Have a exterior metal double door and this morning the dead bolt jammed and
won't fully retract. The deadbolt is the lower part of a mortise lock.
Tried for an hour and no luck. Call a local locksmith a had a good
experience with two years ago and he said he will send someone over in an
hour or two. Someone came an hour later from "A+ Locks" so he contacted
another locksmith. OK let's try. This guy is a joke. Tried using his
allen wrench to loosen the screws and one screw fell down to the "inside" of
the door. The he tried to open it brute force buy pushing and pulling and
banging the door from the inside, still no luck. I suggested we take the
door pins out from the inside and see if we can loosen the entire door and
he ignored me. Next he sprayed a bunch of WB40 and nothing worked.

Now last year this lock that was originally gold in color is taking on a
dull brown tone on the outside. I took it apart and slid out the mortise
and took it to a locksmith to see about getting a replacement - had never
seen anything like this before I was told, don't know what brand. I went to
about five locksmiths until one old guy told me these mortise locks cannot
be replaced. They came with my original metal doors and probably were made
specifically for the door manufacturer. If I need to replace them even if I
found the door manufacturer (which I cannot there is no marking on the door
inside outside or along the edges) it will be over $200 for these special
locks. So I put it back and did not worry about it then...until now.

So finally this guy went to his car and got his screw driver, hammer and
plier. He jammed his screw driver into the door edge and started hammering,
chipping the paint and caused a few scratches. Then he took the plier and
clamped onto my solid brass handle and I said to him then "if you force it
and it breaks I cannot replace this lock without replacing the entire door",
he ignored me and forced it and "clacked" the deadbolt handle is now loosen.
Only the deadbolt is still jammed. But the handle can turn around and
around now, something is now truly broken in the lock. Finally he gave up
and said to me he will call the guy I originally contacted and see if he can
come by Monday, then he left, without putting everything back, loose
screws, handles, keys, pins, everything still on the floor, I had to put is
back together. While I was doing this, I decided to open up the opposing
door (it's a double door) dummy handle. Once I removed it I can see the
deadbolt protruding from the other lock. It was not sticking straight into
the plate, for some reason it was leaning "downward" a bit and end up
getting caught and not able to fully retract. I stuck my index finger in,
gave it a lift, turned the deadbolt handle, but the deadbolt handle is no
longer connected to the door lock because he broke it. So I use my index
finger and just push back into the other side and now the door opens.

Now I try to remove the lock so I can look closer to see what is broken
(originally and what he broke), only I can no longer remove it completely
from the door since he broke the handle. This guy had no clue what he was
doing, a total waste of time and end up really breaking something.

If I have to replace the entire exterior door and lock, am I just out of
luck or the locksmith should bear some responsibility?

MC

miamicuse wrote:

Have a exterior metal double door and this morning the dead bolt jammed and
won't fully retract. The deadbolt is the lower part of a mortise lock.
Tried for an hour and no luck. Call a local locksmith a had a good
experience with two years ago and he said he will send someone over in an
hour or two. Someone came an hour later from "A+ Locks" so he contacted
another locksmith. OK let's try. This guy is a joke. Tried using his
allen wrench to loosen the screws and one screw fell down to the "inside" of
the door. The he tried to open it brute force buy pushing and pulling and
banging the door from the inside, still no luck. I suggested we take the
door pins out from the inside and see if we can loosen the entire door and
he ignored me. Next he sprayed a bunch of WB40 and nothing worked.

Now last year this lock that was originally gold in color is taking on a
dull brown tone on the outside. I took it apart and slid out the mortise
and took it to a locksmith to see about getting a replacement - had never
seen anything like this before I was told, don't know what brand. I went to
about five locksmiths until one old guy told me these mortise locks cannot
be replaced. They came with my original metal doors and probably were made
specifically for the door manufacturer. If I need to replace them even if I
found the door manufacturer (which I cannot there is no marking on the door
inside outside or along the edges) it will be over $200 for these special
locks. So I put it back and did not worry about it then...until now.

So finally this guy went to his car and got his screw driver, hammer and
plier. He jammed his screw driver into the door edge and started hammering,
chipping the paint and caused a few scratches. Then he took the plier and
clamped onto my solid brass handle and I said to him then "if you force it
and it breaks I cannot replace this lock without replacing the entire door",
he ignored me and forced it and "clacked" the deadbolt handle is now loosen.
Only the deadbolt is still jammed. But the handle can turn around and
around now, something is now truly broken in the lock. Finally he gave up
and said to me he will call the guy I originally contacted and see if he can
come by Monday, then he left, without putting everything back, loose
screws, handles, keys, pins, everything still on the floor, I had to put is
back together. While I was doing this, I decided to open up the opposing
door (it's a double door) dummy handle. Once I removed it I can see the
deadbolt protruding from the other lock. It was not sticking straight into
the plate, for some reason it was leaning "downward" a bit and end up
getting caught and not able to fully retract. I stuck my index finger in,
gave it a lift, turned the deadbolt handle, but the deadbolt handle is no
longer connected to the door lock because he broke it. So I use my index
finger and just push back into the other side and now the door opens.

Now I try to remove the lock so I can look closer to see what is broken
(originally and what he broke), only I can no longer remove it completely
from the door since he broke the handle. This guy had no clue what he was
doing, a total waste of time and end up really breaking something.

If I have to replace the entire exterior door and lock, am I just out of
luck or the locksmith should bear some responsibility?

MC




Why on earth are you asking that question here?

Assuming I didn't just fall for a troll...Try:

misc.legal.moderated

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia

(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"Truth exists; only falsehood has to be invented."

Seems like you know your way around this door/lock pretty well. Why did you
hire a locksmith?

I don't know the lock very well. The idea to open the opposing dummy handle
did not occur to me until he left and I had to put everything back. But
still now I still have a broken lock - handle broken by the lock smith and
the dead bolt is somehow not aligned due to some other reason, so I have to
take this to a locksmith to see about getting it repaired anyways, so why
not get a locksmith to do the whole thing? did not occur to me there are
less and less real pros out there nowadays. Fake carpenters and fake
locksmiths all over the place.

"Pat" wrote in message
...
Seems like you know your way around this door/lock pretty well. Why did
you
hire a locksmith?

take them to small claims court if you have to replace the door. Take photos
and keep the receipts.

"miamicuse" wrote in message
...
I don't know the lock very well. The idea to open the opposing dummy
handle
did not occur to me until he left and I had to put everything back. But
still now I still have a broken lock - handle broken by the lock smith and
the dead bolt is somehow not aligned due to some other reason, so I have
to
take this to a locksmith to see about getting it repaired anyways, so why
not get a locksmith to do the whole thing? did not occur to me there are
less and less real pros out there nowadays. Fake carpenters and fake
locksmiths all over the place.

"Pat" wrote in message
...
Seems like you know your way around this door/lock pretty well. Why did
you
hire a locksmith?

"miamicuse" wrote in message
...
Have a exterior metal double door and this morning the dead bolt jammed
and
won't fully retract. The deadbolt is the lower part of a mortise lock.
Tried for an hour and no luck. Call a local locksmith a had a good
experience with two years ago and he said he will send someone over in an
hour or two. Someone came an hour later from "A+ Locks" so he contacted
another locksmith. OK let's try. This guy is a joke. Tried using his
allen wrench to loosen the screws and one screw fell down to the "inside"
of
the door. The he tried to open it brute force buy pushing and pulling and
banging the door from the inside, still no luck. I suggested we take the
door pins out from the inside and see if we can loosen the entire door and
he ignored me. Next he sprayed a bunch of WB40 and nothing worked.

(tale of woe snipped)
If I have to replace the entire exterior door and lock, am I just out of
luck or the locksmith should bear some responsibility?

Sounds like you have already expended entirely too much time and effort on
this project. If you can't buy a drop-in replacement for the locksets,
rather than replace the doors, I would Bondo the old holes, and buy new
locksets to fit holes you drill. They sell decorative wrap-around plates for
situations like this, so you don't even have to repaint the door.

As to going after the locksmith or the guy he subbed it out to- forget it-
it will cost more money, time and effort than replacing the whole door
would. If you must vent, write him a nasty letter about the experience, and
tell him you will be telling everyone you know to avoid him, and then do
that.

aem sends....

miamicuse wrote:

I don't know the lock very well. The idea to open the opposing dummy handle
did not occur to me until he left and I had to put everything back. But
still now I still have a broken lock - handle broken by the lock smith and
the dead bolt is somehow not aligned due to some other reason, so I have to
take this to a locksmith to see about getting it repaired anyways, so why
not get a locksmith to do the whole thing? did not occur to me there are
less and less real pros out there nowadays. Fake carpenters and fake
locksmiths all over the place.


Did you pay the *******?

Best regards,
Bob