Yet another of our valued customers has been duped by a rogue trader posing as Gloucester Locksmiths. Please read for more information as to how to avoid this, or alternatively contact us by phone: 01452 306824 or visit us in-store at Quedgeley.
Yet another of our valued customers has been duped by a rogue trader posing as Gloucester Locksmiths. The work requested was not carried out and the work that was done was appalling. Despite this, money was taken from our customer’s account but apparently, these imposters, ‘Don’t do refunds’!
We urge people to check that the contact details, especially the telephone number, of a company are correct before engaging them to do work on your behalf. If in doubt, check our website, which shows our permanent and clearly named premises in Sabre Close, Quedgeley. These rogues may at the moment be legally entitled to trade under our established name, or similar, but they also pretend to be us. They will pretend to be based in Quedgeley, or will often attempt to impersonate our staff.
They know that people can easily be conned like this, which is why they are doing it.
We are working to get this malpractice declared illegal and to get fraudsters who are breaking existing laws prosecuted, but this will take time. In the meantime, people need to be aware of what is happening. It's not just happening to locksmiths, but across a range of trades, especially those offering an emergency call out element.
Here are some tips to protect you:
Gloucester Locksmiths has a landline number: 01452 306824. Only call a mobile number if it has been given to you from a genuine source eg. from our 'out of hours' message service received via our landline, or directly from a known staff member.
Gloucester Locksmiths DO NOT REQUEST CARD DETAILS IN ADVANCE. You don't hand your cash or card details over to supermarkets until you're at the checkout and happy with your purchases. Don't pay up front for work that has not been done.
Gloucester Locksmiths provides customers with professional paperwork and receipts . Our details are clearly shown. Some of these companies operate from multiple addresses, many of which are false, or belong to other people. Many do not provide receipts!
Unfortunately, if you have already got to the stage where you are being refused an invoice or receipt, you have probably already been conned. Contact Trading Standards. The more people who do so, the greater the chance that they will take action. If you thought you were using us and were misled by one of these rogues, please also let us know. We are gathering evidence against them.
Try and establish whether a company is genuinely trading from the address given. Seach online for the details.
If getting a company's contact details from Yellow Pages, or similar, check to see if telephone numbers are duplicated or differ only by one digit in other adverts. You will probably see this across several adverts, all appearing to be different to one another. It's a con.
Be aware that Yellow Pages and other advertising directories, are not in business to protect consumers and they do not check the details of these traders.
We do not have a main advert in Yellow Pages anymore - and this is one of the reasons! You will find our listing in the Master Locksmith Association (MLA) advert of approved locksmiths (in the back section)
We hope this will help keep you safe. Please share this, so that we can make everyone aware of this growing problem.