masterlocksmithco.com Blog

Here is another article on Florida’s attempt to crack down on the illegal locksmiths plagueing America.

Here is an article which describes what can happen when a home owner does not heed the advice to install proper locks. I inform homeowners all the time that the locks on their homes are inadequate and should be replaced. Some heed me warning, some, at their peril, ignore our advise and suffer the consequences.

“Master Locksmith and Security” IS NOT US! We are Master Locksmith Co. and Abbot Safe and Lock.
The other company is copying our name and is purposefully trying to mislead you. They are in fact one of the Israeli companies fleecing consumers. Do not confuse “Master Locksmith and Security” with the real Master Locksmith Co.

When I write about locksmiths not providing the products or service promised, some may think that I am exaggerating. Trust me, I am not. This week I had to redo an entire installation for a customer who had purchased several Multi Lock deadbolts and several matching locksets. Unfortunately the company installed them so poorly that they all needed to be redone. Here is a copy of the letter that I wrote for this customer to assist him in getting a refund:

Sxxxxx
1xxxxxDr.
Atlanta, xxxxxx8
Jan. 14, 2010

Sxxxx,
I hope the work that I did for you has been satisfactory and that it has redeemed the reputation of my industry in your eyes. I am sorry that you had to experience the “less than satisfactory” side of my trade.
I am writing this letter to you in order to provide details which will more clearly explain the comments which I wrote on the invoice for the work that I did and this will support your claim for reimbursement from Pxx a xxxk, or your credit card company. It is my hope that the owner of Pxx a xxxk will, of her own accord, give you the refund that you deserve and use this incident as an opportunity to provide necessary training to her technicians.
The work that I did for you consisted of rekeying and reinstalling 4 double cylinder Multi Lock deadbolts and 4 Multi Lock “lockset” cylinders and locksets. I need to emphasize that “reinstalling”, in this case, means treating the doors and locks as “fresh installations” because the work done by the two previous technicians was so unacceptable. I would go so far as to describe it as poor. I have terminated employees in years past for some of the flaws that I observed and corrected at your home.
To begin, the locks on your home needed to be rekeyed for several reasons. The first is that you found the Multi Lock code card in the discarded box of trash on the side of your home. This card is the “key” to your home. By allowing it to become “lost” or unsupervised is an egregious breech of security protocol. Furthermore, I understand that the technicians told you that the card was locked in the safe at their office. This statement was not only a lie but it also is a violation of Multi Lock procedure. You, the customer, are to be given the opportunity to retain the card or to sign it over to the company for safe keeping. In light of this behavior, your distrust of xxp a Lxxx and your desire to sever all ties with this company by rekeying your locks is understandable, prudent even.
In regards to the manner in which the locks were installed, there were several errors that were made to every installation. For example, the Multi Lock HD series deadbolts are supplied with a pair of ball bearings which are to be inserted in the mounting holes of the exterior portion of the lock. These ball bearings provide protection against a drilling attack against the mounting screws and are an integral part of the security provided by this series of lock. With out them the lock becomes less than what it is being sold as. I found that all 4 of your deadbolts were missing their ball bearings. I replaced these parts for you.
Another problem that I found and corrected was the manner in which the deadbolts were mounted on the door. The bolt face was not mortised into the face of the door. Instead, the technician mounted the bolt face upon the edge of the door. This caused the entire lock body alignment to be offset and to fail to align with the cross bore hole. In order to correct this(the lock will not bolt on properly in this condition)the technician filed on the some of the holes and, when this did not fix the problem, forced the bolts in using vice-grip pliers. Installing locks in this manner will cause the lock to fail to operate properly and also causes the bolt face to strike against the door frame and strike plate. The bolt face must be installed flush with the edge of the door and the lock body must align properly with the cross bore holes. I redrilled the mounting holes for each deadbolt and also mortised the bolt faces so that they are now flush. I did this for all 4 doors, including the metal door in the utility room.
The last thing that we discussed was whether the strike plates that the technicians sold to you as substitutes for the heavy duty Multi Lock strikes were in fact stronger than the original. Also you asked why the heavy duty strike that came with the lever and locksets was not used. My answer to you was that the Mag strike is as strong as the original if they are installed properly. This would mean that they were aligned properly and stalled with at least 3″ screws. There is no reason for the lockset strikes not to be used. The technician simply did not want to do the extra work. I also found that the Mag strikes were not installed with 3″ screws. This in fact made them weaker than the original Multi Lock strikes. I installed the heavy duty lockset strikes that you found in the trash using 3″ screws and realigned and installed the Mag strikes with 3″ screws also.
Rekeying your 14 Multi Lock cylinders and reinstalling all of your locks and strikes took the better part of an entire day. They are now properly fitted to your doors, with all the necessary parts, and the strikes installed properly aligned and with sufficient clearance to prevent them being hit by the door and the lock bolt. The amount of attention that I gave to the work at hand should not be viewed as something extraordinary. I was simply doing what I was paid to do. What you trusted me to do. The fact that I love what I do is just an added benefit. This extra work would not have been necessary had the original technicians had the same high standards and respect for your hard-earned money. When you made the decision to invest in high security locks you believed in good faith that the company would do everything possible to fulfill the intent of the high security lock package that they were installing. Pxx a Lxxx failed you in every respect. The work that they did for you was of very poor quality and compromised your security. I hope that I have done everything possible to correct these shortcomings and that as a result you now have the confidence in your new locks that they are supposed to provide.
I will be seeing you again as soon as your captive keys arrive. Until then I hope that all is well.

Mike Wilson
VP Abbot’s Security Services
dba A-Abbot Safe and Lock
770 850 0150

Here is an article that I would like to share with you regarding surveillance camera issues.

With the recent events in Florida, we can now allow ourselves to hope that the “locksmith landscape” will see better times in the future. As the federal authorities investigate Dependable Locksmith, we can assume that the trail of fraud and deceit will lead them to Atlanta, we hope so anyway, and that there will be many arrests here as well. It is a fact that 80-90% of the advertisements that people view when looking for a locksmith in Atlanta are in fact tied to these types of companies. Customers deserve to know that when they are calling in need of such a personal service, they will be served by a technician who has been cleared by the authorities and approved by their peers. This in turn will give them the assurance that when a locksmith sells them a high security lock, like Multi Lock, they will indeed receive that product and not a cheap substitute,(refer to the customers invoice posted previously)or that a simple lockout will not turn into a multi-hundred dollar ordeal.
When we at Abbot Safe and Lock/Master Locksmith Co. set out to install Multi Lock high security locks on a customers home or business, there is never any doubt that they will receive the product promised and that it will be installed according to the most demanding standards. Trust me, there is more to installing a lock(especially a Multi Lock high security lock)than knocking a couple of holes in a door. There a several parts and steps that can be omitted in order for the technician to save time and effort. This type of attitude does not fly around here. When a customer decides to share their hard-earned money with us, they are damned sure going to get more than they pay for.We are going to work hard for that money. We use all the parts that are included in a lockset and do not skip steps during the installation. These types of practices would deprive our customers of the full quality of the products that they have entrusted us to install for them. We want to earn and keep our customers trust.
Now is the time for Georgia citizens to renew their efforts to call attention to this crime wave. Call the office of the attorney general and demand that they take action to protect Georgia’s citizens. If you feel that you have been victimized by one of these companies call the US Postal Inspectors office at: 877 876 2455
Even if you have not been a victim, call anyway. Don’t wait until it happens to you.
Keep it real,
Mike

Quotes from Money Drive Medicine
“..on average, those who receive more supply-driven care are no better off than similar patients who enjoy a certain degree of benign neglect.”
Dartmouth study-”..we believe that physicians, along with willing hospitals, are at the root of over treatment.”
“There’s a lot of money being made on things that don’t work well.”
..clinical trials are costly and not always practical. Moreover, ”
if you are making a ton of money being reimbursed by Medicare, the last thing you want to do is put your treatment to a test.” says Califf(Dr Califf, professor of medicine at Duke University)
“Clinical medicine is awash in novelty, but without the capacity to distinguish what truly works…THE EMPLOYER COMMUNITY, THE TAX-PAYING COMMUNITY and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services need to understand that THEIR COST PROBLEMS CAN BE TRACED TO A LARGE EXTENT, TO UNEVALUATED TECHNOLOGIES.”

This words make a good argument that for profit health care has run amok and we the people are receiving diminishing returns on the money spent on health care, both private and public.

Former Medicare administrator Vladeck “focusing on utilization permits both health care providers and payers to change the subject away from the more embarrassing discussion of who’s getting paid, by whom, and how much.” By blaming the consumer, we avoid flustering the many politicians who receive contributions from health care lobbyists.
Read the book Money-Driven Medicine by Maggie Mahar. We the people need to see through the fear mongering of the right wing pundits. The HIGHLY PAID pundits. (who’s getting paid, by whom, and how much?)At the same time we must be on guard against a poorly executed attempt at real reform. Anything less than breaking the back of the for profit health care industry, to include the insurance companies, the drug companies, and the corporate hospital companies, is not going to help. Stay in touch with your congressman or congresswoman and share these concerns with them.

Watch this video.

Read more about the raid on Dependable Locksmith here.