24 Hour Discount Locksmith

I give these guys one star because the technician was nice. But that is about it. Otherwise--beware and just go elsewhere. I was told over the phone that they would not charge me for shipping of a keyless entry because I was initially told by their dispatch that someone could come out the night I called. About 20 minutes later, a "supervisor" called, apologized, and said they had to order the part, but would not charge me the shipping cost. I hope their calls are recorded. However, when the technician was finished the shipping charge was added on, and it was an extra $25.00. With all the other competition out there, just stay clear of the "bait and switch".

Update: These guys are even worse than I thought. After I wrote this, I was called by the "supervisor" who basically continued to yell at me and call me a liar. If you like being harassed and yelled at, hire these guys! It made an already bad situation even worse.

If I am allowed to give negative stars, Discount Locksmith would get -5 starts from me. The locksmith showed up late, was very rude and arrogant for the entire time, took my credit card away and had me signed on a blank bill, yet could not pick the lock and charged me $55 for "the service". I would strongly recommend you to go elsewhere.

Below is what happened if you are interested in the details.

I called them at 7:30am as I noticed I left my key inside right after I shut the auto-lock door of my apartment. They agreed to come at 12:30, after my morning class (I'm a college student).

The technician showed up one hour late. He did not call me, did not return my calls and just showed up one hour late and gave me lengthy complaints about the traffic and parking space. I told him he could use my parking space and told him to follow me. But he drove into the parking and parked at someone else's parking lot and started wandering within the apartment building.

It took sometime to find him and finally took him to my apartment. The first thing he did was to take my credit card away though I told him I wanted to pay cash. He demanded my credit card, filled my credit card information on the bill without the charge amount and had me sighed on that blank bill. I refused to sign on the bill without knowing how much I would get charged, but he said unless I signed it, he would leave without working on the lock and I would get still charged. So I reluctantly signed.

After 30 minutes, he still could not open the door. He was very rough on the door and the door handle and I was really worried that he would make nasty scars on them any minute. Finally he gave up and his excuse was the key hole was too dirty. He charged me $55 and left. And to be honest, I was not 100% sure if he would ever give my credit card back until he did.

I called a different locksmith, who came right away with no complains about traffic or parking space, picked the lock in literally 1 minute and even gave me a discount coupon for the next time. I don't plan to be their returning customer, but if it ever happens again, I know who to call.

We were happy with the speed of service and the technician who came to our house to duplicate the key to our Ford Escape. The convenience of having the technician come to the house was great.

We were unhappy with what we felt were "hidden fees."

We were price-checking locksmiths in the phone books and must not have paid attention to the recording that told us about the $55 service fee. When we asked the receptionist the cost of making a duplicate key for the Escape, she said it would be around $105. That sounded good to us... until the technician got here and said, "It's $105 plus the $55 service fee."

We were miffed about the service fee and called back to the office... and heard the recording. So we dropped the matter and agreed to pay.

The extra bummer was the $40 programming fee, which the technician told us about after duplicating the key.

The bottom line? This place is no cheaper than other area locksmiths.

II have mixed feelings about this company first

The good:
Our ignition in our car stopped working at a grocery store so after my wife had finished shopping. She called them and uppon hear our situation they bumped us up to an earlier time slot because we had fresh food in the car. So thumbs up for that. Also the techs were very friendly and though it seemed a bit fishy to me that it took so long (see: "the bad") they did work hard and finished within a 24hour period. They were the kind of guys I could see myself hanging out with had met on different terms. Though nice guys doesn't always mean the best service...

The Bad:
When the techs arrived at the sight where my car was (3:30pm) they told us it would only take them half hour to forty-five min to finish installing a new ignition. The car wasn't finished for another 12 hours. So yes they were done at 3am. They said it took so long because of something weird with the car but I have an 2002 Alero which is an American GM car how difficult could that be its not like its a foreign sports car. On top of that before they started working the smugly stated that they see these kind of problems with Aleros all the time. If that the case why would it take this one so long to do? They never communicated with us or hardly called us. Very frustrating! They also failed to communicate $175 additional charges that were slapped on after the job was finally finished. This is what I am most upset about.

Overall:
If you find yourself in locked down jam and these are the first folks that come up on your google search. My advice would be to make them be as upfront with you on pricing as possible. First on the phone with the dispatcher make them tell you all the charges involved with the service. Don't be fooled by the "Discount" in their name this doesn't mean they won't charge you a $50 service call fee. Because they did and they will. Plus labor plus parts plus tax your discount doesn't seem like much of a discount any more. If you get through all of this expect some friendly techs but make sure you continue to communicate with them about what they are doing and how much it will cost. Also, if you can watch the whole process of the repair. The techs at times where a bit careless with the stuff in my car. They left a button cover on my radio busted and did not fully snap back together my dashboard. These errors could have been avoided had I watched them the whole time. Use this locksmith company at your own risk.

I am giving them four stars for a kick ass technician named Mike B. who was a lifesaver after my boyfriend lost his car keys shortly before the Fourth of July holiday. Every place we called was going to charge an arm and a leg to produce a new key and a replacement. The only downfall is that when you call the company directly they tell you on the prompt that there is a $50 service charge for a tech to come out on top of the cost of getting a new key and replacement. I would suggest that when you use this service to get the technician's direct cell number so you can save yourself a $50 charge each time you need service. Mike was on top of his program with getting a key made for my boyfriend's car and even kicked in a spare at no extra charge. I will be keeping his number handy when I need a locksmith and he came to my boyfriend's car which was parked on a Rogers Park side street. I will use this service again.

Consumer beware! This is a bunch of scammers and con artists. Require credit card information ahead of time (my fault to give this). Will quote you one price and them at least double it at the end of the job. Could not even get the remote function to work but still charged full price. Run from this company as a legit business will give you a full quote and ask for payment upon completion of the work. They are preying upon people that are in a tough spot. Call a reputable locksmith company that has a local shop or go to your car dealer as you will pay that price anyways.