Notes

Don't Fall Victim to Rogue or Cowboy Emergency Callout Trades
Auto Locksmith Choppington what trade or profession you require services form, and there are many of them, you will always find excellent, satisfactory and bad workmanship, rogues, amateurs and professionals, the inexpensive, the affordable and absolute overpriced and of course everyone wants to avoid having a bad job done, getting overcharged for inferior work or getting completely ripped off by a rogue trader but for some professions and businesses this is easier said than done.

Let’s take a look at a professional driveway installer, someone who installs block paving or pattern imprinted concrete to driveways, paths and patios, you’ll find that this type of business will usually have a good quality, professional website to showcase their work and you will be able to see for yourself the quality of workmanship you’ll be getting as well as a feel for how proficient they are. You do however need to beware of websites using stock photos. You will also need to make sure that the photos used on their website are of actually jobs they have done and not photos that have simply been lifted from other websites. A reverse image search is a great tool which is performed y right clicking on an image when in the chrome browser and choosing search Google for image…

It is also true that businesses and tradesmen who have a proper online presence will also have a Google business account/page to go with is where you will be able to see where they are based, which is great if you want someone more local. You will also be able to read genuine online reviews from actual customers, unlike reviews you see on a company’s own website which can be easily faked and often are.

These basic rules will apply to any number of different trades, businesses and professions such as office window tinting companies who fit solar window film to office windows to reduce glare on monitors and other equipment and provide an more pleasant, cooler and calming working environment and Window, Door and Conservatory Companies who’ll generally have an online gallery filled with past projects to not only show you the quality and standard of their work but to assist customers in choosing what style, type and colour of product they require.

Unfortunately, there are some trades and industries where customers have a tendency to overlook things like professional websites and positive feedback choosing to simply contact the company at the top of the search engines and these trades and industries are what are referred to as emergency callout trades and funnily enough these are the trades that are reported to trading standards the most often.

What Trades Are Emergency Callout Trades?

There are various emergency callout trades but the three we’ll focus on today for the sake of this article are emergency plumbers, drain companies and emergency locksmiths because these three trades actually accounted for over 80% of trading standards complaints in the UK last year.

So you return home and find water flowing down your walls or coming through your ceiling from a leak in the bathroom or you discover that a backed up drain is leaking raw, stinky sewerage all over your garden, do you start casually browsing the internet and looking at website design and reviews? Of course not you just search Google for an emergency plumber or drain company and book the one who can come out to you immediately.

Don’t get me wrong, there are many professional Plumbers and Drain Companies offering a first rate service at affordable prices but regrettably the rogue side of these two industries is growing every year due to things like low-cost social media advertising and the convenience of PAYG mobile phones.

Before the internet and mobile phones become popular tradesmen such as plumbers and drain companies used land lines and always had a physical address and you found them by looking in the phone book or looking in the now obsolete Yellow Pages, This made it much harder for rogues and con men to operate and go un-noticed because they would soon build up a bad reputation and no one would use them, but nowadays you can rip off a bunch of people and it’s just a quick name change a new £10 sim card for their mobile phone a new ad on social media and they can appear to be a completely different company ready to con and rip off more unsuspecting customers.


What about #keyword#?

Unfortunately the UK locksmith industry is full of rogues, amateurs and con men, even more so than the plumbing or drain unblocking industry and this is because setting yourself up as an emergency locksmith requires very little outlay and no training, yes that’s correct, we said no training and this is because rogue locksmiths only target emergency work, people who have been locked out of their home or office and need access and it takes very little skill to turn up to a property equipped with a hammer and drill and simply “break into” someone’s home or business premises.

A #keyword# will have a range of different, specialist tools such as manual and electronic lock pick set and will generally be able to carry out what’s known in the industry as non-destructive entry which is vastly different to having your lock and door frame hammered and drilled by an amateur.

Some locksmiths who claim to be professional and fully trained have also been known to carry out substandard, overpriced, amateur work and this is down the lack of regulation in the locksmith industry and the very different locksmith training courses that are currently available.

The auto locksmith industry has fewer rogues and con men due to the fact you can’t simply drill and chisel away at a car door to break in liek you can with door in a home or office, you need to know what you are doing. However they are some companies offering Emergency Vehicle Entry who are grossly overhanging which is something you need to watch out for.

One professional auto locksmith offering emergency vehicle entry in the Dumfries area claims that he is regularly called out to jobs where the previous auto locksmith has failed to gain entry to a vehicle and still charged an extortionate call out fee so beware of wording on websites where it states that the call out fee is paid regardless of the outcome, To be honest i’d advise NOT to pay is this happens and tell the rogue locksmith to take you to court.. He won’t!!!

Not sure what the rogue auto locksmith company is called but they seem to offering emergency vehicle entry all across Alloway, Auchinleck, Ayr, Coylton, Dumfries, Dunure, East Ayrshire, East Renfrewshire, Girvan, Glasgow, Greenock, Hollybush, Inverclyde, Irvine, Kilmarnock, Lagg, Largs, Maybole, Monkton, North Ayrshire, Ochiltree, Patna, Prestwick, Renfrewshire, South Ayrshire & Troon

Ayrshire Lockmiths are the professionals for Ayrshire and Renfrewshire. If your looking to the North West, particular Greater Manchester then beware because this area boasts a number of rogue locksmiths, however here are some trustworthy ones in Leigh, Wigan, Bolton, Congleton, Bolton and Sandbach

Official and Unofficial Locksmith Training Courses

Unknown to many, there are official locksmith training courses available that are regulated by OFQUAL (The Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation) and recognised as the most advanced academic and vocational courses within the field of locksmithing and security. These course, one for commercial and residential and one for the auto locksmith industry are run by fully qualified, professional locksmiths with teaching qualifications and are available in locksmith training colleges. You can get more information about these official courses here.

These official courses are very in-depth and take around 6 months to complete but because the locksmith industry is currently unregulated there are a number of “rogue” locksmith training centres touting for work, offering 3 and 5 day locksmith training courses, yes that’s correct, days not months or even weeks.

I’m sure most people will agree that it is impossible to learn an entire trade, especially something as complex as the locksmith trade, in just 3 to 5 days but these courses are attractive to a lot of people as they promise certification and an assurance after just 3 to 5 you’ll be a fully trained locksmith.

Of course this certification is not worth the paper it’s printed on and you’ll leave the course with no more knowledge than you would have gained from watching a few hours worth of Youtube videos but people fall for these unofficial courses all the time and the companies running them, are not breaking any laws…


So for the locksmith industry does the blame lay solely on the amateur locksmith? Or are these unofficial locksmith training centres to blame?

Summary


Whether you are looking for home improvements such as new windows, doors, or a new conservatory or you looking to create a more pleasant working environment in your office by having solar window film fitted, remember always look at the quality of the company’s website and check out online reviews before committing to using a certain company.

With emergency callout trades especially the locksmith industry you need to be very careful that you are not calling on the services of an untrained amateur or a rogue trader. Try to get a price over the phone – rogues and conmen are reluctant to do this – and where locksmiths are concern asked whether they have OFQUAL certification.


Read More: https://www.mainlocksmiths.co.uk/