Sue Worthington can’t help but smile when she talks about her grandchildren, Katie and Calvin.
She can even chuckle about what happened last month while she was babysitting them at her daughter’s house in Roslindale.
“About 10 in the morning I heard ‘Nana! Nana! We’re locked in!” she laughs.
She raced upstairs and realized they accidentally locked themselves in the bedroom.
The lock was jammed and Sue knew she needed help.
She says she searched the internet for “Roslindale Locksmith” and called the first number that came up.
The dispatcher told her they would send a technician.
When he arrived, he looked the lock over and confirmed it was broken.
After using an air pump to wedge the door away from the door jam, and then popped the door open with a crowbar.
The kids were safe, but now Sue was faced with another kind of jam.
A $280 bill!
Sue hadn’t talked with the locksmith before he went to work, and thought it only be $45 for the service call.
She was shocked but said she had no choice but to pay the entire bill.
“Normally I would say I should have known better and cut my losses. But I’ve got a little fight in me… I’m Irish.”
The problem was… Sue couldn’t find anyone to fight with! Sue says every time she called the company she was told that a manager would call her back.
Nobody ever did.
That’s when she called Solve It 7.
We did some digging and found out that the company Sue called wasn’t in Roslindale. In fact, it wasn’t even in New England.
The 6-1-7 number she dialed connected her to a locksmith company based in Brooklyn, NY.
We spoke to the general manager. He told us they have partnerships with locksmiths across the country.
When someone like Sue calls looking for service, they dispatch a technician in the area.
As for the bill, he said $280 wasn’t out of the ordinary for the service provided.
What did bother him was that Sue had a tough time getting help when she called.
He promised to make her happy.
And he did.
Shortly after our conversation, the general manager called Sue and restored $140 on her charge card.
Sue was amazed, and grateful, to receive a refund for half of her unexpected bill.
Persistence was the key to solving this case. If you have a problem you think we can unlock – give us a call at (617) 367-7777 or send us an email at SolveIt7@whdh.com