Cothron’s Safe & Lock

Terrible. Absolutely terrible.
Called when locked out of my car at 10am, and was told someone would be there at 12 — its now 330pm and still no locksmith.
I called every hour or so to check in, and was told, «oh he’ll be there in 30 minutes», «oh it’s just traffic he’ll be there 15», «oh the job took longer than expected he’ll be there in an hour».
Just be honest — I could have taken a cab to work or done something (anything!) that would be better than sitting in parking lot for 5 ½ hours.

A young man at the Burnet location helped me with a broken car key (put the key into the new case I had bought along with the «chip» so no reprogramming, etc was needed). And there was no charge! He was kind, fast and very helpful. First time at Cothron’s, won’t be the last. No more trips to Home Depot for keys. I also saw they sell safes there, plan to purchase one.

Thanks to the management team and follow through, what turned out as a bad experience turned into a great experience.
It was unfortunate, but not the entire companies fault that one bad apple had caused a no call no show to occur on a specific date.
Management was very curteous in solving the problem asap. We kept in touch via email, and to reconcile, they even set up a specific time for a new wonderful technician to come out and solve the problem.
Thanks for being on the ball and taking care of my lock situation. You guys were a big help!
I really appreciate how quickly and concerned you were about the initial appointment not happening as planned and how quickly you resolved the issue.
Thanks again!
B.R.

I phoned Cothron’s service section and booked for a lock expert to come to my house to fix the bolt lock in the front door. First, they offered a range of appointments including same day. The man who came, Laine, was excellent. He immediately saw what was causing the key to stick (it would probably soon have broken in the lock, leaving me locked out). He fixed the two problems and did not have to come back, even though the lock was very old (from 1950s). I also thought that the price charged for the job was very fair. I highly recommend Cothron’s.

I was recommended to use Cothron’s through my handyman. I set up an appointment for the next day and they were out promptly at the time we scheduled. They gave me great service changing out all my locks and the technician was very courteous and knowledgeable. I will definitely be using Cothron’s again for my home security needs.

I called them late in the afternoon about a key for a backdoor of our home. They scheduled me for the next day and gave me 2 different potential times. They gave me 30 minutes notice and showed up on time. Had 3 copies of the key made in about 20 minutes. Very courteous and professional. I would use them again in a heartbeat!

Terrible service and competence. Dropped off a vehicle to get a new key made as the entire set was lost. After they accepted the challenge, the next day one guy says the lock doesn’t work. I call again to pay the bill so my mechanic can pick it up and another guy answers and his response is they ‘never saw a key like that before and that’s why they couldn’t make a key”. huh, what? A locksmith that cant figure out a key? I even gave them another key from another vehicle so they could see what type of key it was. I know the lock works, it’s was just a lost key thing not that the lock didn’t work. So which is it? Can’t figure out a key. Lock broke? Did YOU break the lock? Time will tell as I am off to another locksmith. Oh, and while down there one of their guys on a smoke break had his foot on MY truck. I ask him nicely please not to do that and he looks at me like I’m crazy and grumbles off. Really?! Last straw. Done. Plenty of locksmiths in town.

I walked in and got 2 duplicates of my house key made and paid for in under 10 minutes for about $ 5. Amazing!

My van key cost $ 98 up front, $ 100 a year later, plus 2.5 hours of wait and tow time. If this is the experience you wish to have, then Cothron’s is the place for you.
Thirteen months ago, I needed a spare key for my 2010 Odyssey. Honda wanted $ 175 to make one; Cothron’s, at $ 98, seemed like a great deal. I didn’t need the fancy Honda «H» on my key, I just needed functionality and dependability.
Yesterday, the van wouldn’t start; the engine just wouldn’t catch. Had to get towed, find a ride home, leave the car overnight. The shop ran their diagnostics today: no problem with the car battery or fuel pump. It was the battery in the Cothron’s key. (My other two keys have the fancy Honda «H», so I know without a doubt that the Cothron key is the issue.)
I called Cothron to share my experience so they could know their batteries were unreliable/​short-​lived. I was not cranky or rude, I just explained the issue and asked them to educate their future customers how a bad battery in a key can affect performance of the key itself. And yes, I at least wanted them to apologize for the inconvenience I’d experienced bc of their bad product. The man who answered the phone stopped responding to me once I said I had an issue, and hung up curtly when I finished speaking.
On the down side, then: more money and time were spent than should’ve been necessary. On the up side, I will be able to troubleshoot more effectively in the future if my van doesn’t start: I will check the key battery first. And I know not to go back nor recommend Cothron’s for any type of product or service.

My husband and I visited Cothron’s today. He purchased a blank key to fit his Honda from his Honda club, so all we needed was the new key cut from the original which requires no programming since we did not need a sensor.
A friend recommended we use Cothron’s and after the run around at another location, we visited the downtown location.
The man at the counter told me could cut the key, he returned 10 minutes later and said, «That’ll be $ 54.00». When I inquired why it was so expensive (since we brought in a key and we did not purchase a product) I was told it was for labor. $ 50 for the labor cost of having a machine cut a key. Then… he tried the key and it did not work. We had to wait approximately 45 minutes for it to be shaved down multiple times.
As far as customer service is concerned, the employees were rude to every customer that walked in and made them wait to be assisted as they were too busy eating candies or shooting the breeze. At no point did anyone try to explain why the key cutting was so expensive even after we expressed that we were very disappointed in the cost. If you are going to charge an erroneous amount for labor, you should tell the customer up front. If we had known it would be $ 50 for key cutting, we would have gone elsewhere. I suppose I should have asked about pricing first, but $ 50 was not in any ballpark figure I would have guessed (considering you can have honda program and provide you with a brand new sensored key for $ 100).
This was not a good experience for customer service or pricing.

My family and I recently inherited a 2000 Corolla– with one set of keys. This particular car needs two separate keys to access and start it. The first locksmith we tried made the keys, and they did not work. After multiple attempts, none of them did. He recommended we try Cothron’s; we’re so grateful he did.
Not only did they cut the keys correctly the first time, they were fairly priced. What drove me to writing a review for them, however, was the impeccable customer service I received from Alan. He was as gentlemanly as they come– something so rare these days. I’d just began walking without a cane following a car accident and he offered his arm to me to help me down the ramp. He walked beside me at my pace, rather than quickly in front of me like almost every other clerk or vendor I work with. He did not rush me at all. I was so impressed. Since then, I’ve recommended him and Colthron’s very highly. Hopefully they get to work with Alan specifically!

I am a repeat customer because Chris has always taken good care of me. I have used Cothron’s for locksmith services, to install a safe at a rental property, and for moving an item after the initial sale was completed. I have always had excellent experiences, they have always delivered exactly as promised, and everybody from the store to the delivery truck has been friendly and professional.

I took some older padlocks from my grandfather by to see if I could keys made for them. The guy at the counter was okay about it, but he handed to them to the older white-​haired guy was kind of a dick. He didn’t even look at the locks but just said «I don’t want anything to do with them. Not worth it.» He wouldn’t even quote me a price. Isn’t the customer the one who should determine if it’s worth it? I won’t be going back there.

Was quoted 225 – 240 on phone when ordered replacement key for my car. They called back and said they were on their way, but it would be 280. When finished it was not a replacement key, but just a regular key and they wanted $ 297. To get a replacement like I had would be about $ 425. Hard to believe they could not replace my key for $ 300

These guys had me drive all the way down there just to tell me they could not work on my car until the next day. A lot of time and gas wasted. The old white guy was sort of a dick about it too. I took it to another locksmith, Anderson Mill Lock & Key, and was very happy with the work, how fast they did it, and they were much nicer.

After returning from a morning run, I discovered that my key wouldn’t unlock my door (the old lock mechanism had broken inside of it). Here I was, at 8:30am, with just my phone, post-​workout clothes/​hair and a key that wouldn’t work Additionally, I had an important meeting scheduled for mid-​morning-​so needless to say-​I was a ‘tad’ stressed.
I called a couple of other companies that I found on Unilocal,but neither of them could help me until later that afternoon. Cothorn’s was the 3^rd company that I called and after patiently listening to me freak out, they assured me that they’d have someone sent my way within 45 minutes. 30 minutes later, a very nice technician arrived and had the door open in less than 5 and fixed in 15.
They truly saved my day… and my sanity.

I would be cautious if you decide to use Cothron’s for moving your safe. We purchased a safe from a local business and were given two businesses to contact regarding having it moved. Cothron’s could move the safe and bolt it down cheaper than what the other company charged for just moving the safe, so we went with them. We scheduled the move on a Wednesday and were told the safe would be delivered between 8−11AM. At 10:30 we get a call that they cannot move the safe because it is in the businesses’ showroom and not in the warehouse. Cothron’s said that they would require additional people and additional equipment to move the safe. Of course this was inconvenient, considering my husband had taken a day off from work to be at home. We rescheduled for Friday. My husband gets a call from Cothron’s saying that they would not move the safe because the manager at other store was «verbally assaultive» and would not let them shut down the front door for 30 minutes to have the safe moved. What’s interesting is that the manager at the other store said he was somewhat taken aback by having to shut the door down for 30 minutes, but when he walked off to have another door opened for the customers (meaning that he was going to allow them to shut the front door down for 30 minutes), the Cothron’s delivery guys left. I personally called Chris Smith over at Cothron’s and he basically couldn’t care less. He wasn’t rude, but didn’t seem to care that we the customer were the ones getting the short-​end of the stick. He basically told my husband that we needed to find someone else to move the safe because the guys at the other business were rude. I’m inclined to believe the other business’ story because their story makes more sense and they haven’t given us the «run around» like Cothron’s has twice. My guess is Cothron’s delivery guys probably aren’t telling the truth and Cothron’s is unwilling to address it. It’s unfortunate for them, as they have completely lost our business. I’ve never spoken to a manager who was so unsympathetic. He did say, «If that other company can move the safe in five minutes, we’ll bolt it down for free.» No thanks.

Not sure why you’d go anywhere else.

Expert locksmiths and very professional.

No question these guys know their locks. Some are probably lifetime locksmiths. Service can be slow at times, especially around lunch. But if you need something unusual duplicated like a 7 pin key, and you want it done right, this is your place.