The Locksmith Radio Show

Happy Fourth of July weekend everyone! Locksmith Charley is in the studio feeling better and completing the process of transferring from his van to his new ambulance which will be his new locksmith vehicle. He starts off by sharing a story about a phone call from a gentleman who wanted him to go program some keys for an Acura after the customer had lost the key then ran off to the junk yard and turned his vehicle into a "fruit salad of components." Locksmith Charley informed the consumer that the job just became a while lot more complicated than just simply showing up and making a new key for the vehicle since priority components could have been removed or replaced which could possible cause dealer equipment to be needed in order to make the new key communicate.

Andrew McColley from Andrews Lock and Key talks about an issue with Thumbtack which helped a North Scottsdale company get in contact with a "certified locksmith" to change an entry room door into a store room door. The so-called locksmith showed up and completely destroyed an $800 Mortise body Best lock so he could somehow managed to jam an LSDA lever handset into the door charging the company over $300 after it was all said and done. As Charley explains there is several easier ways the locksmith could have completed the task, one being shooting a hole into the case and pinning the outside lever so that it didn't turn. Instead Andrew had to order the Best Lock Body and outside trim and inside trim in order to cover the damage done to the door. Andrew installed a wrap on the door and drilled new holes into the metal to mount the Best Lock Body and Mortise cylinder back into the door.

The locksmiths talk about the jobs that these so-called locksmith are doing charging an extra $200-500 to simply unlock the vehicle. They also talk about when it becomes necessary to drill a lock and not just right after arrive at the customer's home and saying it is a high security lock that can't be picked without even trying. Andrew bring up the Bluetooth enabled locks that are sold at local hardware stores and touched on the fact that the reviews from the lock come from technology writers and not security or locksmith professionals. So with a little more digging, Andrew found out that the lock could be easily shimmed, defeating the lock very easy.

Andrew the Tech Guy shared a story out of Ottawa Canada about a locksmith who had his vehicle parked on the side on the street when a sinkhole formed swallowing his locksmith service vehicle whole. The locksmith named Paul, talked worth a local newspaper in Ottawa about how he will always remember the day the street swallowed his service van and is now a part of the history of the street. The locksmiths joke about the different ways they would retrieve the locksmith gear the sinkhole devoured in order to still be able to complete jobs and move on with buying a new truck to fit with the gear.

Locksmith Charley and Andrew McColley talk about different times they had to deal with handcuff on a customer. Locksmith Charley shares a story about a time he was in Washington and got a call that a teenage boy had broken the handcuff key while playing around with the restraints and Charley had to use his dremmel tool to cut if off the kid. Andrew talked about a time he got a phone call from a couple who had used a pair of handcuffs in the bedroom but found out that the key way malfunctioned after putting the handcuffs on and Andrew had to pick the handcuffs off the lady. He also talked about a time he was arrested and actually had a handcuff key on his key chain that was right next to his hands in the backseat of the cop car.

You can call-in at 602-277-5369 if anyone is ever interested in calling with any locksmith questions or scammer activity in the locksmith industry or any other industry.