Lay My Hat

The matter of how the guest found a locksmith and how the locksmith knew the guest was entitled to access the property had occurred to me too!

Mmmmm!

10.30 at night when they phoned you....OK so how long did it take them to find a local locksmith and then get in touch with the locksmith. 15mins / half hour... how long did they wait for you to return the call they made to you before they started to find a locksmith?

So say they managed to get in touch with a locksmith at 11pm. He may of got his-self up out of bed even at that time turned out loaded his van with tools etc drove how far then had to find the property. drill out a lock, fit a new one that could of cost at least £30 if not more and pocketed at the most £20 for his own time and expenses, then drove home, unloaded his van of the tools etc.

NO WAY!

I would of expected the bill to be considerably more than that.

Summat's not right!!

The invoice was emailed tonight all genuine.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Will have a word with locksmith who we know about gaining entry.

We were on site when this happened but in the land of nod.

Second lock out this week but the other was daytime.

Off to ponder the situation.

Personally I would not pay. I realize things happen but I would never expect someone else to pay for my error. That's life. Too many are looking for any excuse to get paid these days.

FaithfulTravels wrote:Personally I would not pay. I realize things happen but I would never expect someone else to pay for my error. That's life. Too many are looking for any excuse to get paid these days.

+1

What a pain. Their own silly fault, a bit cheeky to expect you to pay! I would consider getting a second key safe, somewhere discreet, with a different combination and just a single door key for emergencies.
We're about to do this because it would be useful if we are away, for any maintenance, no need to bother guests to be sure to leave a key. No lockouts have ever occurred but there's always a first time and it would solve that problem too!

Apexblue - we get this all the time too. Even with the keysafe guests go out then come back and someone else has the key, or they think they've lost the key and then find it, and yes, even folk have done exactly the same and posted the key through the letter box and then needed to get back in! I've had enough of year's of hassle and just got the locksmith to fit a digital door lock to all our properties and good riddance to keys!

Apexblue £50 for out of hours call out sounds amazingly cheap to me? I guess one way of ensuring that a reputable firm is being used to break into YOUR house, you could leave guests details of a reputable firm YOU trust in the house manual - although if they are locked out that isn't much use

Also in our T&C's it states that guests are responsible for any costs as a result of lost keys, lockouts, etc.

Aberconwy Locksmiths

We have had a guest accusing us of changing the lock until they realised they were using their own house key.....

Apexblue at least they used a reputable and trusted Locksmith then! Between us we probably keep them in business

Great, these new posts have just reminded me I need to chase up
My small claims defendant who still hasn't paid up!

another lock out....this time they took the patio keys out. Guest did phone twice at 7pm but didn't leave a message. Neighbour got hold of key holder who let them in at a charge of £25.00 and this will be deducted in full from deposit.