We have warned consumers many times over the past 5 years about the slew of scammer companies posing as locksmiths ripping off victims, all across the United States and Canada.
These perpetrators are now invading many other countries operating similar scam operations in Australia, New Zealand, Great Brittain and other European countries.
This news is not really news to the locksmith industry but thanks to the Network Television companies, like #ABC, prime time television now has provided a much wider net to expose the shenanigans.
My good friend and colleague, Mike Bronzell of All Hours Locksmiths in Chicago, has been one of the leading voices exposing these crooks for the last 10 years. I joined Mike about 5 years ago in Chicago to watch a case filed against Dependable Locksmiths by the Illinois Dept Of Professional Regulation. that prosecuted one David Peer for running a similar scam company. (the court found the company guilty of fraud and fined them and cancelled their business licenses, but they simply popped up again under a different name to continue their victimizations. Just this year, in February we discovered that all charges against this company had been dropped and the judgement overturned due to improper court procedures)
The leader of the company operating these scams has finally been exposed, thanks to the in depth investigation and reporting by the team at #ABC's The Lookout, a highly acclaimed television series developed to provide the marketplace with expose's on many ripoff artists scamming consumers across the USA.
Meni Agababayev is the name of the owner of this company. (see the video after the jump)
The video above is the whole episode from this weeks #ABC's The Lookout, but the actual story we are referring to runs for the first 20 minutes.
IF YOU WANT TO BE RIPPED OFF CALL CREVE COEUR LOCKSMITH http://www.crevecoeurlocksmith.com/ !!! Unprofessional technicians! All they used was a hanger looking wire that took 30 minutes to do. Technician used a cellphone held by my husband to try to do the job. Advertised 15 minute response time but plan on them showing up with excuses 2 hrs later without even a phone call. You'll have to call them to find out where your technician is. DO NOT BELIEVE THE PRICE THEY QUOTE YOU!!!! I paid 130 twice what I was told and the 15 percent offered is a joke they don't apply it to anything. Don't bother calling to speak to anyone of importance you'll just speak to the same two people who talk rude and hang up on you and can't tell you where any of the extra charges came from because 130 for using a coat hanger for 30 mins and being 2 hrs late everywhere else would be less than a hundred. The Tech even said he deserved a tip I walked off. If you are in a bad situation don't worry they'll take advantage of you and make you feel like you were robbed! Try any other locksmith but them.
ReplyDeleteThis article gives the light in which we can observe the reality. This is very nice one and gives indepth information. Thanks for this nice article. new castle rekey locks
ReplyDeleteThe company that formerly used the domain listed above has since closed down. They were involved with a ring of scammer operations ripping off unsuspecting clients. They were prosecuted under Federal Wire Fraud charges and closed down. They were connected with a former operation known as Dependable Locksmiths, a mafia connected Russian led outfit that were known for scamming customers across the USA and Canada. The report in the article explained about them. Professional locksmith companies will estimate total pricing, often over the phone.
ReplyDeleteSince closing their operation the domain has been purchased by someone else and we believe are no longer in any way connected