

Website advertised a low fee of $50 minimum charge. Technician lied about the difficulty of entry and charged me $270.

The technician had 3 doors to choose from and claimed that all of my doors had complicated locks that were difficult to pick. He said he would try to the cheapest option first which would be to pick the lock, but if that didn't work, he would use an air pump to try to force the door open. To pick the lock would cost $185. To use the air pump, would cost $69.00. He then proceeded to pick the lock. He spent roughly 30 seconds trying to pick the lock before going out to his car and grabbing the air pump/ Air jack. The air pump/Air jack opened the door immediately with almost no effort. That process took less than 60 seconds. The locksmith then proceeded to tell me that he had to charge me for both services since he used both options. My total bill for 2 minutes of his time was $270. We complained but he said he was clear in how much he was going to charge before he performed the work. My understanding was that he would try the cheapest option first before trying the more expensive service. I believe he knew that he get the door opened with the airpump and that's why he didn't attempt to spend more than 30 seconds trying to pick the lock. It was just an opportunity to more than triple the price of a standard lockout call. I believe I was ripped off.