Live from midtown Phoenix, two days after the protest in downtown the locksmiths start the show off paying their respects to the police officers who were killed in Dallas and shedding light on murders in the news in general, Locksmith Charley and Andrew The Tech Guy talk about the use of a robot being used to kill the gunman in the parking garage and the affects it can have in the future if law enforcement continues the use.
Locksmith Charley and Andrew McColley from Andrews Lock and Key talks about the scammers being exposed again. Charley talks about a picture that he received via email after talking with another locksmith who found a Ford High Security key super glued into a Chrysler/Dodge remote shell and the customer was told that there must be something wrong with her Ford because he can't program the key to the car. The customer wasn't present when the guy completed the job. He charged the lady almost $700 which she found out after calling her credit card company. When she called the guy back she was told "there must be something wrong with the "wiring" of the car now," but failed to mention that there was no chip in the key or the correct remote to work with the car anyway.
The locksmiths go on to talk further about scammer invoices that have been discovered around the valley. One invoice from Call Orange, Andrew McColley jokes about the air unlock and damage tool that was used for an extra $140 asking "what the heck does that even mean? Your telling me your going to do damaged to my vehicle and charge me $140 to do that?" They talk about how the tool is used and the customer is charged for liability insurance for them using it, even though it is used in every car open by these scammers. After looking at the invoice more Locksmith Charley finds 24/7 Pro Locksmith on the invoice as the "pay to" name which links back to Ami Hanan. Charley then jokes that they must have a bad business model and need to reflect the same way the so-called locksmiths operate and announces that from now on car openings will be $873. Then they talk about how as experienced professional locksmiths they cannot bait-and-switch or price gouging the consumer for such a basic locksmith task.
Andrew McColley talks about another one of the invoices received. It looks to be the same hand writing, the same invoice, but has "Tony's" name on it, which is the manager we were told when we caught the scammer on video. The so-called locksmith opened the Toyota Camry with a recessed door frame costing an extra $240 and additional for the power door locks and power windows. He also talks about a guy who filmed a scammer locksmith that took a hole saw to the trunk of his Mercedes-Benz trying to expose the trunk locking mechanism in order to manipulate it and get into the car by crawling through the backseat. Andrew talks about how it cost a few hundred dollars for the pick needed in order to open the car and how it won't be cheap for a locksmith that knows what he is doing to pick that vehicle open properly.
Lee from Reasonable Locksmith calls in to chat about the 24/7 locksmith scammer who tried to take advantage of a police officer. While he was on the phone with the cop, the so-called locksmith pulled up and Lee started asking the officer questions like was the vehicle marked, is he wearing a uniform, he asked for identification and a business card, and then told him to be on his way. But even after Lee had arrived to handle the situation for the officer, the dispatch from the so-called locksmith company continued to call saying that they will be coming out to assist the officer soon. When they called back to inform the 24/7 Locksmith Services that he was a police officer and asked where the company was located, the receptionist told them that it was "in a building."
Charley and Lee finish up the show talking about how these online directories get their listings and the what Charley has done to try to figure out why and how these guys think it was good to use Local.com. He also talked about how he feels semi-responsible for getting a lot of the illegitimate ads removed from Dex alocal Phoenix phone book back in the day. Lee talks about Ambassador Yellow Pages which was actually owned by Champion Locksmith, a locksmith company out of New York City and that specific company's advertisement in the book was phenomenally designed.
These are the stories we like to hear. It was a great show with a lot of very informative information given to the locksmith industry and consumers.
Andrew announces that the locksmiths need to band together and start building stronger communication channels to get the locksmiths voices hear in local government and figure out a way to clean up the problem with these scammers taking advantage of consumers every day.
If anyone has any questions, comments, or has a story to share about when you got scammed or think you got scammed give us a call.
The Locksmith Show
Live on Independent Talk Radio 1100 KFNX
11:00AM on 1100AM Radio