4.8★ average · 214 reviews
Reviews, with the four-stars left in
Every invoice gets the same review link. Nothing is filtered, nothing is paid for. Here are the ten most recent — including the ones that mention the evening adder stinging and an arrival at the far end of the window, because that's what honest looks like.
showing 10 most recent · 8 five-star · 2 four-star
★★★★★
House lockout, 11 pm“Quoted $95–$140 plus the $85 overnight fee on the phone. Invoice said $220. Picked the lock in about six minutes, checked my ID against my mail before starting. Exactly what the website says happens.”
★★★★★
Rekey after closing on a house“Five cylinders rekeyed to one key. The math on the invoice matched the price book on their site line for line — $125 for the visit and first two, $24 each after. Handed me the old pins in a little bag.”
★★★★☆
Smart lock install“Great work, honest price, and they wiped the factory codes in front of me. Four stars only because the arrival window was 2–4 and they rang at 3:50. They did call at 3 to warn me, which I appreciated.”
★★★★★
Proximity fob, all keys lost“Dealer wanted $612 plus a tow. Cardinal quoted $240–$420 plus the all-keys-lost fee by VIN, charged $389 total, done in the parking deck at work. Fob has worked flawlessly for months.”
★★★★★
Storefront lever lockset“They put the ANSI grade of the hardware on the quote, which no other shop I called would do. Install was clean and they re-hung the door closer while they were at it without charging extra.”
★★★★★
Broken key extraction“Half my key snapped off in a 1940s mortise lock. Tech got it out without drilling and talked me out of replacing the lock — said it just needed graphite. Charged the extraction, nothing else.”
★★★★☆
Evening car lockout“The $40 evening adder stung a little, but it's the same number printed on their website, so it's fair. In the car in under fifteen minutes with no damage. Would call again — just maybe before 6 pm.”
★★★★★
Rekey after a lost keyring“As a woman alone in the house I appreciated the ID check going both ways — he showed me his licence card before I'd even asked, and told me to look up the number while he set up.”
★★★★★
Office master-key survey“They refused to quote our 14-door master system over the phone, which annoyed me for about a day — until the paper design showed two doors we didn't need to touch. Final price came in under the ballpark I had from a chain.”
★★★★★
Sunday lockout“Told me straight on the phone: Carrboro is the edge of their area, 40–70 minutes, plus the Sunday $85. Showed up in 55, price to the dollar. Honesty about the wait is why I'm writing this.”
How these are collected
The bottom of every invoice carries the same review link — happy customer or not. We don't gate, we don't cherry-pick, and we don't reply to four-star reviews asking people to “reconsider.” A review wall with nothing under five stars isn't a track record; it's a filter.
no bait · no switch
Add your own four-star review.
Or five, if we've earned it. Either way you'll get the same honest number as everyone on this page.
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