At one time or another most people have needed to call on the services of a professional 24 hour emergency locksmith or auto locksmith whether it be at home, at work or with your vehicle, In fact the locksmith industry in the UK has been growing year on year since the early 2000’s ,this increase is mainly down the internet revolution and the cheap advertising platform it brought with it, no longer did tradesmen need to pay big money to advertise in business directories, newspapers and glossy magazines, now advertising was affordable which unfortunately opened the door to a barrage of amateurs, in most industries not just the locksmith industry and if your have ever been a victim of one of these untrained “have a go” locksmiths read and an avoid the need to call out a locksmith ever again.
Why are there so main amateur, untrained “have a go” locksmiths nowadays?
As mentioned before this is mainly down the cheap advertising platform that came with the internet in the early 2000’s and has time has progressed it has become cheaper and cheaper especially with the introduction of Free DIY website builders such as WIX, Squarespace, GoDaddy website builder etc. Sure any professional will tell you that these platforms are no good for a professional business or company, they produce terrible websites and these platforms are very easy to spot, otherwise they would be no work from genuine, professional, web designers. However, when someone is locked out of their home, office or vehicle at 2am they simply don’t; care about the quality and standard or a website all they want is telephone number and for a locksmith to come out ASAP, regrettably. 4 times out of 5 you’ll get an amateur, untrained jack of all trades who will probably cause a lot of damage.
Why the Emergency Locksmith Industry?
The reason that there are so many untrained, unskilled locksmiths touting for business is because the locksmith industry has no regulation so anyone can advertise as a locksmith whether they know what they are doing on not and the reason these amateurs tout for business in the emergency callout area of this industry is because gaining access requires no special skills as long as you are willing to drill, hammer, hack and destroy someone’s property.
A professionally trained locksmith will use what known as non destructive entry where he or she will use manual or electronic lock picks or a specialist letterbox access tool, tools that the “have a go” amateur has no intention of buying or learning how to use.
Can you avoid the untrained, unskilled amateur locksmiths?
It’s getting more and more difficult to avoid using the wrong locksmith unless you know someone trustworthy who can give you a genuine referral as some of these amateur do in fact have decent looking, convincing websites, then there’s the so called national locksmith companies which are simple call centres who pass on work – for commission – to a local locksmith in that area, and guess what type of locksmith signs up with theses national companies? You guessed it, the amateur, untrained jack of all trades. But the worse thing about using one of these call centre is that they typically charged 5 time the rate of a genuine independent locksmith to cover all you fees.
The best way to avoid getting your property damaged of being grossly overcharged by someone who has to give a massive cut to a call centre is to try and gain access yourself.
Lock picking kits and bump tools
You don’t need to a registered locksmith to buy lock picking kits and bump tools, in fact as stated earlier there in no such thing as a registered locksmith and there is no regulation in the industry so anyone can say they are a locksmith and buy lock picking tools and bump tools but is it a good idea
A professional locksmith charges £80-£150 because he or she spent time learning all about locks and training. He or she spent time on training courses learning so that he or she can identify your lock and work out how to open it without damage and he or she has also spent money on a wide variety of tools and techniques because he knows even a £10 lock might be resistant to MICA, or an EPG, it might require single pin lock picking, a technique on which he has probably spent hundreds of hours, hundreds of locks, and a few lock pick sets perfecting
It’s very easy to say – and we hear it all the time – that a locksmith arrived, stuck a little tool in the lock and it was open in seconds, only then to complain when he asked for £80-£150. Do you want the locksmith to take an hour just to justify the fee? Do you want the locksmith to sweat, do you want the locksmith to have cuts on his fingers?
Of course, there is another answer to not paying £80-£150 and I promise you’ll never have to pay a locksmith again. Get the skills yourself sign up for a locksmith training course for £1500 (and that’s the basic course). Get the professional tools, learn the techniques, you’ll never need to call a locksmith again and you’ll only have to get locked out or lose your keys 25 – 30 times to break even.
