Questions and answers

Yes, around the clock, including Sundays and public holidays. Night work costs more than daytime work — that is true of every trade in Germany and we show the difference openly rather than hiding it in the invoice. What we will not do is quote you a fixed arrival time before knowing where you are and where our technician currently is.

Yes — some form of identification that connects you to the address, before we open anything. Usually photo ID showing that address, or ID together with a document connecting you to it — a tenancy agreement, a registration certificate, or post addressed to you there. If everything is inside the flat, tell us on the phone; that is a common situation and there are other ways to establish it. A locksmith who does not ask is not being helpful, he is being careless with somebody else's door.

Usually not. A latched door is opened via the spring latch and leaves no trace at all. A locked door is normally picked, which leaves the cylinder fully usable afterwards. Damage becomes a real possibility with anti-drill security cylinders and multi-point locking — and in those cases we say so beforehand and tell you what would need replacing, rather than presenting you with the result.

If a person is at risk — a child alone, a medical emergency, water or gas escaping — call 112 for the fire brigade. They arrive faster than any locksmith and are permitted to force entry in exactly these situations. We will tell you the same thing if you call us first, rather than setting off and costing you time.

Always, and without having to ask. It shows our full business address, the VAT separately, and the work itemised. The amount matches what you were quoted before work started. This matters beyond tidiness: without a proper invoice you cannot claim the cost from insurance or from a landlord, and you have nothing to point at if you later dispute it.

Sometimes, and it is worth checking before you assume otherwise. Household contents insurance (Hausratversicherung) frequently covers a lockout, often as an optional module rather than as standard. Some legal expenses and card protection policies include it too. What every insurer wants is a proper invoice with the date, the address and the work itemised — which is another reason not to accept a handwritten note for a cash payment.

As a rule you do, if you locked yourself out — German courts treat that as the tenant's responsibility because it happened in your sphere, not the landlord's. It shifts if the cause was a defect: a lock that failed on its own, a cylinder worn past use, a door that stopped closing properly. Those are maintenance, and maintenance is the landlord's. Two practical consequences: keep the invoice, and if a lock has been getting stiff for weeks, report it in writing before it fails.

Cash, girocard or Apple Pay, directly to the technician. Worth knowing if you are new to Germany: girocard is the German domestic debit scheme and is what most German bank cards actually run on — it is not Visa or Mastercard, and plenty of German businesses accept one and not the other. If your card was issued outside Germany, mention it on the phone and we will confirm what works.