[Tony Rowley]

So long story short, saturday lunchtime, son says dad need something out the back of the van throw him the keys wait in the car to go to the park, 2 minutes later son appears from back of van with stupid look on face, i says whats wrong, he says the van wont open!!!!!! So what did you do "i dunno i turned the key and pulled the handle like this". Well the van wont open as he says so after some cursing we goes to the park.........

I know that you cant lock yourself in the van so on Sunday i rig up a mop stick and some coat hangers to try and catch the inside handle and open the door from the inside (there is a grill rivited to the back of the cab so cant get into the back of the van) anyways managed to release the bottom latch of the van door but not the top!!! resign myself to having to call a locksmith on Tuesday(after bank holiday)

Call a local locksmith (this was no easy task and thanks to "yell.com" found one about a mile and a half away) convinced him to let me come to his place so he didnt charge me a call out fee.

2 hours later he manages to prise the door open, another hour to try and fix the lock which he cant do,  its basically fecked, the handle mechanism has sheared from the lock mechanism. This is now 3 hours later and i am dreading the cost(you know how much a carpet cleaner charges for a three hour job right) given that the problem is not fully solved. So how much i asked given the amount of paint you have removed from my back door? (tounge in cheek). We settled at £75 and given the time and work involved i thought pretty reasonable.

So i have to now source a whole new lock/mechanism/handle for my aged ford courier and get it fixed by the end of the day so i enquire about a new lock, he says sure i know someone who can fix a dead lock for you, i ask how much, he says £100, i say what!!! for the lock!! he says no, supply and fit. so i says get it done.

Anyway all done and dusted, in total about 4 hours work for £175.

I thought all in all that was fairly reasonable, or was i done over?

Tony

[jasonl]

Found this in 6 seconds
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FORD-FIESTA-COURIER-VAN-REAR-DRIVER-SIDE-DOOR-WHITE-97-/180706554820?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item2a12f333c4#ht_1701wt_1139

I would have drilled the lock/crowbarred it open , and fitted a new door my self , every scrappy must have a doorfor these

[Tony Rowley]

A man of many talents, seems a bit excessive though given that I didnt know the exact problem when I called the locksmith, and to be honest I just wanted it sorted because I had a busy week ahead of me and couldnt be doing with messing around beyond Tuesday.

I was happy to pay for the problem to be solved (which is kind of where I was going with the post) and just wondered if anyone thought the amount I paid was excessive or not. I see it more as a distribution of wealth and employing another self employed tradesmans services, I mean if everyone did everything for themselves like bought a vax machine and cleaned their own carpets there would be no business for us.

Tony

[jasonl]

Well you got on  the road , and were able to get back to work , so it was a good price .


These kinds of things are annoying as you are no furthur forward , for example you van does no run any better , nor will it last longer because of the money you spent .

I remember having lock issues on the only ever new van I bought , renault charged me £240 in 2000 for all the bits I needed to fix the central locking on the back doors, this was a van still in warranty too.

[John Kelly]

You can't grumble at that. Time is money if you'd took it to a main dealer would probably have been 350.

[benny d]

I turned up for a job, the owner of the house was out the front. He said that he has locked himself out so will have to wait for the locksmith. 10 mins later he arrived in an estate car. With a metal thingy in hand, walks to the door, 5 seconds later the front door is open.
That will be £ 55-00 ta. 

So going on that basis, I think it seems a fair price.

[clinton]

Was not  a bad price compared to a main dealer then..

Your back on the road too quick which is good too..

[Neil Williams]

10 mins later he arrived in an estate car. With a metal thingy in hand, walks to the door, 5 seconds later the front door is open.
That will be £ 55-00 ta. 

At the beginning of the year I did give some thought to doing the 2 day course for locksmithing and having it as an add on to the business.

£55 fair enough....£155 it doesn't matter. Afterall there's only one thing the 'customer' wants and that is to get into their property like now, and it's not like there's any repeat business in it really as you only meet this person once.
We had a blocked drain at the begining of the year. Guys arrive, stoke up the onboard pressure washer, lift manhole, shove hose up the hole, blockage releases and that'll be £95 thankyou. I turned down the offer of his putting a camera up there just to see in fear of that being another £95.
And some of us think we're expensive