So I had a coffee table delivered early Sunday morning to replace the one moving company broke. As I'm getting ready to kick back and watch some football I decide to take out the boxes that the table came in. Well, as I take the box outside the door shuts close behind me and I realize that I don't have the key.
First, momentary panic attack hits me, as I realize that it's sunday and nobody from the building management is around. I quickly calm myself down, thinking that this must happen all the time and there must be a procedure for this. I knock on my neighbor's door, explaining the situation to them. They kindly invite me in and we start brainstorming a way to get back in.
Together we find out an emergency number for the building management, who refer me to the locksmith, who should be able to get me in easily. I page the locksmith several times - no response. Ok, no biggie, now that I know a locksmith can help me I find the number of the first available locksmith in yellow pages and call them. They promise to send somebody over within 30 minutes.
Well, after chating with my neighbor (who turns out to be an ex New Yorker as well) for 30 minutes the "locksmith" (and I'm using the term locksmith loosely here) arrives. He procedes to drill the lock and that was the first surprise. I'm thinking "shouldn't they be able to pop the lock without damaging it", but what do I know so I keep my mouth shut.
He explains that he needs to drill enough to take a couple of pins out and that's it. Well, after he took the pins out the door still doesn't open, so now he starts to get frustrated. He starts drilling holes all over the lock, hitting it with his screw driver. The lock still wouldn't open. After about 2 and a half hours (I'll spare you the details) he manages to take the lock out and I'm finally in.
At this point I cannot think clearly anymore. I'm starving, in dire need of sleep and I need to use the bathroom really bad. He presents me with a bill of $170, saying that he'll bring a replacement lock early tomorrow and replace it free of charge. At that point I'm thinking that $170 sounds like a fare price to pay for my stupidity and I just want to go to sleep. I write him a check, he thanks me and promises to call me first thing in the morning to arrange for the new lock installation.
Well, like most of you probably guessed by now - there is no word from our "locksmith" in the morning. I run down to the building manager's office to explain the situation. Well, to my surprise I find out that there were several much easier ways to get into my apartment. For starters, her daughter was in the office on Sunday and she had the master key. Furthermore, she had her cell phone number posted and I should've just called that.
Well, if you think that's the end of it - you're wrong. The building manager gets a "building approved" locksmith to come over and take a look at the carnage. First of all, the locksmith says that there was no need whatsoever to cause that kind of damage to the lock. Secondly, as it turns out the "locksmith wanna be" made a lot of damage to the lock cylinder. So now the new locksmith will have to order several other parts to get the whole thing to work.
The locksmith was pretty amazed at how somebody can cause that kind of damage and was pretty vocal how whoever did this had no clue what the hell they were doing. At this point I'm afraid to even think how much this whole thing is going to cost me. Firstly, I'm really frustrated with myself for now calling the manager. I'm sure as soon as the frustration wears off I'll start thinking about the ways of getting my money back from the original rookie locksmith.
First, momentary panic attack hits me, as I realize that it's sunday and nobody from the building management is around. I quickly calm myself down, thinking that this must happen all the time and there must be a procedure for this. I knock on my neighbor's door, explaining the situation to them. They kindly invite me in and we start brainstorming a way to get back in.
Together we find out an emergency number for the building management, who refer me to the locksmith, who should be able to get me in easily. I page the locksmith several times - no response. Ok, no biggie, now that I know a locksmith can help me I find the number of the first available locksmith in yellow pages and call them. They promise to send somebody over within 30 minutes.
Well, after chating with my neighbor (who turns out to be an ex New Yorker as well) for 30 minutes the "locksmith" (and I'm using the term locksmith loosely here) arrives. He procedes to drill the lock and that was the first surprise. I'm thinking "shouldn't they be able to pop the lock without damaging it", but what do I know so I keep my mouth shut.
He explains that he needs to drill enough to take a couple of pins out and that's it. Well, after he took the pins out the door still doesn't open, so now he starts to get frustrated. He starts drilling holes all over the lock, hitting it with his screw driver. The lock still wouldn't open. After about 2 and a half hours (I'll spare you the details) he manages to take the lock out and I'm finally in.
At this point I cannot think clearly anymore. I'm starving, in dire need of sleep and I need to use the bathroom really bad. He presents me with a bill of $170, saying that he'll bring a replacement lock early tomorrow and replace it free of charge. At that point I'm thinking that $170 sounds like a fare price to pay for my stupidity and I just want to go to sleep. I write him a check, he thanks me and promises to call me first thing in the morning to arrange for the new lock installation.
Well, like most of you probably guessed by now - there is no word from our "locksmith" in the morning. I run down to the building manager's office to explain the situation. Well, to my surprise I find out that there were several much easier ways to get into my apartment. For starters, her daughter was in the office on Sunday and she had the master key. Furthermore, she had her cell phone number posted and I should've just called that.
Well, if you think that's the end of it - you're wrong. The building manager gets a "building approved" locksmith to come over and take a look at the carnage. First of all, the locksmith says that there was no need whatsoever to cause that kind of damage to the lock. Secondly, as it turns out the "locksmith wanna be" made a lot of damage to the lock cylinder. So now the new locksmith will have to order several other parts to get the whole thing to work.
The locksmith was pretty amazed at how somebody can cause that kind of damage and was pretty vocal how whoever did this had no clue what the hell they were doing. At this point I'm afraid to even think how much this whole thing is going to cost me. Firstly, I'm really frustrated with myself for now calling the manager. I'm sure as soon as the frustration wears off I'll start thinking about the ways of getting my money back from the original rookie locksmith.
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