Searching for a really good locksmith in New York could be a challenging job. Good ones can be located just by searching on line using phrases like Fastest Brooklyn locksmith or Manhattan locksmith service. Superior locksmiths can be discovered in the upper east side, mid-town, Brooklyn, downtown, Little Italy and New Jersey.
Individuals should be careful, however. The industry has been struck very hard by posers, scammers and mid-western call facilities who sell job requests to the highest bidder. The problem got so bad that for years Google would no longer recognize new locksmith applications in its very lucrative maps directory, Google Places. The problem continues today and if consumers are not careful, they may find themselves in a pinch with an unlicensed locksmith.
Here’s what normally takes place: Someone gets locked out of their car in say, Chinatown or their home in the upper west side and turns to their cellphone or a friend’s computer to find a New York City locksmith. The major search engines deliver the results, and the consumer is typically in such a hurry that they often pick one of the very first results they find. Now the bad guys know this so they buy up all the top NYC locksmith entries and create virtual lock and key websites, simply to get indexed by the search engines. The consumer typically doesn’t bother to determine which locksmiths are genuine and which aren’t. Even if they had the time to adequately research their possibilities, these posers have gotten so good at making their fake profiles seem real that a lot of consumers can’t differentiate. This generally happens whatever the search phrase; NYC lock out support, key replacement, change locks, change keys, lost key, auto locksmith solutions, best locksmiths in NYC, ignition key extraction, New York security service and more.
When the customer makes the call, their request is sent to a centralized call center and then offered to the highest bidder. So the consumer receives a totally different locksmith than the one they thought they were calling. The problem is that many of those locksmiths aren’t even licensed or just do poor work. They typically charge as much as they believe they can get away with.
There are plenty of very good New York locksmiths which have been serving the city for years. They’ve been struggling to stay ahead, in spite of their unique challenges. Many have specialties like automobile key extraction solutions, business solutions to change locks, security and surveillance devices, 24 hour emergency lock-out service and key duplication options. Many have incredibly trustworthy mobile locksmith services as well. Shops such as M&D Locks and Keys, Brooklyn Manhattan Locksmiths and Joey’s Locks and Keys are quite reliable New York locksmiths. They are licensed, certified and among the most trustworthy locksmiths in the tri-state area. Best of all, they are genuine local New York locksmiths. Try a search for and you will have no trouble locating them.
So how will you know the good locksmiths from the bad? It’s a lot easier than you think. Don’t just check out one source. Make sure the locksmith professional you are choosing has numerous postings. Is he or she in Google Maps? Have they got a listing in Yahoo Local? Look at alternative internet directories such as Citysearch, Yelp, Insider Pages, the online Yellow Pages and Show Me Local. Every one of these directories allow customers to write reviews so you can see what others are revealing about them.
And don’t immediately choose the locksmith with the best reviews. The bad guys will often load up these review sites with dozens, perhaps hundreds of fraudulent ratings and testimonials. If a listing has got dozens of 5-star reviews in Merchant Circle, for example, and virtually no reviews in Yelp, then you can certainly bet something is not right. Yahoo and Bing are much worse than Google right now. Google is mostly reliable and it’s very difficult to produce artificial reviews in Yelp.
Finding a trustworthy New York locksmith isn’t all that hard if you take some time to search some of the free tools that are available to you on-line.