A-A Lock & Alarm

Got my key copied. It was quick and easy;
I was in an out within 20 minutes. Price was high but you pay for what you get...

Just had Richard re-key our house. He arrived timely and was quick, efficient and personable. Highly recommend!

Used to use AA exclusively. Now it's $320 to show up during regular business hours! Really expensive. They are locksmiths and not surgeons.

I needed to have some door locks changed quickly, and I was very happy with how fast A-A was able to come out (within 4 hours) and with the quality of their service. Austin was so nice and helpful. I also thought the charge was reasonable. Would definitely call A-A again.

These guys came to my rescue a few years ago. Unfortunately I got someone from their "B" team.

I hate to admit this, but one morning I walked out of my house to get something (without my phone), closed my door, and realized with a sinking feeling that I had just locked myself out. Yikes! I did not realize my door lock was in the locked position when I closed the door. D'oh! So I walked to one of the neighborhood stores that happen to be open at 8am and they called A-A Lock and Alarm for me. That was very nice.

The guy showed up pretty quickly. Yeh! In order to get me back in my house he drilled through the lock in the door handle. I am now able to get back in my house, yeh!

So I go to a local store that specializes in door hardware to get a replacement lock. The guy seems to be very knowledgable and is able to suggest an exact replacement for what I have. He also tells me two things:
1) The locksmith should not have had to drill the lock out in order to get me back into my house. Really?!
2) The locksmith damaged the door lever too much when he drilled out the lock, so now I need to get a complete replacement door lever/handle. Really?! I can see the damage myself. I SHOULD have been able to just buy a new lock to replace the one that was drilled out.

Needless to say, I called someone else to install the new door lever/lock.

Just incredible. I called this morning around 8:30am after our spare keys were stolen. Chris came within an hour and tackled our very old, very annoying front door re-key. First of all - the hardware was a frankenstein mess. Second, the hardware was falling apart and multiple other specialists had tried and failed to fix it. It's now just about an hour after Chris got here. The door is rekeyed, the frankenstein hardware mess is sorted out and our front door is fully functional for the first time in years. And it's not even 11am! Quick, thoughtful, effective, creative problem-solving service. We could not have asked for anything more. So, so, so glad we called A-A Lock.

I used this service several times over many years with great results. Unfortunately my recent experience with them was a bust.

The very knowledgeable technician arrived on time. But the information he had about my work order was not correct, and his order included lots of extra work that I did not ask for. But he was friendly and agreed to re-key only the locks that I needed.

But once inside, he came up with about a dozen "security hazards" and "ideas" regarding other locks and door handles in my house. He casually asked if I'd like him to fix these and I said yes. In retrospect, it was my fault to trust him and not confirm the cost before he started working.

At the end of the very long visit my bill had grown from a $500 re-keying to a $2000 for all of the "extras". You can imagine my shock when I heard this price at the end of the job!

I paid, but after a week, I was still feeling bad about it and decided to call the management just to let them know Amy my experience, and hopefully prevent other customers from getting an unpleasant surprise bill.

Mr. McLaughlin, the owner (for 35 years, he let me know), was surprisingly extremely defensive from the very start of my phone call. He blamed me for what happened and had really no interest in my displeasure with the surprise aspect of this bill. I suggested that he just tell his employees to quote prices when suggesting extra services, and he was offended that I would tell him how to run his business (when he has 35 years experience). While I was giving him my email address, I cleared my throat, and he called me condescending for making this noise. Seems like he was just trying to provoke a fight with me, a repeat customer!

I will not go here again. The thing is that the technician was so nice and was just doing his job. The manager/owner is who completely turned me off to this business. If I hadn't called to complain about the surprise bill, I never would have know about this defensive and un-empathetic owner.

Great service. Quick and knowledgeable. True experts and friendly willing to explain.

We needed some help with a bunch of miscellaneous door knobs, locks, deadbolts etc. These folks were very helpful - I explained the different issues and considerations, they made suggestions and we scheduled a visit. They were punctual, did the work correctly, cleanly and without any surprises. So very happy with their work!

Ben was extremely friendly and a very skilled individual. I appreciate Ben for taking the time to fully inspect each door and teaching me what was going on each situation (door). He took the time to share his insights and gave advice to the best of his abilities.

Thank you Ben!

From Earnin.
Palo Alto