Fortresslocksmiths24h Reviews 

SCAM. CROOK. DO NOT CALL. DOES NOT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT LOCKS. “12 years of experience” and couldn’t open a door that took another locksmith 5 minutes to do.

£65 for a call out if the jobs simple enough. I know for a fact the job is, so fine. Comes over and tries telling me that he needs to break the lock and will charge me £250 for it. Claims that it’s because it’s the highest security lock in the market, which is a lie. I go back and forth, telling him he doesn’t need to break it - it’s just a matter of picking the lock (it wasn’t locked, I just closed the door and left the key inside and it’s one of those doors with no handles). He refuses and keeps telling me that he’s “the locksmith” and he has 12 years of experience. Makes me doubt myself and I call my property manager’s out-of-hours hotline. They confirm that it doesn’t need breaking the lock.

I go back to him to tell him that he doesn’t need to break the lock. He tells me that there’s no other way. I ask him to leave, and he says I have to pay him 65 pounds. We said on the phone that if the job is simple enough, he’ll do it—and he hasn’t done it. And I am 100% sure it’s simple, so either he’s scamming me or he genuinely is a terrible locksmith with no knowledge as to how to open simple locks that are perhaps more advanced than the old traditional ones (mine is the ERA lock). We get into a fight about the money, because I was refusing to pay him £65 when he said he can do simple jobs. I wanted to pay him £30 maximum £40 for him coming - but not 65 for what was promised as the fee for doing something quick. Tries to threaten me with the cops, tries telling me that I’m stealing from him, tries to intimidate me. We get into a long heated debate, and then he starts telling me that he’s going to charge me £250 pounds for this next appointment that he’s missing. If I don’t pay in the next five minutes, I’ll be charged for the full hour of the other appointment. I told him I’m not paying that and he doesn’t need to miss any appointments. Kept trying to find some sort of settlement with him, and eventually I give him the 65 because I had no will to argue anymore (at that point I’ve been waiting at my door for 4 hours, and was already back from a long day at work). This was 15 minutes after his previous threat of increasing my fee, which adds to the scam. Even if I had been wrong up until this point, I knew he was scamming me still.

He leaves and the other locksmith I arranged comes shortly after. I swear to you, this locksmith looks at it and takes out his tools. IN FIVE MINUTES, I’m in my flat. No need to break any lock. No need to pay a huge amount of money. Not scammed.

You’re better off trusting yourself with the tools than trusting this guy. Will just take your money and pretend like he knows what he’s doing when he doesn’t. Absolute horrendous. NEVER hire him.

I called out this company to a property that had been burgled.
They charged GBP 920.40 to apparently change the locks and make the front door safe ( I was not present at the property - it is a rented flat)
The work they did was terrible, and my builders told me the next day that they had re-used the existing locks....
It gets WORSE.
When I received my credit card statement the charge of £920.40 had gone through TWICE.
- I still do not have the refund and have now passed it to the fraud department of my bank

This company are crooks. On 25.6.22, my 77-year-old mother, got locked out of her home in Luton at approx. 20:00. She looked on her mobile for a locksmith and contacted Fortress Locksmiths24h Watford, which was one of the first links to appear on Google Search.
The man arrived and was there for approximately 2 hours. He gave her no quote and just charged her at the end for £842.40. I have a copy of the invoice, which has a registration number: 13751868. The breakdown of the charges are: Open door by drill - £189; replacement High Security(?) lock (with 3 keys) - £285; labour - £129; emergency call out fee - £99. Total - £702 + £140.40 VAT = £842.40.
Although the fitter said he was from Watford, the address on the invoice is:-
49 Queen Street
Newmarket
CB8 8EX
Tel - 02077106957

I tried calling the number on the invoice to discuss the reason for the ridiculously high price and he wasn't helpful at all, stating that it was a Saturday, and the price reflected the 'whole experience' and the fact that 'they come promptly'.

Everyone I have spoken to about my mum's experience have been horrified by the price. I am angry that it seems some unscrupulous and uncertified person/s has taken advantage of my mum in a vulnerable situation, causing her to use up about 1/3 of her life's savings.

My Mum did contact another company called 'Fortress Locksmiths' in Blackburn, to tell them that this unscrupulous company in Newmarket/Watford is trading under the same name. She said that the man at the Blackburn company knew exactly what she was talking about and that the other company was well known for being involved in scams. My mum sent them ( the Blackburn company) a copy of the invoice and photos of the lock the scammers had installed. This (below) is what the reputable, MLA (Master Locksmiths Association) member 'Fortress Locksmiths Ltd (Blackburn) wrote in an email regarding the scammers that are trading under the same name: -

Hi Carol,

Firstly I would again like to apologise on behalf of all our profession in regards to your experience.

Further to our telephone conversation and the pictures that you sent I am in no doubt that what happened to you amounts to theft or fraud by misrepresentation.

As a bit of background information I run a highly successful locksmith training academy in addition to my own well established locksmith business 'FORTRESS LOCKSMITHS BLACKBURN'

From the information you have provided you had left the key on the inside of the door and pulled the door to, becoming 'locked out'.

Even a locksmith new to the trade would know that you would not need a new cylinder and the door could have been opened with very basic locksmith tools such as a letterbox tool, mica card or even a door spreader. The door was not technically locked as it operates on a nightlatch function, which means that even though the handle can be pushed down you still need the key to retract the latch from the outside, again this is confirmed by the lever/pad handle on the external side from the pictures you sent.

The thing I have issue with most is that you have effectively been charged twice for the supply and fitting of a 'high security' cylinder (£285 + £129 + VAT) , I believe this falls way short of the trade description as what he gave you was a standard 'Maxus' cylinder, it does not meet at the very least TS:007 1 star rating, but I personally would only describe a cylinder as 'high security' if it met TS:007 3 star rating.

As you have paid by debit card I am happy for you to take a copy of this email to your bank as I am hoping they will act in good faith and at least reimburse you partial payment, because even debit card transactions do come with some protection against fraud and theft and it is my professional opinion that you did not receive what you have paid for. Also feel free to forward this to trading standards, police and any other relevant organisations needed.

If anyone needs to contact me for any further information or advice feel free to give my details -
Seth Ryden
Fortress Locksmiths Blackburn

This is why locksmiths should be a regulated profession. This company should be AVOIDED at all costs. I have already reported to Action Fraud and will contact Trading Standards and then a legal company to claim back the money unlawfully and fraudulently taken from my mother. If anyone reading this can give any further advice or help, please reach out and contact me. Thanks.

I'm rating 1 star because I don't have the option of not putting none.
This company is an absolutely joke.
We've been charge £614.40 for a change lock and the lock (which in the original website of the brand is not more than £50.00), we'd been quoted no more than £90.00 for everything over the phone when we called.
The guy that change it was just saying that our door was very bad. And that he was amazing and was doing an incredible job in our door.
We contacted them by email claiming for the big invoice and after some attents we managed a response saying that the charge was correct and they offered us a 10% discount for the next time (as if we were going to call them again). We emailed again and up until today nothing.
All of this happened on the 9th of April 2022, today 20.05.22 that same lock has fallen from the door.
We have called again, several times and finally manage to speak with a guy call Mark whose customer service skills are the worse I've ever encounter in my life. Asked to speak with a manager, no manager in the office, asked for a number no number, I've been told to sent another email as apparently is the only way the managers can comunicate in this joke of a company, but also they will reply in around 2 weeks, as I said customer service at its finnest. And on top of that because I was extremely angry this Mark guy tells me to go to Tesco to try to speak with a manager and see what happens.
NEVER EVER, EVEN IF YOU HAVE TO SLEEP IN YOUR DOORSTEP CALL THIS COMPANY.
Oh and I know that no one will be in touch with me, but in case some manager of the company decides to read it I have proves of everything above stated.

AVOID AVOID. Beware the website, I was fooled by the words affordable, turned out to be anything but. Emergency call out at 6pm on 12th March 22. I was miles away and tenant was stuck inside flat and could not get the front door to open. Did a google search was impressed with their website and called Fortresslocksmiths24h. He arrived about 7pm and left at 7.59 and I was £870 poorer.
Cost to drilling rim lock and breaking night latch £260, New lock £230, Labour £85, Call out fee £50, VAT £145 . Total £870.
He crossed off the VAT number yet still charged VAT. I queried price, got no real answer. I queried VAT and number, was told they were waiting to be registered. I emailed and asked for the vat number and an explanation of costs, eventually got a VAT number but nothing else.
Lesson learnt. Always check out a company first, even when in a slight panic. And if you ever need a locksmith, steer well clear of FortressLocksmith24hr.

I asked them to come in the morning for a outside door I could not open. I was told that the "call out charge " was £45. Fine. I was expecting that fee. The guy was here for 20 minutes. He did open the lock. He did not tell me what the cost would be to fix it. Charged me a total of £224.40 for a 20 min job without letting me know the total cost before proceeding. Not ok .
Call out: £49
Opening the door: £55( He just twisted the lock with a special key took 2 seconds)
Adjustments: £83
Add VAT total £224.40
When I called to query the cost the guy on the other side was not helpful or understanding

Avoid this company. They would rip you off.

I was taken advantage of by this company in my hour of need and charged a huge sum of money for a new lock. I don't (didn't) know what is a lot for a new front door lock, so when he said "you're lock is really good - do you want the same or a cheap one" I said I'd like the same. To which he replied that will cost £711. I had just been broken into and it was urgent I replaced the locks so I agreed. It was only after I did some research and realised new locks actually cost about £50. I feel stupid - but I want to make sure other people don't fall for this. The guy was very confident so I guess he does this all the time.

I will remove this review if Fortress Locksmiths 24h own up to this being a mistake and refund me the amount I have been overcharged.