ART'S LOCK & SAFE

Art came to our home to look at a broken mortise lock. Art claimed that he had parts at home in his workshop and would need to take the lock in order to repair it. He charged a $50 service fee (for which he did not provide an invoice or receipt) and left with our lock. He responded to our phone calls asking for updates the 1st 2 weeks and even scheduled a time to install the lock, for which he did not show up. He stopped returning phone calls after that and nearly a month went buy wherein we left unreturned messages on his cell phone and voicemail. Eventually, we filed a claim in small claims court for the $50 service fee, the value of the lock (estimated by Art at $200-300) and the cost of a replacement lock. We found out that he had a warrant issued for not responding to a higher dollar claim against him and were told not to get our hopes up. After another week, my partner embarked on a brilliant mission to kill him with kindness. He called Art daily, often 2-4 times a day, to ask him how he was, wish him a pleasant Labor Day, inquire about the health of his family - all on his answering machine. At the end of each message he would say something like, "Oh, by the way Art. We'd really love to get our lock back." Apparently, it worked. The lock eventually turned up at my partner's place of employment, having been dropped off by an anonymous man. No work had been done to repair it, but it was, fortunately, all accounted for. It is now at a shop attempting to repair it. Our tenants have been without a door handle for months now waiting for this thing to sort itself out. Short of having a similar handle and lock made and buying another door, there is not much we can do without the lock itself. We are beginning the repair process anew and are hoping for better results.