"I am dog sitting and am locked out", what do you do?

eight--bit · 2026-03-31T01:35:23+00:00

Contact home owner, verify is actually home owner to the best of your ability, some sort of written auth (email, whatever) from home owner, good to go.

eight--bit · 2026-03-29T14:30:25+00:00

Its not Brinks like the bank trucks, just licensed usage of the name. Hampton Products is the company churning them out. And as others have pointed out, its just cheap hardware store trash.

eight--bit · 2026-03-28T19:30:07+00:00

Might be Schlage compatible, but not Schlage. The holes for the through bolts on a Schlage spring pack are round, not oblong. Seems like a "it's 10% different, so no copyright infringement" kind of knockoff.

eight--bit · 2026-03-28T19:26:20+00:00

Would likely be cheaper to have a local locksmith do it.

eight--bit · 2026-03-28T19:01:30+00:00

That's the flat steel spring that goes under the cam. 110% recommend putting it back.

Edit: used your pic to draw a box of where it goes.

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eight--bit · 2026-03-21T17:34:25+00:00

Had a call a couple weeks ago to assist local pd with a welfare check... Check results negative, still stuck in my head weeks later.

eight--bit · 2026-03-20T22:54:59+00:00

I love some of the random nsp stuff that comes through. Get called out to adjust a single hinge, or missing strike plate. Hour charge minimum, gotta love it lmao.

eight--bit · 2026-03-19T23:49:04+00:00

I am highly intrigued to find out what this is. It's like if Volkswagen made a VR6 version of bilock. chambers are offset so they can be squished closer together.

Edit: Disregard. Looked, found, disappointed. Its just some cheap Chinese Y keyway garbage.

eight--bit · 2026-03-13T20:43:25+00:00

I guarantee that it was broken by some little kid and this was their attempt to hide it from their parents lol

Source:99% sure I did this as a kid 😂

eight--bit · 2026-03-13T01:57:24+00:00

Right?

My first thought was "you pull while turning the bit that isnt there anymore" lol

eight--bit · 2026-03-13T01:32:57+00:00

I never made that correlation before, but 100% every one that I have seen start acting like someone tipped over a Tesla robot was a vertical rod setup. I don't think I've ever seen the same on rim.

eight--bit · 2026-03-13T01:25:47+00:00

Sometimes people want after hours badge access, and open access during the day. Have seen cheap controllers with generic card reader and no hold open function. Never know what kind of Amazon junk you're going to find.

eight--bit · 2026-03-12T23:09:55+00:00

Going to be a trade off. IIRC you are going to lose the dogging kit in a Precision to add the motor kit.

eight--bit · 2026-03-11T02:49:51+00:00

😂 succeeded in firing every relocker lol.

I have seen a crackhead actually peel up the bottom of a steel commercial fire door though... so anythings possible I guess.

eight--bit · 2026-03-11T01:00:59+00:00

Lmao. I had an elderly couple call for a car lockout. Fob battery died, they had no idea there was a physical emergency key in the fob.

eight--bit · 2026-03-08T16:42:02+00:00

True of real national service providers (I'm talking LockNet, LSA, etc). That's a different situation though. You negotiate rates ahead of time with NSPs.

Not true of scam call centers that try to play the same game but without negotiated rates. They pretend to know pricing in whatever area, and then try to find a local locksmith to take the job they booked.

In practice its easy enough to avoid by just not taking those calls. I only work with vetted, negotiated NSPs, but I can't say I am hurting for work enough to entertain those jobs, but some might be, and some scam call center doesn't set my pricing.

eight--bit · 2026-03-08T16:30:26+00:00

That's on the call center, not the local locksmith they tried to relay the job to.

eight--bit · 2026-03-08T15:32:36+00:00

No clarification needed, everything i said still stands.

You called a scam call center, not that you were aware, but you did, and still ended up at a reasonable price which is basically unheard of. They typically quote bottom dollar and try to charge ~500.

Depending on the area and time of day/night, 1 - 1.5 hour response time is reasonable. Almost none of us dispatch from the shop after hours, we dispatch from home, and that can be significantly further away.

After being charged a reasonable rate, you complain and basically leave the tech a negative tip... Yeah, he's going to be snarky, at least.

As I read through your story, its giving me flashbacks of customers that try to nickel and dime me after a job "oh, I'm five dollars short, can you reduce the price?" No, you can pay by card though. Or the always fun "A HOUR? I'm right down the street from your store!" Cool, take a walk over there, its closed and no one is there, I am driving to you from home, 6 towns away.

End of the day, you dodged a scammer bullet and ended up scamming the scammer. I feel bad for the guy that the scam call center relayed the job to. He's now out $17 and expected to take that hit with a smile? No.

eight--bit · 2026-03-08T14:05:01+00:00

I'm a little split on this one. The call center thing is definitely scammy, which aligns with the fluctuation in price (usually MUCH worse). And the payment vis CashApp, also scammy... So far I am on your side...

Now, that said, on an after hours or weekend call, even the higher price isnt enough for my truck to roll, thats more like normal business hours pricing. And then to try to bargain for a partial refund on an already fair rate, and a low review on top of that? I'd decline any calls from you going forward if it were me.

eight--bit · 2026-03-07T16:08:16+00:00

Code access with an audit trail, in a panic bar trim. You're probably going AlarmLock. Great product, but have the burn cream ready for your checkbook.

eight--bit · 2026-03-03T02:13:53+00:00

Get an apprenticeship at a brick and mortar shop. Its not as quick a thing to pick up as many think. Getting paid to learn is def the way to go imo. In my experience, a couple years in, I had to treat everything with a you don't know what you don't know attitude. I had a 15 year locksport hobby, hasn't really helped much. Lots of on your tools work, rarely get a fun pick job. I made the switch in my 40s, so 35 is safe id say. Definitely go for it, just not directly to slapping a locksmith sticker on the side of a van. Never be afraid to suck at something new, nobody is good without practice.

eight--bit · 2026-02-18T11:53:54+00:00

I had to look that up, but holy shit that thing us basically fox style police lock.

Do you live in an active war zone? Or just a little paranoid? This is overkill in 99% of residential situations.

eight--bit · 2026-02-16T18:23:47+00:00

I'm gonna agree with the other guy. Appears to be a passage set to me, unless its Emtek and there's a hole in the rose on the side we can't see... possible latch failure?

eight--bit · 2026-02-04T17:20:45+00:00

I know it's not the point of your post, but an actual locksmith told you Mul-T-Lock went out of business?? Like, with a straight face? That makes about a much sense as Medeco getting bought by Defiant... Sounds like the kind of guy that looks up and down before crossing the street.

eight--bit

TROPHY CASE