Federal Lock & Safe

Has everything you need, and the staff member was respectful. Just seemed a little pricey. Nonetheless, if I need their service, I would go again pretty much out of convenience.

I have used Federal Lock for countless projects over the course of the last 3 years. They are always prompt and courteous and reasonably priced. I know they can handle any job and do so quickly. Their technicians are always professional too. Most recently, Brian Padgett helped me when I was locked IN my apartment building due to a malfunctioning door lock. Brian quickly came over after the job he was working on and got me out. So grateful!

I was a little freaked out, having just moved into a new home and having already locked myself out! I simply went in to drop off the diaper bag, water bottle, and other baby paraphernalia, and then went back out to the car to pick up said baby, since naptime loomed near. I called in a request for prompt service and the woman on the phone told me the locksmith was leaving right then. Since this business is only about 5 minutes away, I barely had to wait at all. When he arrived, it took him about 5 more minutes to open the door, and I was charged 99.99 999% less than I was expecting since I was a local customer and since the job was so simple.
Part of my review is based on good timing/​luck, but the customer service side of things went as smoothly as could be, so I am very happy with this overall experience. The only downside was frustration with self on account of my own boneheadedness, and a slightly delayed nap for the babe.

HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE: DO NOT LIKE RESIDENTIAL BUSINESS. Federal Lock and Safe installed new locks and made new keys for our home when we moved in about 6 years ago. They did a fine job at this. I called them later to see if they could work with the locking mechanism of an old/​antique file cabinet. They made a house call, the individual who arrived was unhappy with the task and he was unsuccessful at making the mechanism work. Instead of sending someone else to accomplish the job, they called to get paid in any case. When I demurred (no one had explained that we had to pay whether they did the work or not), they quickly became angered and belligerent and starting screaming to me on the phone that this type of annoyances were the reason they did not like residential business (as compared to commercial). Very unpleasant experience that I fortunately had forgotten until I called today to have them come re-​key our locks. They refused based on the fact that someone had noted the account regarding the file cabinet incident. It is pretty scary to have a company that «holds the keys» to your house be so petty and vindictive. My guess is that they were not qualified to work on the cabinet and they should have just been more selective about the jobs they attempt rather than take it out on the consumer. Yikes! So I will tell you what they told me: CALL SOMEONE ELSE! LOL! Happy to!

We were unable to re-​assemble an old non-​standard front door handle and lock assembly that I’d removed to re-​finish the door. After two other locksmiths visited, and failed to figure it out, Steve (Technical Director) came by and had it back in service within an hr. Their rates ($ 125/​hr currently) seem high, but are ultimately lower (possibly far lower given that we’d been advised to replace the whole door) because it was done correctly and efficiently. There are a lot of lock smith scammers out there, we encountered one. Federal is honest and competent.

I called at 10:30 about a broken door lock. By 11:45, they had arrived at my house, found a broken bolt, installed a new lock, and finished – all at a reasonable price. Polite and courteous too.

The lock on our front door came apart and left our door in a permanent unlocked position — a situation that obviously needs to be remedied in short order. The technician they sent out was friendly and said it shouldn’t take too long to fix. Unfortunately, he was having a hard time figuring it out and I could see him out in his truck looking perplexed… which, when you are paying by the 15 minute increment, is worrisome. He ended up calling his supervisor, who drove out to the house to help him with it. It took about 2 hours from start to finish and, when I spoke to the guy back at the store (Franky), I expressed my concern that I was going to receive an astronomical bill because the technician was, though nice and well-​spoken, a bit inexperienced. When I went to pick up my key and pay the bill, I was pleasantly surprised to find that they had only charged me for the first hour and not for the extra time. I was impressed at their customer service and will definitely use and recommend them again.
They are also, it should be noted, one of only two locksmiths recommended by Arlington County– with so many fly-​by-​night locksmiths, it’s hard to know who you can trust, so that gave me some extra comfort.

Big regret calling this company. I wish I could give ZERO stars for such poor workmanship and total disregard to customer service. Three major problems that occurred:
1.) Poor Workmanship:
Part of the work was done carelessly and the area on the door jab will have to be repaired by my husband – if he has the time, or I’ll have to hire someone to repair the poor quality work that was done. As the technician was wrapping his work up I happen to check that the key worked. The key didn’t turn all the way and I realized the deadbolt doesn’t go into the wall 100%. When I looked into the wall I saw that the tech had sloppily gauged out the wood (where the deadbolt goes into the door jam) and the wood is jagged and has splintery wood pieces sticking out. At this point I didn’t want him further ruining the wood so I told him to just leave it alone.
2.) Price Gauging:
I was billed for 1 hour and 45 minutes of work although the tech was only here an hour. He said the extra 45 minutes was for travel time. The technician told me that he was told by the office what his billing time was based on when he left for my house and when he calls them to report he’s finished the job. I live less than 5 minutes from them and when I questioned the tech about the distance he told me they billed me for his travel time from the last job location where he was at and he wasn’t at the office when he came to my home. This just seems like an underhanded technique to extract more money from a consumer’s wallet imo.
3.) Poor Customer Service:
When I received a call from a mgr. to ask me how the job went I explained exactly what happened. I was told the matter would be looked into and he would get back to me. I rec’d a follow up call by a different employee who basically told me that both technicians told him that I was never charged travel time and that the job took almost 2 hours and the rest of the time was spent «explaining the work that was done at my home.» I told him that only the tech was in my house and the other man who said he was a supervisor stayed outside the entire time and wasn’t a part of the conversation I had with the tech IN MY HOME. I told him the time spent «explaining the work to me» was over the damage they did to the door jam area – REMEMBER, I MERELY HAD 2 LOCKS RE-​KEYED! The employee merely kept repeating what he claims he was told by these two employees, in spite of me pointing out that employee #2 wasn’t even a part of the conversation. and that I overheard the tech when he called the office to get his time quote as he was standing 3 feet away from me. So, in spite of the evidence I presented him he chose to ignore it, he chose to disregard the poor quality work that was done by his employee and and in the end, they lost a customer.

Came here to get keys made because Home Depot/​Lowes didn’t have the right size. Quick and friendly… don’t forget to mention Unilocal for a 15% discount!

Customer Service seems lacking but the bottom line is that they get the job done and at a very reasonable rate.
I ordered a Key Fob and key for my wife’s Outback over the phone: Gave them the info they needed as well as credit card information and just waited for their phone call.
When that time came, I dropped by the store and was lucky to not have to wait in line. If you happen to be an unlucky person that does, I recommend you drop your keys/​car off and come back later. Part of getting it done right is taking your time and it will only take much longer when the machines are out of calibration like the day I was there.
The staff did eventually warm up though and after a few unsuccessful key-​copy attempts, we cracked some jokes back and forth.
I’d definitely come back here to get some car keys made because they don’t make you empty your wallets like the car dealership. And if you do end up waiting around for the work to be done, there’s plenty of cool stuff to look at inside their showroom.

These guys are awesome! They saved us. We had a jammed safe with all of our valuable documents. They were able to get in within MINUTES and then created a spare key in case we have future problems. They were fast and courteous and they’ll make cool keys too!