First impressions Counts
Go with your gut; generally your first impressions of someone are a good indicator so trust your instincts. When you are conversing with locksmiths, do they seem knowledgeable and professional? Are they kind and attentive to your needs? Go with someone who gets customer service right from the word go; you won’t go far wrong.
When you ask a question try to get the impression if the locksmith you talk to provide you with a direct answer or if he tries to turn things around. Locksmiths that are confident in the service they deliver will give you a straightforward answer. Some very friendly locksmiths will even help you sort out the problem yourself, if they think it’s something you can do.
Go local
Don’t be averse to asking for their business address. You want to choose a locksmith that is local to you so they can respond quickly; knowing the area is important so you can access supplies quickly and avoid traffic black spots when on route.
Some London locksmiths as in other cities around the world would have more than just one emergency locksmith working at a given time. Try to understand not only the actual address of the business but whether one of the locksmiths that works for the company is local to you. When they tell you there is a locksmith near you, ask for exactly where will the technician be coming from. As some will only tell you this to get you as their a client.
Emergencies
Unfortunately, they do happen, so you need to make sure that your locksmith of choice is a 24-hour locksmith and located near you. If you’ve gone to the trouble of finding a trusted contractor the last thing you want is to be locked out at 2am and find that they don’t do out of hours work (when you potentially need them the most).
Once you find a local locksmith that provides a 24 hour service, hold their contact close to chest. You can today actually only remember their name and look it up on the internet in case you ever need a locksmith sevice. However, since many locksmiths calls themselves with very similar names and you could find very similar domain names in different variations such as Locksmith24hourlondon, 24hourlocksmithlondon or london24hourlocksmiths.com; Make sure that you remember the correct name of your desired service provider.
Do your checks
Any reputable locksmith will be registered with the UK Locksmith Association or a local locksmith association like the MLA. Add added check you might want to ask for is whether the locksmith has a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, though this isn’t a real must.
You can find out a lot about the services your locksmith provides online, but you can also find out what their previous customers thought of them in the form of online reviews. For more complex or intricate jobs you should ask for references from customers who have had similar work done; this will help you to make an informed choice. Focus on the neatness of their work, the reliability of the work and their timeliness and punctuality.
London locksmith myths
You’ve probably heard some of these at some point; so let’s bust some myths!
“You should only use a police vetted locksmith” – You’ll be looking for a long time then, because there’s actually no such thing as a police vetted locksmith! At least not in London or anywhere around the UK.
“You should only use a certified locksmith” – Professional registration is not mandatory in the UK so whilst it’s a plus to be registered, “certified” really is the wrong terminology because membership of professional bodies is voluntary and not assessed tightly. Moreover some of these organisations certifications’ are acquired by a payment only. So not even a locksmith course or any professional education is required.
Conclusion
The aim of this article was to give you enough knowledge to make an informed choice when choosing your locksmith; follow these tips and you won’t go far wrong.If you need more advice of our London 24 hour locksmiths, feel free to contact us.