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For clarity, what you mean by "lock" vs "cylinder"? (I think for most people who have eurocylinder based locks these terms are synonymous)
Joiner lost my house key..... what's reasonable?
- Thread starter phatboy
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Everyone's different, when I was made redundant in about 2009 I ran off some leaflets on the company photocopier and distributed them all around the local area, I got a call soon after from someone who wanted drawings for an extension, within a few days I was at his house surveying it, all on my todd, pop the key through the letterbox when finished, complete trust, all he had was my mobile, company wasn't even formed let alone registered etc, there's plenty of straight people out there. I've done dozens of similar surveys since, I think it's sad the paranoia people seem to feel these days about their fellow man. I would also be happy with just a replacement key.
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These is a lock
This is a multipoint mechanism
This is a lock case (without cylinder)
This is actually a latch, though some people call it a lock
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I've had customer keys many times and worked on houses while they were away. Kind of house sitting I guess.
Picking a key up tomorrow for Tuesday job, as they are at work until dinner time.
I'll put key on my own key set.
I've got a few keys in a tin that somehow I forgot to hand back, with no Idea who owns them. Ha
Worst thing in someone's home, is me coming down stairs from toilet as they arrive home having been out.
I always flush and dash down stairs Vs it being quiet and me coming down.
I don't touch nothing or open doors or even look about. People seem to trust me but I'd say only 30% do until they get to know me.
Tradesmen can now get a DBS for £18 showing they don't have convictions. I've got one and I encourage other tradesmen to get one and advertise the fact
In the case of this missing key, a DBS would help the op I think. Maybe?
.gov site is best place to get DBS. Took 3 days..
Picking a key up tomorrow for Tuesday job, as they are at work until dinner time.
I'll put key on my own key set.
I've got a few keys in a tin that somehow I forgot to hand back, with no Idea who owns them. Ha
Worst thing in someone's home, is me coming down stairs from toilet as they arrive home having been out.
I always flush and dash down stairs Vs it being quiet and me coming down.
I don't touch nothing or open doors or even look about. People seem to trust me but I'd say only 30% do until they get to know me.
Tradesmen can now get a DBS for £18 showing they don't have convictions. I've got one and I encourage other tradesmen to get one and advertise the fact
In the case of this missing key, a DBS would help the op I think. Maybe?
.gov site is best place to get DBS. Took 3 days..
DBS only means you have never been actually caught.
Down here, it's very unusual to suffer theft (Unless you leave things lying in public).
It was an unfortunate situation of our boat being cancelled so having to leave sooner, and we had the guy booked and didn't want to stitch him up as we had agreed a date.
OK thanks, it's a eurocylinder (Well 2 in fact). How does this change things, though?
Would you change the locks every time that you hand a key to a tradesman? These days even the Banham keys with the dimples can legally be duplicated by any key shop.
By that I mean that pretty much any tradesman with a key could get it copied.
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I wouldn't give a key to a tradesman.
Fair enough.
I have keys for a number of customer's homes.
Some of my customers spend substantial amounts of time away from home. Me having keys means that if something goes wrong, I can turn up and deal with it whilst they are still away. I also have the opportunity to do disruptive work whilst they are away.
An example that springs to mind is a customer in Barnes. I was on my way to work elsewhere one Sunday morning in December last year. They phoned me to tell me that they had a massive leak which had knocked out the electrics and that the cat sitter was sitting in front of the gas fire trying to keep warm, but she had to leave in a couple of hours. I turned up, restored electricity to most of the house, and water to parts of the house, and more importantly, I was there to let the emergency plumber in.
Tomorrow, I will let myself in to repair the doors on the summer house (they left London on Saturday).
From a security point of view, I prefer it when customers assign me an individual code for the house alarm. If ever anyone ever entered using a key, they would not know my alarm code, and I would not know anyone else's code.
I have no problem with customers not giving me a key. I would rather not have to worry about looking after a key, but if I don't have a key, I want them to be in the house most of the time. If I come across something unforeseen that requires me to pop down to a local supplier I am going to be rather miffed if I have to sit there twiddling my thumbs until they return.
Mind you, I had one occasion where I didn't have a key, or the alarm code. I was working in the attic conversion painting MDF cabinets. The nanny popped out with the baby. I can down to pop out for a cigarette. The nanny had forgotten that I was there and set the alarm. I walked down the stairs the alarm went off. I had a visual image of the old Bill turning up and me trying to talk to them through the letterbox, them then kicking the door in and hauling me off. I remember that I had been served a cup of tea in a mug with his company details on. I rifled through the cupboards and eventually got the code form him.
And no, that isn't me be paranoid. Two years earlier a customer had given me keys to start early monday morning. I turned up, opened the front door, heard the beeping noise and I immediately rang the local police station, explaining that I was there to paint cabinets but the customer had forgotten to leave the alarm off. Four minutes after I hung up, a blue light police car pulled on to the drive, they could see my dust extractor and sanders. I told them that I had already phoned their station. They were in full on "throw the cuffs on", then, fortunately, a message came over their radio telling them that I had phoned them. At that point they became polite and explained that I could enter without worrying about the alarm because the sounder would not start again.
It means you only have to buy, and change, a couple of cylinders, which is much cheaper, easier and quicker than changing the locks.
They come in various grades.
If the old ones were very expensive, you can keep them, and the keys, for your next house, or give them to a family member or other person who trusts you when they move house. The key thing, IMO, is that nobody else knows what address the keys fit. A useful trick is to put a label with the phone number or contact details of somebody else on the keyring, so that a finder will not know where to go to break in.
My personal preference is for lever locks, to the British Standard, than which you will find none better, but these can also have the levers changed at modest cost
But what happens when you do get caught - do they come round and take your DBS certificate away? Nope! I have an enhanced one and if I was ever prosecuted for an offence that would affect me, the (The DBS) would contact my employer and notify them. I am my employer!
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