Today we got to serve two customers in Stockton, CA. The first one was a nice young lady in the Brookside area. She was on her way back from a trip and had misplaced her house key. Luckily she found Chris Mullen, Locksmith Service on Google! We showed up within the quoted estimated arrival time and got to work.
The first thing we noticed was that the front door was a Kwikset "Smartkey" Deadbolt with a matching latch. As any locksmith knows, the "Smartkey" feature does not allow the usual method for unlocking a door such as using lockpicks. The Kwikset Smartkey locks utilize an internal wafer system which does not give much oppertunity for picking or any of the other methods commonly used by professional locksmiths. It was time to go for plan B.
We explained to the customer that her front door lock had the Smartkey lock style and that the only way to gain access thru that door would be a destructive entry (drill out) and that we would need to replace the lock afterwards. Understandably, she didn't like the sound of drilling out and replacing her front door lock. We asked if she had a back or side door that perhaps, did not have a smartkey lock on it. She led around the back yard and we got to the back door. The back door was a standard pin tumbler deadbolt. The lever handle was unlocked.
Utilizing a professional pick gun, we unlocked the back door. Using lockpicks or a manual pick gun will not compromise the security of a lock in any way. After unlocking the back door lock the customer opened her door only to find that the next door (leading from inside of garage into the house) was also locked, and this time with again, Kwikset Smartkey Locks. Luckily we were able to unlock the doggie door, and unlock the deadbolt latch by going thru the doggie door.
The customer was satisfied with the service provided. We verified identification, gave the customer her receipt and went back to the shop. Upon arriving back at the shop the same customer calls us again. The customer was unable to locate her spare set of keys so she asked for us to come back out and rekey the front door so that she could again lock and unlock her door with a key. We successfully completed this service for the customer who again was very pleased with the service provided.
Later in the day we had to go out for a lock repair for a nail salon which ended up being a rekey. The customer had explained that their key was only working for the exterior of their adams rite mortise cylinder lockset for their commercial door. Upon arrival we came to the conclusion that beings they recently took over the business that they never actually had the correct key. So we rekeyed the interior deadbolt so that both the exterior and interior deadbolts would work with the same key.
Like the first customer of the day the nail salon was very pleased with the fast and thorough service that was provided.
All and all it was a great day at Chris Mullen, Locksmith Service. Thanks so much for reading.
Have an awesome day!