Do Ethics & Integrity Hurt us or Help Us?

I never thought this question would even occur to me and it makes me feel sad that it does. Do ethics and integrity hurt us or help us or is it true that the good guys come in last?

This year Flam's lock and key will be celebrating 60 years in business and there is no question we have survived this long not just because of our knowledge but because of our high ethical standards and reputation built on trust. But we have been experiencing a change during this long recession that is disheartening and I would love your feedback.

As a business that is real estate based we have been hurt in this recession as is the case with most trades. But we have seen a lot of our business being lost to scam artists, both with shops and mobile only services that quote a cheap service call and than rip you off when they arrive at your home or business.

What has changed is not the existence of these companies but the numbers of them and the increase in how many consumers have hired them in the last 5 years.

Do many go out of business? The answer is yes, but when so many more are taking a little piece of the pie it adds up to a lot less business for the good guys.

Just last week I got another call asking how much our service call was and how much it would cost to replace 4 locks. When I asked him why he thought he needed new locks he said he just moved in and didn't want the old key to work. I told him he just needed them re-keyed, an inexpensive fact that the other locksmiths didn't tell him. I just saved him hundreds of dollars but when I told him our service call was $79.50 ( about $30.00 more than other quotes) he said we were too expensive and hung up.

Then there are the home or office lockouts, the infamous of all rip offs when the cheaper companies tell you they can't pick your lock so they can charge you to drill it, bill you for a new lock and labor to install. It even gets better when they drill out a decent quality lock , replace it with a cheap lock and charge you 3 to 4 times more for the lock.

The list goes on but the story for today is the apartment owner who wanted a quote to redo the master system on his building. Our bid was $1,900 and we lost it to a locksmith who bid $900.00. How do we know this? Because the locksmith who got the job knew master key systems were not his forte and came in to ask Jack to check the system he created. The address of the building was on his paperwork so Jack asked him what he charged. long story short, on his system every 3rd apartment would have been on the same key. So not only was the apartment owner throwing away $900.00 but he was increasing his liability a thousand fold.

Again, nothing new under the sun but as we struggle to stay above water(and we will) I find my tolerance decreasing and my fear increasing.

Our reputation is everything, especially in security, and we will not sacrifice our standards to increase our sales, we would rather close our doors!

It is the consumer who chooses us because they trust our ethics and therefore do not question our price that we remain eternally grateful. They know we are not 'bubba's' because we can't always quote them on the phone and they don't hire us because we 'smell good' or arrive on time ( we smell just fine and sometimes we are little late). They know the "bottom line", not the 'trip charge' line will be fair.