REED BROTHERS SECURITY

I owned a 6 units apartment complex in Berkeley California having old mailboxes with old keys and/or old key blanks that could not be found and/or be duplicated easily for example at Home Depot; On July 2019 we contacted Reed Brothers Security 4432 Telegraph Ave Oakland CA 94609 and wanted to buy a new 6 doors / 6 slots mailbox with the specific request that the new mailbox keys must be simple and easily to be duplicated at any key duplicator machines such as at Home Depot. Then the Reed Brother installed the 6 doors mailbox SalsBury USPS-STD-4B+ mailbox with a total cost around $800 which includes the mailbox, the cost of installation and the cost of coordinating with the local Post Office to came out and put on its own lock. Picture of the mailbox can be found at page 40 of the catalog at the [*** Link removed ***] Unfortunately, I found out latter that the keys for this new mailbox cannot be duplicated at Home Depot and/or at the Reed Brothers Security store. After three round-trips to Reed Brothers with 3 different duplicating keys not working, the owner Rod ? agreed to assign the last technician named Juss to came out and replacing all 6 locks; I would like to thank Juss who assured me that he would take care of the problem; and did not charge me any extra money because the mailbox is under warrantee. I want to give the technician Juss a 5 stars rating for his professional service, courtesy and assuring to the customer. D. Doan

The locksmith arrived at the scheduled time, and he carried out his work in a very professional manner--despite multiple potential distractions. Please note that we required service on a weekend and in a rush. We paid extra for that, according to established policy of Reed Brothers. I do not think the price was excessive.

Stan the technician was very flexible & was able to respond to our concerns with a viable stoical.

The Plus: Reed Brothers Security has a retail store where you can see a wide array of home security devices, from deadbolts, safety doors, alarms and safes, to safety doors and alarm systems. The men who came to install our safe were pleasant and took a difficult installation in stride. I thought our closet floor was wood, but it turned out to be wood over concrete. The Minus: I had expected a telephone call to schedule installation of our new safe, but never received a call. I finally contacted Reed Brothers Security on the Friday of the week that they were supposed to call. I was told they'd called several times, which might have been the case, but they never left a message. We scheduled an appointment for today, Tuesday, between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. No one had called or had shown up by 9:20, so I telephoned them. I was told their installer hadn't shown up and they were looking for someone else and they'd get back to me. Ultimately, they did send my safe out, but I would have appreciated a call that they'd be so late. Their installation fees are high, I think. The initial charge is $170 for 1/2 hour and labor is added to that. There is an extra charge of, I think, $37 for Saturday appointments.

Clean work, looks very good. We are glad the old doors are gone

I ordered a new Baldwin entry door assembly for ~$240 rom Reeds Bros and had it installed in Feb. We waited a week and paid about $80 more than other retailers on line for the lock. We have no issue with the margin because we thought service was good and worth it. The install was ~$140 more and all went fine. The door handle has since failed and I called today for service. Despite having Reed to our home on a prior occasion and buying this door hardware with them, they cannot look up customers by name, phone or address. You must have the invoice number from the paper the technician leaves behind. So even though the person on the phone confirmed the door assembly is under warranty, they couldn't cover it because they have no records. Even if I wanted to pay for the repair they could only get a technician to my home that is 2 miles from their store in 4 days. Given my front door is nearly inoperable I have to call someone else. Lessons learned - don't rely on these guys for service and no value in buying local. I should have bought the lock on line and saved the $80. Then I could pay for my own warranty work - which you have to do anyway with Reed brothers unless you are good at saving paper invoices for the entire warranty period. What year is this??

From start to finish, this project was far easier than we expected. This is a two-condo building, with both front doors facing the street. The other owner, who has the upstairs flat, and I wanted screen doors to increase air flow during the hotter days of summer and fall. We also wanted these doors to be pet proof and to be secure from intruders, while, at the same time, not looking like your typical iron-bar security barrier. We are extremely satisfied on all counts. I looked at a number of websites and found that the Woodguard security screen door listed by Reed Brothers fit our requirements perfectly. Although I ordered the doors sight unseen, they arrived looking exactly as described. From the outside, the doors appear to be made of beautifully finished wood (no hint of the steel door frame). The only giveaway is the perforated steel mesh, but even that is unobtrusive. Two Reed Brothers installers -- Eli and Andrew -- arrived this morning with the doors and took about an hour to install each one. They were professional, wasted no time and answered all of my questions. I found the entire experience -- from talking to people at the store via telephone to the estimator who came out to measure the doors to the installers today -- to have provided excellent service.

Gate fabrication was delayed for a couple of weeks beyond target date, possibly due to subcontractor issues. Installation technicians had to make an extra trip or two for correct parts, but they had outstanding attention to detail and precision. We are very happy with the result.

Took multiple phone calls to get to someone to provide a quote. Then told me it would cost me $80 trip fee to get a quote b/c I'm outside their service area. The trip fee is reasonable, but given that they ultimately gave a free quote when I sent them pictures of the job, it would have been nice had they offered that option rather than me coming up with it. Their quote for the labor was competitive, but their quote for the parts was ~50% higher than what I could get the lockbox & lock for online. So I confirmed the parts I'd need to match the master key system I currently have, signed the contract with them, and then waited for the parts to come in. Parts arrived from them, and for me, faster than expected, and they scheduled me in. However, there was some miscommunication internally on the job, and when they showed up, they had only allotted enough people / time for one gate. They came back a week later to complete the job for the second gate. It turns out the lock that I ordered, even after confirming with them that I had ordered exactly the right part, will not match the master key system - they offered to wait for me to get the right part & come back another time, but needed to get the lock on ASAP given its a high crime area. So I have a key on a second system, making it more difficult to track keys. When they committed to a date for the work, they were on time. The actual workmanship is of excellent quality, the most important thing in my mind. Communication with the individual doing the work, was fine. Their price was competitive for the labor-only part, but: - B on price: for a >50% markup on easily sourced parts ($700 vs. $1150); happy to pay a small premium (~10%) for the convenience of single sourcing the parts, but not that much. - C on responsiveness / communication: for requiring me to make multiple calls at the beginning to get a quote, and for not suggesting the sending-the-picture-to-get-a-free-quote themselves, and for miscommunicating internally on the manpower required for the job, and for miscommunication on the part needed to match the master lock system.

They're fine. I've never had a problem with them. I would go back to them again. I'm planning on calling them very soon for a different project.

They did a good job. They were fine. It was probably a very good price. The whole job came in under $3000. I did have a lower bid for about $900, which is a huge difference. I never heard from those guys after they had given me a bid. I did have a much higher bid going up to almost $6000 or $7000. They were right in the mid-range. I only contacted three people. It may very well be that they were even quite more reasonable than just the mid-range. I think the low bid that I got was just bizarre. The quality of work was very good. Their punctuality and professionalism was fine. I had no problem with them. Their responsiveness was good too, it was right on target.

The visit was scheduled nearly a week later and the two workman arrived on site within 30 minutes of the originally scheduled time--all perfectly reasonable. A description of the project was discussed with the workmen after they arrived and all of the parts were gathered and presented during the walkthru. At the request of the workmen, the monitoring company was phoned and the system was put into test mode for the next four hours. I opened the panel and the equipment was verified by the workmen as 'owner installed' meaning that although the original cabinet and signage said "Bay Alarm" the original Bay Alarm unit was on the floor (removed) and inactive. They seemingly began work and I returned to my office to continue working. About 20 minutes later the workman called me over and said that one of the owners of Reed felt it was a liability to touch the system because it was monitored by another company. Even though I explained that the entire system, its equipment and even the service were completely owner installed and purchased (from various vendors), the owner of Reed (only speaking to the workman directly and refusing to call me directly) refused to allow his staff to continue the job. Furthermore, the workman were told that I had told the receptionist that the system was not monitored. In the end, the workman tried again and again the owner refused to proceed with the agreed job. The story that seemed to trickle down from the owner about fire liability (even though I said don't hook up the smoke detector) later changed to liability about burglary and warranty of the services provided. Despite implying they would have touched it if it were local only (not monitored) the reasoning given doesn't really make sense. Basically we jockied back and forth and no matter how many roadblocks I removed, there was a new excuse waiting. The two workmen who came were polite and professional. They were caught in the middle and I understand the position they were put in. Unfortunately their time was wasted just as much as mine. In the end, I never received a direct call from the owner who was making these decisions behind the scenes. Even a personal apology, discussion or further explanation demonstrates a level of customer service most reasonable people would expect. It goes without saying that we won't be doing business together as Reed has made it clear they don't want my business. Update 4/21: Owner called after seeing this review. He left a voicemail and I called him back later the same day. Without apologizing he simply went on the defensive. He claimed "the guys in the field never spoke to me directly" (unless they were talking to themselves, they were speaking with SOMEONE at the company and in the end--who cares? They're agents of the business) and restated that the woman who scheduled the appointment "asked me twice if the system was monitored". As far as I knew, there was nothing to hide regarding the fact that my owner-installed system was monitored by a company that specializes in monitoring systems installed by owners. In fact I pointed out that it was monitored when the workmen arrived and called the company to put the system in test mode--they even asked me specifically if the system was in test mode! The bottom line is that the owner is concerned about liability and I don't blame him for that. What I am holding him accountable for is the poor customer service not once but now twice. I encouraged him to write a rebuttal and I suspect he will. As I mentioned earlier in my review, the workmen who were on site were professional, courteous and empathetic to my situation--unfortunately these are not characteristics I have experienced from the owner on two occasions now.

Excellent job done for such a small job.

They were professional, on time, and the service was fast!

Went very well. We will be exploring security cameras as well.

We purchased the locks in their showroom, took them home with us, and a service call happened two days later to install. All interactions were quite pleasant although we frequently felt the push for an upsale. My major complaint is on the basis of cost. We went with Medeco locks and found later that they can be purchased for much less elsewhere, particularly on line. However as a Medeco dealer Reed Bros can cut keys on the spot, whereas any other non-dealer locksmith would have to send a request to Medeco for new keys. So Reed charges accordingly -- but I found the markup to be pretty extraordinary (roughly double the online price).

They wanted $80.00 to give me an estimate for a video intercom system.

It went very well. The technician was punctual, professional and knowledgeable. He took time to learn my questions and concerns, and provided solutions.

It went really well; the work was completed very efficiently and in a timely fashion. I think I was overcharged for the work that was done to the lock on the storage door and the sliding glass door.

The provider, including the owner of the company was very responsive, they worked with our HOA and were very nice, accommodating the state of our old house and doing quality work. We had to have them back to resolve a small issue with the gate closer sticking, and the owner Randy was happy to cut a few more keys at the same time he make the trip back into the city for us. I feel very confident that they stand behind their work, both the HOA and me and an individual would be happy to call them back to do work on our property.

The estimate was explained in complete detail, allowing me to choose exactly what suited me. The work was done promptly, even meeting an early deadline to get it done before our vacation. The workers were courteous and efficient. Overall, a happy experience. I highly recommend Reed Brothers.

my lock was broken. he fixed it immediately so i could use it. they ordered new parts and will be coming back to more permanently fix it.

they called asking if I could get there early to rekey our house. got there and he helped me understand what could and couldn't be done. got everything re-keyed in under 3 hours and he installed an additional deadbolt for the garage door (8 locks total) my complaint was that he had political commentary that I was not comfortable with and he made comments on how much my house cost

I got an email response the same day. I called the next day to make an appointment---never got a call back.

There are many other more professional locksmiths out there. I would not recommend these guys. Unprofessional and didn't complete the job.