FAQs

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If you live in the Stockport area, you may have noticed that the number of burglaries has sky rocketed over the last three years. Below are six basic precautions you can take that are costless to help protect your home from being burgled. As a locksmith I hear lots of instances where break-ins could have been avoided, if just some of these basic precautions had been taken.

1. Remember that social media was built to be public. If the default settings of your social media account are set to public, criminals can run a simple key word search like holiday, travel or trip to see who's home and who is not. Simply wait until you return from holiday before telling the World all about it. Before you go on holiday remember to cancel your milk or paper deliveries so they do not mount up, also letting your neighbour know the duration of your holiday will help them to react faster should they hear any unusual noises coming form your property.
2. Lock your windows! Sounds like a ridiculous piece of obvious advice but I see this mistake made all the time. Just because you couldn't physically crawl through a small window opening doesn't mean your local size 6 crackhead can't. Dense prickly bushes in front of a ground floor window will also work wonders as a deterrent.
3. Lock your internal garage door if you have one. A garage door is often a security weak point on most houses, often unintentionally left unlocked! Make sure the internal door from the garage into the main house is always locked, especially during the night.
4. Keep your valuables out of site when you are not using them, keeping your car and home keys in a draw or cupboard is also a good habit to practice. Burglars love a bit of window shopping and by leaving valuables on show, you are inviting an opportunity for a smash and grab by you local scumbag. Making sure your curtains and blinds are closed at night also robs the robber of the opportunity to see straight into your home to see what is on offer.
5. Be in when you are out! Making your home look occupied when nobody is home is one of the oldest tricks in the book, but thats because it works. Leaving lights on and the radio or TV blaring away will make any opportunistic burglar think twice.
6. Finally, photograph your valuables. We live in an age where we can store thousands of photographs for free, so take photo's of the more valuable items you own. This makes an unfortunate insurance claim a little easier to deal with and also gives you the opportunity to prove ownership of your possessions if the police do recover the stolen items.

Although the number of burgles is increasing year on year, remember it is still a rare occurrence. By taking the basic actions above you can limit your chances of being burgled even further. If you would like more advise on home security that is personalised to your home then give Homeguard locksmith a call anytime, we would be happy to advise and help.

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How do you confidently choose a locksmith you can trust with the security of your home?As of 2021 there are no lawful regulations that govern the locksmith industry! Thats right, all you need is a car, some cheap tools off the Web and a winning smile.

Below are a few recommendations from Stockport's Homeguard locksmiths to help you avoid becoming a victim of poor workmanship and being massively over charged by rouge locksmiths.

1. Do your homework. Read the reviews from trusted websites. Fake reviews come in all shapes and sizes but they all have one thing in common, they are short. Usually just two or three words. "Great job" or "Excellent service" or my personal favourite "Nice bloke." Locksmiths are not the most imaginative types, when you are typing fake reviews constantly it's hard to be original! Reviews are hard to come by and most people are simply too busy or just forget when agreeing to leave a review. So large numbers of reviews in a short period of time should be a warning!

2. Check accreditation. Any locksmith worth his salt should be a member of the Master Locksmith Association. A qualified member has to be vetted and have passed the strict British Locksmiths Institute examination process. There are locksmith training institutes out there that have no examination process at the end of a course, simply turn up, attend the course and receive a paper certificate that says you are now qualified! A clear DBS check from the police and the relevant Public Liability insurance should also have to be in place.

3. Use a local locksmith. National locksmiths have huge overheads like call centres and massive advertising budgets. Where does all that money come from? The customer! Beware, some National locksmith companies and locksmith franchises will buy local telephone numbers in an attempt to appear as a local company, deceiving you before they have even answered your call. Using a local locksmith almost guarantees you will receive a much better service. I would be proud to bump into any of our existing customer in my home town of Stockport.

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