Payless Locksmith

- The locksmith took far longer to arrive than they promised. - He then proceeded to destroy the existing doorknob - alleging it was completely busted - and replaced it with one which he said was "high quality". (Fast forward, about one month later I had to buy a proper one and get it installed as the one he installed was really shoddy and almost immediately started to evidence problems) - For a process which took about 20 minutes, he asked for $339.20. He ended up charging for labor, for parts, for use of a drill... you name it. It was more than double what I had been quoted over the phone. I felt it was a complete scam. (I had not posted a comment earlier as I misplaced the receipt their work order invoice)

Over the weekend, my wife accidentally locked us out of the house. We called Payless Locksmith after a quick google search and received a phone estimate: the lady we spoke with stated that prices start at $45 with a $15 service call fee. The locksmith arrived roughly 30 minutes later, and gave me a quote of $180 before he started work. Obviously that price seemed outrageous, but my daughter was standing behind him in the sun, so I was forced to make the decision to go ahead and agree. After 5 seconds, the door was unlocked. I was then given a bill for $200.00. He added the service charge on top of the quote of $185, further squeezing me for every dollar possible. We feel like everyone at this company from the person answering the phone to those providing the services are purposefully vague and besting people while they are most vulnerable. After I paid the bill, he then tried to sell me on updating all of my locks throughout my house. No thanks.

The technician was polite and opened the door in 10 minutes.  But then he tried to charge me $220 for the visit! On the phone, I was quoted a $15 service call fee with labor costs starting at $45. When I protested, he lowered his price to $180 without the service call fee. But still it was too much. I had just had 2 locks opened at a rental I manage and the cost for that was $160 for a half hour's work.

These people did not give me accurate pricing information over the phone. I would not use them again.

I was impressed with this company's punctuality...I called at 3pm on a Friday and had a technician at my home within 30 minutes, after other highly-rated companies had said they could only do it Monday. I was in the process of replacing my own front door lock when I met a deadbolt that wouldn't come out.  Joe (our technician) arrived promptly, noted that it was an older lock that he had not seen before, quoted me a price on the spot, and got to work, successfully removing the deadbolt and installing my new lockset.  The total price was less than other companies said they would charge just for coming out., so overall I feel good about the purchase.  Joe also was conscientious about the quality of his install, repeatedly testing and adjusting the lock to ensure that it worked smoothly.
A couple of odd observations -- I had asked the telephone rep just for assistance removing the old deadbolt, and Joe pushed me to allow him to install the new lock as well for an additional $99, saying that for the cost of the visit, he wanted to do a complete job.  Also, he was reluctant to take my bank check because he said the bank in question required multiple IDs to cash a check.  Ultimately, though, the job was completed successfully, in a timely manner, and for less than other companies would have charged. (thanks to the fact that they charge only $15 for a service call).  I recommend this company for relatively straightforward jobs; not sure about their ability to handle more complex calls.