Real local locksmiths don't have offices or secretaries that answer their phones. Almost all of them work out of their own homes and many of the calls they get are middle of the night emergencies.
I learned the hard way when I had a situation that required a locksmith. I didn't know any, but since this was an emergency, I picked one out of the phone book. It turned out to be someone (never got the name) who answered the call at midnight. "I'm locked out of my house and the key broke in the lock. Help!" He told me someone would be there in about an hour. So the guy who showed up at my house in the middle of the night needed to see my ID, which I showed him.
After the locksmith put a new lock in my door and gave me the key, he said why did you call this guy in Arizona? I said I didn't, the ad in the phone book said he was in the south hills of Pittsburgh. The locksmith said no, that guy is a broker and he makes deals with all the locksmiths around here. So then I knew ... these emergency locksmith ads are mostly fake.
The fee wasn't too outrageous, about $150 and that covered his travel time, so I thought it was fair. These are things that most Americans never need to know, until you have an emergency. And then you find out the hard way ... this is how they do business.
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