iMessage for locksmiths

Locksmithing has a trust problem it did not create. Bait-and-switch operators quoting $49 and charging $400 have trained the public to expect a scam, which means a legitimate locksmith spends the first two minutes of every job proving they are not one.

That is exactly what a message thread is good for. A quoted price in writing, from a number that answers, before anyone turns up.

Price in writing, before dispatch

export const quote = {
  // The whole differentiator: a real number, a real name, a real price,
  // in writing, before the van moves.
  confirmed: (c: Ctx) =>
    `${c.company}: ${c.tech} is coming to ${c.roughLocation}, ` +
    `about ${c.etaMins} min. Price for a standard ${c.jobType} is ` +
    `${c.price} all in — call-out, labour and the lock. ` +
    `If it turns out to need more, he'll quote you before touching anything.`,
 
  arriving: (c: Ctx) =>
    `${c.tech} is pulling up now — ${c.vehicleDesc}, and he'll have ID. ` +
    `Ask to see it.`,
 
  variation: (c: Ctx) =>
    `It's a ${c.actualLock}, not a standard one — that's ${c.newPrice} ` +
    `rather than ${c.price}. Photo attached. Say the word and he'll go ahead, ` +
    `or he'll leave it and there's nothing to pay.`,
};

Why the blue bubble genuinely matters here

In most trades the bubble colour is a nice-to-have. In this one it is doing real work: a customer who has just been warned about locksmith scams is scrutinising every signal, and a message that looks like it came from a person rather than a bulk SMS gateway reads very differently.

The full explanation of that difference is in blue bubble vs green bubble — but for this trade it is worth saying plainly: a green bubble from an unknown number with a price in it looks exactly like the scam the customer is worried about.

Proof of ownership, handled without awkwardness

You need to establish that the person letting you in has a right to be there. Doing it on the doorstep is uncomfortable for everyone. Doing it in the thread, before you arrive, is routine.

export const verify = {
  ask: (c: Ctx) =>
    `${c.company}: quick formality before ${c.tech} arrives — we need to ` +
    `see ID matching the address, or something showing you live there ` +
    `(bill, tenancy, delivery). Standard for every job, nothing personal.`,
 
  landlord: (c: Ctx) =>
    `${c.company}: as it's a rental we'll need the landlord or agent to ` +
    `confirm. Reply with their number and we'll square it directly ` +
    `so you're not stuck in the middle.`,
};

After the emergency, there is a real second job

Someone who has just been locked out has been thinking about their locks for the first time in years. That is the moment — not a month later — when a note about upgrading a door cylinder or getting a spare cut is genuinely welcome.

Send it the next day, once, and leave it. Emergency customers are the easiest to convert and the fastest to resent being marketed to, so this is one of the trades where restraint pays.