Killoggs : L.A. GUNS FANSITE

on saturday i crashed at a friend's place, and when i looked at my phone when i woke up, i saw that my apartment building has called me--twice--which was a bad, bad sign. i called them back immediately, terrified something bad had happened. the woman said they thought there had been a fire on my floor--smoke was all over the hallway. they called the fire dept and they decided the fire was coming out of my apartment or the the apartment next door. so they kicked in both our doors. it turned out to be my neighbor's place--someone had burned the crap out of some food. both my locks were unusable. the doorknob lock was completely broken, the deadbolt had its lock plate on the frame snapped in two--but the lock itself worked fine... i was kind of in shock, asking them what i supposed to do and who was responsible for the paying for it. the woman seemed way too helpful in helping me and way too sheepish in answering my questions about who was going to pay for this.

the locksmith endeavor was horrible. one of the worst thing i've had to deal with in a long time. i called and scheduled the appt for 9 AM, got up at 830, and then received a call from the guy at 850, saying there had been an emergency at someone's house and he would be late. 2 hours later, he called again. i explained to him that i just needed a lockplate installed, andhe kept saying, "you mean a new lock?" and i kept saying, "NO, a LOCK PLATE, the thing the deadbolt slides into when you close the door."

when he arrived he said that he didn't have a lock plate, and that if it wasn't on him, then he couldn't install it. I told him it seemed ridiculous for me to have to get a new deadbolt when the one i had was fine, and the only thing i needed was a new lock plate. the locksmith (god, i hate even calling him that because i felt like he was a complete scammer) said he would need a specific lock plate and it could take a day, possible more, to find or order one. i was getting frustrated at this point, saying a guy on Columbia Road said getting a new lock plate would be a piece of cake, and that it would cost me about $30-$40. the locksmith then said that it would still cost about $130 instead of $180 to install it, so the price wouldn't be that much more. what the fuck was he talking about? when was $50 "not that much more?" i could feed myself for 4 days on that, or pay my pepco bill, or phone bill...

i started feeling a real time crunch because i had to be at work, and this was supposed to have been done, at the latest, by 10. it was already past 11. i told him that, fine, i would get the new deadbolt but i was going tpo run to the key shop first and see if they had a lock plate i could buy. if they did, he would install that instead. he said he would be back in 45 minutes. 45 minutes? where the hell was he going?

i ran to the lock shop i had been to and--you guessed it--it's closed on mondays.

45 minutes go by. and hour. an hour and 15 minutes. i get a call from a woman from the locksmith place, saying he would be even later because they couldn't find a deadbolt with the right size keylock in it. he would have to drive to silver spring and it would be
at least an hour and a half before he could make it back. i was starting to panic, wondering if i would even make it to work. i told her i would wait, since i didn't have much of a choice.

the guy ended up calling about 45 minutes later, saying there was a "big problem" and that no one had the right deadbolt for my keylock. i found this incredibly hard to believe, which i told him. he said they would have to special order one, which would cost
$50 more. i told him to hold on and i would call him back. i then began calling other locksmiths.

the answer was always the same--no, they couldn't give me an estimate, they would have to check it and see for themselves. yes, doing that would be $55, whether or not i decided to get anything done with it. yes, they would see me that day, no, probably not until between 3 and 5 PM. no, they had no idea how long the entire process would take, yes, it could take from 15 minutes to a few hours.

i had to get to work. so i called the first guy back. i asked him if he could just do my doorknob instead. he said sure. so that's what he did. and it cost $257 for a 5 1/2 hour wait and 15 minutes of work. i couldn't believe it.

i get the feeling that i let myself be pushed around, and the second he said he was going to be late at 850 in the morning i should have just called another locksmith. any place that says "emergency" in its name is a place that is going to fuck you.

i didn't get to work until about 3:30 pm. i am just going to take the money out of my rent check that i am sending my landlord today. i really do feel like i got scammed. my boss told me a story of when he locked himself out of his apartment and he had to call an emergency locksmith. the guy came, unlocked his door, and told him it would be $200, and they only accepted cash. my boss really had no choice, so he went to the bank machine and gave him $200 cash. a week later, he locked himself out again, and the guy who came only charged him $100, and said he could pay by check. that's why i don't trust these locksmith places. and it's crazy the amount of them there are--hundreds and hundreds in a small distance. and who can you trust? ugh. i don't know if it's me getting old or what, but i never remember things like this being so expensive...and so damn sketchy.