About us
Flat rate pricing, no hidden fees! We are the only flat rate locksmiths around. While dealing with us, you only pay what we quoted you and there are no games or gimmicks after wards. You get the fairest price possible thanks to our flat rate pricing! Established in 1990. El Cheapo Locksmiths is your expert San Diego locksmith, we provide a wide range of locksmith services and products, guaranteed to meet both your residential and commercial security needs. Our vast array of keys and locks ranges from standard to high-security mechanisms. We offer key duplication and re-keying services. Free consultation, free inspections, customized security plans! it goes without saying that not everyone necessarily requires the latest and most expensive propriety technology for protecting their usual belongings (who would want to chain their bicycle with a lock that’s more expensive than the actual bike?). If you agree with this, you will definitely find our services appreciable. We offer free consultation, free inspection of the vicinity, and deliver a customized security plan that fits your needs exactly. The budget? We make sure it is highly affordable for your pocket so there are no concerns whatsoever for you. Have you been locked out of your home or car? We can help; we have saved countless amounts of clients from being locked out of their home and vehicles. We're fast, reliable, affordable and can get to you wherever you are. Give us a call today. Additional phone - (866) 900-1818, (619) 377-9090.
Business highlights
Services we offer
Residential locksmith, auto-keys, install & interchange., repair, replace
Amenities
Emergency Services
Yes
Free Estimates
Yes
Accepted Payment Methods
- CreditCard
| Number of Stars | Image of Distribution | Number of Ratings |
|---|---|---|
| 88% | ||
| 13% | ||
| 0% | ||
| 0% | ||
| 0% |
The Big Deal was to change out 5 locks for $89. I have 3 doors leading from house to exterior with keyed locks on both sides (which means a key is needed to open the lock from the outside and same key is needed to unlock from inside the house), 1 door from house into garage (key needed only on garage side) and 1 door from garage to exterior (key needed only on exterior) - a total of 5 doors. When I called Bob with El Cheapo Locksmith to schedule an appointment, I learned from him that each side needing a key counts as 1 lock, so instead of getting all 5 doors done for $89 which I had original thought, I had to pay an extra $20 per lock for 3 locks for a total of $60 extra! The total for the entire job is $145 - a lot different from $89!
On the day of the appt, Bob was late and I didn't receive a call from him to tell me he would be late. So I called him and said that we had talked the day before to schedule the appt and since he was driving, he asked for me to text him my address and the agreed upon date/time of appt (which I did immediately after we hung up). He said he did not get the text and asked for me to resend, which I did. He ended up coming to my house on the day of the appointment, but a few hours later than the original scheduled time.
Although Bob did a good job in changing out the locks, the charges for extra locks should have been clearer in the description of The Big Deal. Angie's List needs to work with the contractors in providing a more descriptive list of services to be covered in the deal. Oftentimes, the description lacks clarity and really needs a more detailed list of inclusions & exclusions of the deal. In this particular case, most of us who are not locksmiths will not know that a lock needing keys on each side is considered 2 separate locks (even though mine uses the same key)!
Overall, the actual changing of the locks was executed well, but the clean up at the end could use improvement. Bob did do some clean up, but there were still some grease smudges on door knobs or the door itself which I had to clean. I also had to vacuum steel shavings off the floor & other areas (like our kitchen counters) when the locks were removed and needed a temp place to land. When I tried out the new keys, grease would be all over my hands because of the greasing of the new locks. Bob did tell me that he put a lot of grease into the new locks, but didn't know what that meant. I later learned that meant "carry a wet wipe the first few times of locking/unlocking the doors so you can clean your hands". Again, non-locksmith people will not know this automatically. These may seem like minor details, but homeowners expect to be informed. Unpleasant surprises become annoyances and that's what most customers will remember.
Despite the above, I would probably use El Cheapo Locksmith again because Bob seems to be an honest, hard-working guy, that will use my feedback here to improve his business.
Robert showed up when he said he would be there. He quickly re-keyed the locks and made sure they all worked.
Couldn't ask for better service.
I will call him again when the duplex needs to be re-keyed.
Licensing
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