Guide
How to choose a locksmith and understand the quote
Home call-out services are a sector where abuses exist, with emergency locksmithing on the front line. The good news: French regulations protect you — provided you know your rights.
Published on by the France Serrure Gironde team
Before you call: three quick checks
First, the company's identity: a serious professional displays its legal business name, its SIRET number (the French company registration number) and a verifiable address — not just a mobile number on a sticker. Checking the official French company directory (annuaire-entreprises.data.gouv.fr) takes thirty seconds.
Second, local consistency: beware of platforms that display an address on your street but route calls to a centre at the other end of France, selling the job on to the highest bidder.
Third, price disclosure: under the French ministerial order of 24 January 2017 on home call-out services, repair companies must inform you of their prices (hourly rate, call-out fee, terms) before the work begins. A company that refuses to give even a rough figure over the phone should put you on your guard.
A quote before the work is a legal requirement
For home call-out, repair and maintenance work, a quote is mandatory in France before any work is carried out, whatever the amount, except in cases of genuine, demonstrable emergency. The professional must have you sign it before starting.
That quote must state, among other things: the company's identity and contact details, the date, an itemised breakdown of every service and part (quantity and unit price), the call-out fee, the hourly labour rate, the estimated duration, and the total both before and after VAT.
A 'quote' reduced to a single scribbled overall figure is not a quote. You are entitled to demand a line-by-line breakdown — it is what will later allow you to challenge an abnormal invoice.
The warning signs
Destruction as the first move: a technician who drills the cylinder within minutes, without even trying a non-destructive method on a door that has simply slammed shut, is not acting in your interest. Drilling is justified as a last resort, not as a reflex.
Systematic replacement: in the vast majority of cases, a door that has slammed shut needs no lock change at all. Likewise, hardware you did not ask for (an extra deadbolt, improvised 'reinforcement') being added during the job is a practice to refuse.
Pressure: insistence on cash payment, a price that triples between the phone call and the invoice, refusal to provide a written quote or an invoice. In all these cases, you can refuse any work not yet started and report the company on SignalConso (signal.conso.gouv.fr), the French consumer-protection reporting platform.
Your remedies if things go wrong
Keep every document: quote, invoice, before/after photos. In the event of a dispute, first send a written complaint to the company (by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt).
If you receive no satisfactory reply within two months, you can refer the matter, free of charge, to the consumer mediation service the company is registered with — its contact details must appear on the quote, the invoice or the company's website.
For misleading or abusive practices, report the facts to the DGCCRF (the French consumer-protection and anti-fraud authority) via SignalConso. And in cases of clearly fraudulent billing, filing a police report remains an option.