A Phoenix Locksmith Blog

Locksmith in Tempe, AZ | Condo Re-Key

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

     So today I had a job that came in as a re-key. It wasn't until I was on my way that Andrew told me the constable was there waiting for me. In my head I was hoping it would go better than the first eviction/lockout that I went to. I got on site, greeted the Realtor and constable, and got to work on picking the lock. A few seconds later the person being evicted said something through the door.

     The constable talked to her for a while and she opened the door. When she opened the door I stepped off to the side so I wasn't in the way. I discussed the job with the Realtor a little and killed some time while the constable and other police officers on site talked to the tenant. After a few minutes the Realtor asked the police if I could get started and they said sure.

     I walked up stairs and started taking the locks off the condo. One of the knobs was really old, worn out, and barely working. The deadbolt was in good working order. I let the Realtor know she needed a new knob, I quoted her the price, and she said to get it done. I ran back to the truck, re-keyed everything, and headed back.

     The new knob didn't fit in the door so I had to take the drill and open up the holes a little. After some persuasion on the door with a drill and no visible signs I drilled on the door I got the new knob installed. This job took way longer than it should have, mostly because I was having to dodge police and fire dept. personnel the entire time. The tenant ended up being very mentally disturbed. I don't want to go in to a lot of details but she definitely needed some help and the police and counselors on site were super nice and patient with this lady.

     I was really impressed with how sensitive the police handled everything including trying to get me in and out of there as fast as possible. I was just standing in the back trying to stay out of their way and they were pretty cool about me doing my work. Although it took a while and I had to drill on the door the job went pretty smoothly. An experienced locksmith would probably laugh at this story but to me is was pretty interesting. But everything seems pretty interesting when you're new to this.

Jammed Door needing a 24 hour Mesa Locksmith

Thursday, September 10, 2015

            So we were right about to wrap up for the night and go home when Andrew got a call. Being a 24 hour locksmith in Mesa we get calls at random hours. The customer had locked them selves out of a bed room and needed us to come help them. The complex was massive and it took us a while to find their unit but we found it. When we walked in the customers explained to us that they had been trying to open the door them selves and think they might have damaged it more.

            Andrew and I took a look and it looked like a crime scene. They had kitchen utensils all over the floor, the door jam and door were all chewed up, and there was debris all over the place. It looked like they had been ripping in to this thing for hours. I tried picking it but it felt really awkward. Andrew stepped in and figured out right away it was a quick change lock similar to kwikset but from another company.

           We let the girls know we would have to drill the lock, they agreed, so I ran to the truck and grabbed everything we needed to drill the lock. After we got it drilled the door still wouldn't open. The entire lock was off the door, just an opening where you could see the back of the latch. We tried picking up on the door, pushing on it firmly in different spots, anything we could think of to try and open this door and it wouldn't budge. Upon further examination of the door we were able to figure out that the girls had actually split the door jam and that the latch was probably getting wedged in the jam and not allowing the door to open.

           Andrew was afraid of damaging the door jam further and informed the customers of the situation. They asked us to just get to door open any way we could. Andrew and I gave a pretty healthy shove on the door and it opened. The customer was very upset that they broke their door but were grateful that we were able to get them in. Andrew recommended a good contractor to come out and repair the damage, we put a new lock on the door at the customers request and we were on our way. The moral of this post is to never use to much force. If you locked your self out just call a locksmith. It is almost always cheaper and less stressful in the long run.

Tempe, AZ automotive Locksmith Ignition Replace

Saturday, September 05, 2015

So earlier this week we got a call to make a key for a 78 Chevy pick up. The customer was looking for a locksmith in Tempe and asked if we were an automotive locksmith in Tempe, AZ. We let her know Andrews Lock and Key can handle any of her locksmith in Tempe, AZ needs.
We arrived on site and the customer said she had tried several locksmiths in Tempe and even had one come out but that guy ended up being a scammer and tried to get her to pay him $800 to replace the ignition. Of course she told him no and he took off. The truck was parked on the side of the road with a trailer hooked up. The customer was very upfront and let us know the truck belonged to her mother and that the person driving the vehicle was taken in to police custody, along with the only set of keys to the truck. Which is why she needed an experienced locksmith in Tempe, AZ to come out and take a look.
She was able to show us the registration with her mothers info on it as well as her mothers ID and her own ID. The last names matched and they shared an address. Situations like this are usually a judgement call. You have to assess whether or not you think the person you are dealing with is telling you the truth. Luckily for the customers her mother pulled up right then and so the judgment call was avoided. The mother also explained that she had been looking at other locksmiths in Tempe and that they couldn't give her a price quote.
We let her know how much it was going to be, she agreed, and we got to work swapping the ignition. The job went fairly smoothly even though it looked like someone tried to steal the truck previously. We pointed out to the customer before we got far in to the job that the column on the truck had been damaged. The customer was already aware of the damage but we always make it a point to try and show these things to the customer before we do any work.
This serves multiple purposes, one is to cover our own back from being accused of damaging anything, and secondly and probably more importantly we want to give the customer the option to decline the work if it is going to cost more or if it will affect any warranties. We finished up the ignition swap and got on our way. The customer was very grateful we were able to complete the work for the quoted price and that we were on site so quickly.
Below this post you will see a fairly extensive collection of pictures from this job. They highlight some of the key steps and tools you would need if you were going to try and tackle this job on your own.

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Broken Door Latch in Mesa, AZ

Tuesday, September 01, 2015

So we got a call today about a door not opening. The customer had access to the home but the front door wouldn't open. Seemed kind of odd but Andrew took the job and sent me out. When I got there the door was pretty haggard and looked like it had been beaten up pretty bad. The customer was able to get it open before I got there which made my job a little easier. After showing me what was going on I took a look at the door. It was pretty obvious that the latch had broken. The tail piece was not allowing the knob to turn all the way because it was damaged. I put on a new knob and the customer was good to go. This job went pretty smoothly but it could have easily become a nightmare if the door wasn't open when I arrived. It is important to remember to not beat up your lock hardware to help avoid costly repairs in the future.

Cheap Plastic Locks in Chandler

Thursday, August 27, 2015

So last night we got a call from a friend of Andrews named Wyatt. He let us know that he was having some troubles with some keys he asked us to duplicate for his new house he just moved in to. At some point during the move he lost his keys to his truck as well, they could have been anywhere, so he just asked us to make a new one. When we got on the job site it was obvious Wyat and his fiance were exhausted so Andrew and I wanted to try and knock this job out quickly so they could get some sleep. We tried the keys in the doors and something was definitely off. The keys didn't work the screen door at all and they barely worked the front door locks. Andrew had me get started by pulling those residential locks and he started in on the truck. I pulled the locks and after I disassembled them it was obvious why they were not working properly. The locks on the door were worn and needed to be replaced and the locks on the screen door were keyed to a totally different key than the front door. So I rekeyed the screen door locks first and then got started on the front door knob. It came apart kind of strangely and felt very cheap in my hand. After getting it apart it was obvious why it felt so cheap, the knob cylinder was plastic which you can see in the pictures below. We showed it to Wyatt and then showed him what an all metal lock looks and feels like. He was instantly sold and had us replace the cheap plastic knob with a kwikset knob. Everything went back together just fine and this residential locksmith job was wrapped up.

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