Description

I was locked out of my house last evening. I looked online for a mobile Locksmith. Found one advertised to be in Manassas Virginia. Called it. Within five minutes received a return call from a locksmith. He said he would be here within 25 minutes. He was. He took some kind of a crowbar and immediately opened my front door. He told me the door was still locked and that he only manipulated the latch. It was a lever handle with a deadbolt lock. There was some slight damage to the paint around the latch. I was sorry that I did not pay him with a credit card and ask for a receipt. I was so happy to be reunited with my little dog who had panicked in my absence that I did not try the lock with my key. After Mr. Adada left I tried the lock, which was very easy to use prior to his service. It was very difficult to manipulate the lock and door handle with the key, and the lock no longer worked. Because Mr Adada said he was off work at 9 PM I waited until the following morning to call him. I first called the phone number for LocksmithsNow, which is the number I called last night. That man, calling himself "Ze" said he had no knowledge of the company to whom he outsourced my work. He says he has no control and no record of who accepted the job. So I asked him about the company named on the card that was left me, Adada Locksmith (man's name Ali Adada) he said he didn't know the man but that I should call the number on the card that the Locksmith left me. I did call that number and immediately, before I told Mr Adada that anything was wrong with the lock, he started telling me that nothing was wrong with the lock because he didn't work on the lock. He said he only worked on manipulating the latch. He told me he could replace the lock. I told him I didn't want the lock replaced I just wanted it fixed. He said he could come out and fix it for $135 and his service call fee which would be $50. I then looked for reviews for either LocksmithsNow or Adada Locksmith. There is almost nothing online. Adada has a sham Facebook account with one review. That review had been removed by the owner of the company, according to the notation. I did find AI information on LocksmithsNow. It mentions that a few users have appreciated the service of various locksmiths that were sent, but the majority felt that they were scammed. That is exactly the way I feel. I did call out another Locksmith from a well-known company. That Locksmith had to replace the lock. He said the latch is of course connected to the lever handle and the rod between them was bent. There is no way anyone could have bent it without the tool intending to do the damage. The tool the first Locksmith used was like a crowbar, very unlike the tools I see online when looking for tools that Locksmith use for this type of lock. I will also look for any licensing authority and report to them. Real locksmiths provide receipts for their work.