Taylors locksmiths – terms and conditions of service

 

1. DEFINITIONS

When the following words with capital letters are used in these terms and conditions, this is what they will

mean: Contract: means these Terms together with the Job Sheet/Invoice.

Initial Price: means the cost specified in the Job Sheet/Invoice agreement via any form of contact for the provision of Services.

Job Sheet/Invoice: means the information that We give to You on the telephone and/or in writing setting out

the details of the Services We will provide and the Initial Price payable.

Services: means the locksmith services We will provide to You as set out in the Job Sheet/Invoice which may

include but not be limited to any or all of the following:-

• Making properties safe and secure;

• Planned and responsive lock changes;

• Picking and replacing locks;

• General upgrading.

Terms: means the terms and conditions set out in this document.

We/Our/Us: means Taylors Locksmiths or any of our franchises, partners.

You/Your: means you the customer.

 

2. PLEASE READ THESE TERMS CAREFULLY

These Terms form an important part of the Contract and govern the way We will perform the Services for You.

If You do not understand something within these Terms You should consider asking a solicitor to advise You.

Alternatively You could ask Your local Citizen’s Advice Bureau or Your local authority’s trading standards

department for advice. Before calling please read our terms and conditions and pricing police, please note you agree to these when booking us via any form of communications. Terms and Conditions, Pricing Policy.

 

3. YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS

If You are an individual contracting for Your own private, non-business needs, You have certain legal rights

and remedies as a consumer and nothing in these conditions affects Your legal rights. If You want to know

more about Your legal rights as a consumer then contact Your local authority’s trading standards department,

the Citizens Advice Bureau or go online at http://www.direct.gov.uk/consumer. 

 

OUR AGREEMENT WITH YOU

4.1 If You agree to the scope and cost of the Services to be provided by Us (as specified in the Job

Sheet/Invoice) over the telephone, a contract will come into existence at this point between You and

Us.

4.2 If You agree the scope and cost of the Services to be provided by Us following an assessment of the

required works by Our locksmith and you sign a copy of the [Quotation/Job Sheet] to that effect then

a contract will come into existence at this point between You and Us.

4.3 Your right to cancel the Contract is set out in section 10.

4.4 Our right to cancel the Contract is set out in section 11.

4.5 If Our Job Sheet/Invoice includes any other terms called “additional terms and conditions” they will

form part of these Terms. If they are different to these Terms, the additional terms and conditions

shall be taken into account first.

 

5. THE SERVICES WE AGREE TO PERFORM FOR YOU

5.1 The specific details of the Services that We agree to perform for You will be set out in the Job

Sheet/Invoice.

5.2 We will agree with You an appropriate time when We will endeavour to attend the relevant premises

in order to perform the Services.

5.3 The Services are offered by Us on the basis that they will be provided as efficiently as reasonably

possible taking into account prevailing workloads, availability of personnel, weather, transport

conditions and the availability of parts and any other conditions upon which We are dependent but

which fall outside Our direct control.

5.4 Our agreement to perform the Services does not mean that We guarantee that We will be able to

repair or replace Your lock.

5.5 It is important that You understand what is included within the Services and what is excluded from

the Services. You are advised to read the Job Sheet/Invoice carefully which explains this.

5.6 If we cannot attend a job due to an emergency of issue then we will hand work off (outsource) to our reputable partners, franchises or businesses we use in the area, if an issue arises with that locksmith or the work carried out along with charges then the you must deal directly with them, Taylors Locksmiths can act as an intermediary to hand business to other locksmiths in the area. You agree to this when booking in any work. These companies may have call out fees, different hourly rates or call out charges.

 

6. PRICE AND PAYMENT FOR THE SERVICES (Click Here for PRICING POLICY)

6.1 The Initial Price You owe Us for the Services is set out in the Job Sheet/Invoice (or in any amendment

to the Contract We provide to You).

6.2 The price does not include VAT as we do not charge VAT.

6.3 Unless otherwise agreed with Us (and noted on the Job Sheet/Invoice accordingly) you agree to pay

Us the Initial Price together with any additional costs (as referred to in paragraph 7 below) immediately upon completion of the Services and You shall ensure that payment is made available to

Us without unreasonable delay.  We accept Cash payments for residential customers.  Only Businesses are permitted to pay by Bank or PayPal and are due within 30 days or as specified on the invoice.  Only the The Manager/Office Manager mat approve a person to pay by bank transfer.

6.4 If you fail to pay Us as required in accordance with paragraph 6.3 above and We do not subsequently

receive full payment from You within 23 hours of the date the payment is due you will be charged a late fee.  Late fee is charged of £25 per day will be charged for ALL overdue invoices.

6.5 We reserve the right (at our absolute discretion) to require advance payments, stage payments or

deposits before or during the provision of the Services. We shall specify any advanced payment or

other specific payment requirements to You before commencing the Services.

6.6 Payments may be made by cash, bank transfer or PayPal.

6.7 We may allow account facilities to be established for certain customers. Any such arrangements must

be agreed in advance and confirmed by Us in writing.  New Approved Clients T&Cs must be agreed to via email before any work is carried out. Payment terms for approved account customers

are strictly 30 days from the date of invoice and any queries in relation to an invoice must be

notified in writing to Our accounts office within seven 7 days of the customer receiving the invoice.

6.8 Until all goods are paid for in full then we own the goods in your property to where if we see fit can charge you a hire fee of up to £25 per day for the use of the items and any additional charges for removal of these items. 

6.9 Failure to pay the balance will result in the parts fitted being removed from your door as they have not been paid this is done without notice. All parts remain the property of the locksmith until paid they for.  We shall seek the outstanding amount plus additional fees by using a 3rd party debt collection agent and where necessary request & enforce County Court Judgements against any person/company who fails to pay.

 

7. ADDITIONAL COSTS THAT WE CAN CHARGE FOR

7.1 The costs set out in this section 7 are in addition to the Initial Price You pay Us for the Services.

7.2 Our locksmith will tell You of any costs that You will need to pay in addition to the Initial Price in order

for Our locksmith to be able to complete the Services when he or she attends Your property. Such

additional charges are likely to include (but are not limited to) the cost of replacement parts and

additional labour time which could not reasonably have been anticipated prior to Our locksmith

attending Your property and inspecting the works required to be undertaken. You agree to pay Us the

additional costs immediately following our completion of the Services. If You do not want to pay the

additional cost, You can cancel the contract by informing Our locksmith before work commences.

7.3 If You do not, after being asked by Us, provide Us with all relevant information requested in order to

allow us to provide the Services, or You provide Us with incomplete or incorrect information, We may

make an additional charge of a reasonable sum to cover any extra work that is required in order to

provide the Services.

 

8. REASONS WHY WE WILL NOT PERFORM THE SERVICES

We will not have an obligation to perform the Services if any of the following happens:

8.1 We are unable to repair or replace Your lock as the necessary spare or replacement parts or locks are

no longer available.

8.2 You do not pay for all or any part of the Services as We have agreed and/or You do not provide

sufficient evidence of Your ability to pay for the Services as may reasonably be requested by Us.8.3 You do not provide Us with any necessary information that We have requested from You or the

the information You do provide is incomplete, incorrect or generally regarded by Us to be insufficient. In

particular if You have failed to provide proof of identification and ownership of the property (or in

circumstances where You are a tenant or licensee, satisfactory evidence of the landlord or licensor’s

consent to the Services being delivered by Us).

8.4 You do not give Us access to Your property at the time that You agreed with Us.

 

9. ACCESS TO YOUR PREMISES

9.1 You agree that You will allow Us access to Your property at the time and date agreed by You and Us.

9.2 You agree that We may enter Your property to carry out the work or to recover any equipment or goods

of ours which We have left on Your property.

 

10. YOUR CANCELLATION RIGHTS

10.1 When a job has been booked in You the customer will receive a text message/email confirming your job details.  You have the right to cancel the job.  Should you call to cancel within 30 minutes of the locksmith arriving at your property Or the locksmith arrives at your property and You cancel without calling in advance to cancel then a £50 attendance charge is payable immediately Cash only.

10.2 if We break the contract in some important way and We fail to fix the situation within 28 days of You

asking Us to in writing

10.3 if We become insolvent, or become subject to an administration order or if We stop trading;

 

 

11. OUR CANCELLATION RIGHTS

11.1 We can end the Contract in any of the following circumstances by writing to You and telling You:-

11.1.1 You fail to pay a sum when it is due to be paid or if You otherwise break this Contract in

some important way and You fail to fix the situation within 28 days of Us asking You to in

writing;

11.1.2 if We are no longer able to carry out the Services due to the law or due to regulatory

reasons;

11.1.3 We give You at least 28 days’ written notice of Our intention to cancel the Contract.

11.2 If We end the Contract because of Your fault and any work has been carried out but not paid for by

You, then You must pay Us for that work as soon as the Contract ends.

 

12. IF THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH THE SERVICES

12.1 Locks - All locks & labour are covered with a six (6) months warranty from fitment date.  All British Standard locks fitted we provide 3 new original keys.  If additional keys are required Taylors Locksmiths will provide Locksmith-Standard keys for an additional cost.  The warranty is only valid if the original keys or additional keys provided by Taylors Locksmiths are used to lock/unlock.  Should Non-Locksmith-Standard keys be used i.e. keys purchased at a cobblers, in automatic key cutting machines etc the warranty is invalid.  Non-Locksmith-Standard can cause the lock to fail due to metal fragments renaming on the keys when cut.

12.1 Gear Boxes - All gearboxes & labour are covered with a twelve (12) month warranty from fitment date. In the unlikely event that there is any defect with the Services or the gearbox supplied and fitted by Us and such defect manifests itself in the twelve (12) month period immediately following completion of the Services, please tell Us as soon as reasonably possible and give Us a reasonable opportunity to inspect and repair such defect or to replace any defective parts as appropriate.

12.2 In the event that a defect is reported to Us in the twelve (12) month period following completion of the Services and upon our inspection of the matter such defect is found to be genuine (and not the result of deliberate or negligent damage) then we will use every effort to repair or fix the defect as soon as reasonably possible. You will not have to pay for Us to repair or fix a defect in the Services

under this section.  

12.3 Should a part be replaced by Us under the 12 months warranty there is no further cover for that issue.

 

13. OUR LIABILITY TO YOU

13.1 We will take all reasonable care to avoid and/or minimise damage being caused to Your property

(including doors, walls, plaster work, decorations and floor etc.) in the course of Us providing the

Services. For the avoidance of doubt, We shall have no responsibility for making good any such

damage which does occur or for any cleaning or other associated costs linked to such damage.

13.2 We will not be liable to You for loss or damage due to the Contract unless We cause death or injury

through Our negligence.

13.3 If You are a consumer, We will not be responsible under this Contract for any loss or damage which

relates to any business of yours. Nothing in these Terms will affect Your right to bring legal action.

13.4 All parts supplied by Us and all materials used in carrying out the Services shall remain Our property

until payment is received from You in full.

 

14. EVENTS OUTSIDE OUR CONTROL

If either of us fails to meet any of our obligations under this Contract because of an event or circumstance

beyond our reasonable control we will not count this as breaking the Contract.

 

15. HOW WE MAY USE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

15.1 We will use the personal information You provide to Us to:

15.1.1 provide the Services;

15.1.2 process Your payment for such Services; and

15.1.3 inform You about similar products or services that We provide, but You may stop receiving

these at any time by contacting Us.

15.2 You agree that We may pass Your personal information to credit reference agencies and that they may

keep a record of any search that they do.

15.3 We will not give Your personal data to any other third party.

 

16. LEGAL CONDITIONS

16.1 The Contract is governed by English law.

16.2 You cannot transfer the legal rights to this Contract without Our written permission. We may transfer

any part of this Contract but Your rights and obligations under this Contract will remain unaffected. If

We transfer any of the rights and obligations under this Contract to another company the expression

“We” or “Our” will include that other company for the purposes of this Contract.

16.3 If We need to serve a notice on You under this Contract, We will send it to the address set out on Your

Job Sheet/Invoice or any form of communication. You must serve any notices on Us at the address shown below.

16.4 If any term of this Contract is held by the courts or any other legal or regulatory body to be invalid or

unenforceable, the rest of the terms of the Contract shall not be affected by such invalidity or

unenforceable..

16.5 If You breach any contract between Us and We fail to enforce the provisions of the contract, Our

failure or silence should not be understood by You that We are giving up on Our rights and remedies.

If either We or You do give up on Our rights and remedies on one occasion, that does not mean that

We or You are doing so in respect of any other rights or remedies We may have.

16.6 We have the right to update these terms and conditions at any time we see fit.

 

17. LATE PAYMENT FEES / OVERDUE BALANCE SETTLEMENT

17.1 Late payment fees are applied after 24 hours of none payment. If you agree to our service via any communication in person, on the phone, via text or email or within any social site or format you agree to our terms and conditions and pricing policy. You agree that if you fail to pay Taylors Locksmiths by the date set out in any invoice or format then we will add a late fee payment to your bill of £25 to a maximum of £500. You also agree that you will pay any retrieval costs or detrimental costs for ourselves to use bailiffs and court costs. We can also charge rental for our hardware while in use at £100 per day. Alternative payment methods must be discussed on the day before signing any paperwork or electronic signatures are applied to any document, failure to do so will result in a late fee being applied to each bill along with a £12 admin fee. Any person who fails to pay will result in their lock being disabled without notice.  Failure to pay the balance will result in the parts fitted being removed from your door as they have not been paid; this is done without notice. All parts remain the property of the locksmith until paid for.  We shall seek the outstanding amount plus additional fees by using a 3rd party debt collection agent and where necessary, request & enforce County Court Judgements against any person/company who fails to pay.

 

18. CALL RECORDINGS

18.1 Taylors Locksmiths may call record from time to time without giving you prior notice, we advise you to fully read our terms and conditions and pricing policy before calling Taylors Locksmiths, by calling ourselves you agree to these terms and conditions and pricing policy. As part of this agreement you waive any right to stop ourselves from call recording. Call recordings are for both our benefits. We may also use these call recordings for training and quality.

 

19. BODY ONE CAMERA

19.1 We use body worn cameras for both or safety and we do not need to notify you that these are in operation, by booking any appointments with ourselves you agree to be filmed on our cameras which can be used in a court of law. You can request a copy of the recording in writing with 2 forms of ID along with a £20 admin fee to the address below..

 

20. ABOUT US

20.1 If You want to ask Us anything about these Terms or the Services We are performing for You or if You want to make a complaint, please contact us by a written letter within 24 hours of the issues arising. Please see our Contact Us Page.

 

Before calling please read our terms and conditions and pricing police, please note you agree to these when booking us via any form of communications.

 

Pricing Policy For Taylors Locksmiths (Please Read Before Booking an Appointment) 

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Call Out Charges – what are they and when are they applied and who applies them?

 

We are 24 Hour Locksmiths, this means we respond to calls any time of day or night.

 

It is a practice within the locksmith industry that a request for a locksmith's attendance at short notice, i.e; an emergency, such as a person being locked out of their home will incur an emergency call out charge (call out charge).

 

This call out charge is in addition to the customer being charged the locksmith's normal hourly rate or fixed cost for the job. A call out charge is made irrespective of the time of day or night along with the locksmith's hourly rate or fixed cost. A call out charge isn't normally applied where work is pre-booked and is not urgent or an emergency and this is why we advertise no call out charge for pre booked work or work carried out during 9am till 5pm Monday to Friday which is classed as a standard working week..

 

Some Locksmith Companies decide not to invoke this charge. An Emergency Call Out Charge ("Call Out Charge") But use double time per hour which actually works out more. Some will use double rates plus a call out fee! 

 

When a Company declares that they do not apply a call out charge ("No Call Out Charge"), it doesn't mean that a locksmith will attend an incident for free. It means that they will still apply their normal hourly rate/fixed cost, but will not apply an additional call out charge for attending at short notice. ie. in an emergency. If we feel the need to add a call out charge then we will add one if it's required. However if we are quoting on a job, then this is always free of charge, we DO NOT charge a call out fee or hourly rate for quotes. 

 

Hourly Rates and fixed costs

There are several factors which dictate our hourly rate/fixed cost such as;

 

A) The time of day or night or weekend

B) The geographical location (postcode)

C) The type of job we are required to undertake

D) Local Charges/Tolls, Fuel Fee, Postage Fee

E) Weather issues, Danger issues.

 

It is impossible to show on this website every conceivable charging possibility. However based on the factors (A) to (E) above here are some examples of pricing.

 

A ) The time of day or night - Our standard labour charge for attending an address for general locksmith work between 9am and 5pm is from £45 to £55. This hourly rate would rise to a maximum of £110 per hour between the hours of 12 midnight and 6am. 

 

A) Our hourly standard labour charges apply during normal working hours, 9am – 5pm Monday – Friday. From £45 to £55 per hour. However most jobs are done within 1 hour or less. 

 

A) Weekend Call Out Charges - Starting from 5pm on a Friday till 9am on Monday the call out fees are 5pm till 8pm is £25 and then from 8pm till 12 midnight is £50 and from 12 midnight till 6am is £100 and from 6am till 9am is £25. If we invoke a call out fee we will not charge time and half or double rate labour fees. It will be standard labor charge depending on the job.

 

Friday from 5pm till Monday at 9am is a labour fee of £55 per hour. This hourly rate will rise to a maximum of £110 per hour or we will apply an off call out fee to try and keep the pricing lower.

 

B) The geographical location – (B) If we received the same type of call as in (A) above but to an address in the outer country area as opposed to inner city / town areas then we will add a call out fee to cover any fuel costs, time driving to and from etc. 

 

C) The type of job we are required to undertake – (c) Locksmith work covers a multitude of variables from opening a simple cam lock on a cupboard through to opening and fitting mortise (Mortice) locks through to forced entry which can take a physical toll on the locksmiths body, health and can cause injury to the locksmith. If we go above and beyond to help you then we do expect to be paid for the time given. If a lock opens in seconds. It's not due to the lock, it's due to the many years of skills and learning, investment in training and we expect to be paid for such skills and time. If we open your door in seconds and you refuse to pay the full fee then we will lock your property back up, leaving you locked out and we will flag you on all locksmith databases as a non paying client which will blacklist you and only leave your options open to using extremely expensive locksmiths who charge 4 to 6 times what we charge. For example if we open the euro lock the price is £55. A PPC locksmith found at the top of Google will charge £350 - £600 for the same job. 

 

D) Local Charges/Tolls, Fuel Fee, Postage Fee - These are charges made by local government or private companies to access certain geographical areas, cross certain bridges or use certain tunnels. This may incur a local charge or toll. For example if we had to use the Tyne Tunnel then we will charge for that toll. We can charge a fuel fee if we have to find parts such as an odd sized lock or out of stock components and we have to drive to a city to find the part or collect it. We will charge for postage, packaging and any other charges such as import charges if you have a European or American system fitted and we need to import parts then you will cover the costs of such parts and time taken to deal with such things.

 

E) Weather issues, Danger issues -  forced entry and Bad weather issues have a "danger" or "forced entry" charge, such as when the air temp is below -1c, snow, storms, ice, danger to life weather warnings, amber alerts, orange and red weather alerts  then we have a danger fee of £50 to a maximum of £500. If we are in any danger at all due to an issue through evictions then we will charge a danger fee of up to £500 or charge up to £1000 if we suffer any injury due to being attacked, hurt or hospitalised. 

 

1. We never attend any job without giving our hourly labour rate or fixed cost. This has to be agreed by the customer prior to us attending the job, we will then re-quote if the job is not as expected or as advised to us.

 

2. Where we think new parts will be required, if possible we will give a range of what we believe the cost of the new part will be eg £15 to £28 for a standard rim cylinder. If we feel that we cannot confidently quote for parts based on the information supplied by the customer we will quote our hourly rate/fixed cost and inform the customer that there may be parts required, which will be quoted on site.

 

3. All hourly rates/fixed costs; parts and additional toll charges will be subject to VAT at the current rate if we charge VAT. We will always advise if we are charging a VAT charge..

 

4. Where an hourly rate is charged we will always quote a minimum charge of one hour. This is regardless of the time spent at the address up to one hour e.g. 1 to 59 minutes.

 

5. If the first hour is exceeded, we charge thereafter in 15 minute intervals. In the example given in i) above we quoted an hourly rate of £45 and were on site for 1 hour 10 minutes we would charge the first hour at £45 and the 10 minutes would be rounded up to 15 minutes for charging purposes. Therefore the cost would be £55.75.

 

6. Our hourly rate starts from the time we arrive at site (agreed address) If for whatever reason the person we are meeting ie. The householder, landlord, tenant, bailiff is late, the waiting time incurred by our locksmith will be charged for in accordance with the hourly rate quoted. It's also the same if you book us in for any work and have us on standby. We are delaying full paying clients and due to this our full hourly rate will be advised. 

 

7. When we receive instructions to attend an address, we will always call the customer back to confirm the ETA and give the customer the name of the locksmith attending or we will send a confirmation text of the locksmith's name and attending time frame. If the customer wishes to cancel our attendance they may do so without charge as long as we receive notification by telephone no less than one hour before our agreed ETA. If cancellation is made less than one hour, we will charge the equivalent of 'one hours labour' as a cancellation charge. Failure to attend the agreed date and time will result in an additional charge of £20 for the first non show and followed by a charge of £55 for every other missed appointment.  

 

8. Priced Per Job, this is where we can give you a price on the information we receive from yourself, if we believe we can fix the job that you have described to us via communication then we may give a price per job, if this fails to be the case then we will notify you or the attendee of the price change, such as if we quote £75 for labour of the job but then job ended up taking 4 hours as we were given misleading information such as my lock is broke and has been for several years, or that the door had total dropped, jammed in it's frame and had been catching for a long time where you have had to force the handles up and door to lock the door, or you had a locksmith out recently who used a lock puller or snap bar to open the door and now the door has failed due to this type of entry and you fail mention these facts when asked then you have given us misleading information for a cheaper price then we will go back to standard rate per hour charged in 15 minute intervals after the first hour. If you cancel the job due to this then we can still charge a fee for attending, this can be our hourly rate plus a call out fee and for any materials used up that point. 

 

9. Recording Of Calls

Calls may be recorded for training and security reasons and this includes mobile phone calls. We will give you the best ricing we can over the phone. If you fail to speak to use and only use email or text then you understand that we can’t give as much information in a text or email. 

 

10. Before calling please read our terms and conditions and pricing police, please note you agree to these when booking us via any form of communications.

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PROTOCOLS OF LOCKSMITH ENTRY FOR TAYLORS LOCKSMITHS

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Taylors locksmiths follow the recommended protocols from the Guild of Master Locksmiths UK. Click here for more information. 

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Below is a summery from the GMLUK's website: 

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These protocols are set out to look at gaining entry to door, be that on a residential or commercial property during a lock out or lock in emergency situation. 

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Stage 1 - NDE Technical entry: NDE Technical entry is when a locksmith carry's out the refined skill of lock picking, a None Destructive Entry technique. This is the first stage of any lock out. However with the advances in todays lock technology, not all locks h=can be hand picked as it takes many years of refined skills to become a expert lock picker. Some of the hardest locks in the UK to pick are locks such as KABA dimple pin locks, ISEOR11, R9, Ultion 3 Star, Yale Triple Platinum, Mul-T-Lock to name a few, such locks contain more than the standard 6 pins and they often have magnetic pins, interactive fixed pins. There has been advances in locksmith technology with specialised picks being created which will help to pick such high security locks. However these lock picks cost hundreds each pick so you will expect to pay a higher premium to use a locksmith who has such tools. These are not standard tools and can only be bought with security clarence. 

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Stage - Methods would be:

1. Picking by hand

2. SPP Single pin picking by hand

3. Raking and or rapid attack entry by hand

4. Lock decoding entry​

5. Making up a key for entry (mortice locks)

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In the case of a lever lock -  The locksmith will try and manually hand pick the lock. If that does not work they may use a lock decoder to try and make a new key to open the lock. But this only works if its a working lock. If the lock has failed the locksmith will need to move to destructive entry to gain access. If nether picking or making a new key is an option then the locksmith will move to technical entry. 

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Stage 2 - This would be when a picking lock by hand has failed. Its best to always hand pick locks as it causes less damage to the cylinder or levers positioning but if hand picking has failed the next method would be EPG which stands for Electronic Pick Gun. This is a specific tool that helps the locksmith replace the handing picking skill but at 100 revolutions per second. So it could be said that its similar to 100 attempts of hand picking per second. If this has failed then the locksmith would move to the next stage. 

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Stage 3 - Lock bumping. This is a skill that only works on a limited number of doors and again the tools are security protected as each lock requires a specific key to preform this skill. Is this fails the locksmith will move on to the next stage. 

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Stage 4 -  If the lock is a dimple cylinder then the locksmith may try a method known as foiling. This has a small window of success. 

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Stage 5 -  a form of destructive entry: When all of the technical skill sets have failed, this can be due to the lock being anti pick, anti bump, anti, pull, anti drill etc. The locksmith will opt for a destructive form of entry. Often this can mean the following:

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1. Drilling the lock in some way, often known as milling

2. Snapping the lock, know as lock snapping if its a cylinder

3. Lock pulling if its a cylinder

4. Lock bypass.

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Stage 6 - Breaching the door: This is the final form of entry in an emergency situation, we have seen this on many fire doors to flats and apartments in the UK especially when a multi point system fails and leave hooks stuck out into the frame. There are methods of entry which are security protected and we can't disclose here. But in some cases if a lock has not opened on each of the stages outlined and a person is trapped then breaching is the last resort.  

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Who pays for emergency work? The cost of immediate damage limitation work by specialist fire and flood, rescue, locksmith, police and other companies, is usually covered by your building and contents insurance, provided that you are insured (unless any specified excesses or exclusions).

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Locksmiths are trained to breach doors to prevent excessive damage, often a fire service or police will breach a door and destroy the door and frame, plaster and so on. When a locksmiths breaches a door the tend to only destroy the door. If this happens and you are rescued then you will be required to pay for the door unless it was an issues such as a failed lock. Then the landlord could  pay for the door lock. 

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Does a locksmith need my permission to destroy the door? This is a good question but it comes down to the locksmiths terms and conditions. In many cases the terms and conditions are there to protect the customer and the locksmith. Our protocol is to advise the person trapped that they will breach the door and to make sure there are no valuables behind the door. Once this has been established the person trapped can then make a choice to stop the breaching and stand down the locksmith but the person trapped has to make that choice and clearly communicate with the locksmith to STOP. If they stand down the locksmith they will still need to pay for that locksmiths time and any other items they have used. In no way will a locksmith call for emergency services unless it was life threatening, such as a fire or heart attack etc. If you have employed a locksmith to gain entry then they will gain entry by any means but this should always be clearly communicated between the locksmith and the home oner / tenant.

 

At this point you could opt to use a fire service or police to rescue you. They will also breach the door to gain entry. In some cases your budlings management company if its a block of flats may cover the costs but this is a grey area and the tenant or owner would be required to cover the costs of fitting a new door, frame or any plaster work. The locksmith would not repair any of this. You are paying a locksmith or service to rescue you. Once rescued the clean up can begin but at the tenant / owners expense.  

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If a locksmith breaches the door then they will also secure the door, using boarding skills and fitting temporary locks or hardware. 

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In conclusion: Each job is different, each home is different. No matter the skill level each locksmith should always follow a none destructive entry to start with, advancing through the many stages before they even think about drilling a lock or snapping, pulling a cylinder.

 

The locksmith should always clearly communicate with the customer when they plan to move to destructive entry.