What the ACM crackdown means for an honest locksmith
The Dutch regulator is going after rogue locksmiths, and the consumer body tells callers to hang up on a vague answer. What that means if you are honest.
The Dutch consumer association tells anyone calling a locksmith to hang up and ring someone else if they do not get a clear price on the phone. That advice lands on honest locksmiths too.
Below is what the regulator established, what the trade itself calls a reasonable amount, and why the phone carries different weight in this trade than it did five years ago.
The regulator calls it abuse of an emergency
The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets, the ACM, warns about parties posing as locksmiths who charge far too much in an emergency.
In the ACM’s own words these are parties that “abuse consumers in an emergency by charging far too much, approaching consumers aggressively, delivering poor work and offering no way to complain”. On the amounts the regulator is specific: the work gets done “for high sums (up to 8000 euros)”.
Two things in that description matter to anyone running the trade honestly. The first is that the consumer “receives no information in advance about the costs he can expect”. The second is that these are “networks of people and companies that keep changing name, website and phone number”.
The ACM asked Google to remove those adverts, ordered lead generators to stop passing customers on, and had websites blocked. It did so alongside the police, the Dutch domain registry, the CCV and the locksmiths’ trade body.
The trade has its own benchmark and it sits lower than you would guess
Trade body NSSG publishes a guide price for opening a door, and the consumer association repeats it. It sits well below the amounts in the ACM complaints.
| guide price | |
|---|---|
| opening a door during the day, no security strip on the frame | no more than €125 including VAT |
| evening surcharge | 50% is customary |
| a new cylinder | no more than €30 |
Source: Consumentenbond, using the benchmark of trade body NSSG. Retrieved 7 October 2026.
What locksmiths publish themselves sits in the same range. Call-out rates of around €85 to €89 are common, covering travel time plus the first half hour on site. A surcharge of €55 for evenings, weekends and public holidays is normal too.
Those amounts are not a secret and often sit openly on the website. What separates them from the parties the ACM is pursuing is not the level, but the moment they get mentioned.
The consumer association tells callers when to hang up
Its advice is to deal only with a company that gives a clear price indication up front. Anyone who does not get one should call a different locksmith.
The wording is direct: deal only with companies that give a clear price indication in advance, do not let yourself be fobbed off on the phone with the call-out charge alone, and if that happens, simply ring another locksmith.
That is an instruction to the caller, not a reproach to the trade. But it does something to the phone. A call that goes unanswered here is not a job postponed. The caller is standing outside, is in a hurry, and has just read that doubt means looking further. They ring the next name on the list.
On top of that sits what the ACM says about search results: the top positions and the adverts belonged to the unreliable parties. That has since been tackled, but it shows who is waiting when a phone somewhere else goes unanswered.
What has to happen on the call is fairly fixed in this trade
An emergency call to a locksmith has a short and predictable set of questions. Four things decide whether someone comes out and what it costs.
The first is where the caller is standing, because travel time sits inside the rate. The second is what has happened: a door pulled shut, a lost key, a broken lock and burglary damage are four different jobs. The third is the time of day, which is what the surcharge hangs on.
The fourth is whether the caller is allowed to be there. Locksmiths ask for valid identification and for something showing the person is the rightful occupant, such as a tenancy agreement, a deed or a neighbour who can confirm it. That question belongs in every call, including at three in the morning.
A missed call at night is the whole difference in this trade
Emergency work falls outside office hours. That is exactly when nobody is likely to pick up, and exactly when somebody has to.
Most locksmiths promise to be reachable day and night and on site within half an hour. That is what they sell: not the craft, but the fact that somebody answers and says straight away what it costs. In no other trade we have looked at does reachability sit so centrally in a firm’s own advertising.
The awkward part is that one person cannot answer day and night while also driving and working. That is not a matter of trying harder.
How BeepSweep handles it
BeepSweep answers when you cannot, on your own number. It says at the start of every call that it is AI, asks where the caller is, what has happened and whether they can identify themselves, and passes it straight to you.
What it says about price is what you have recorded. Your call-out rate, your working area, your out-of-hours surcharge. It invents nothing and makes no promise you then have to keep.
This is emphatically not a national call centre that passes you on. It is your number, your rates and your terms, and the call reaches you with a summary, the details and the transcript.
BeepSweep costs €99 a month excluding VAT, with no per-call charge. To hear how it sounds, try BeepSweep. Questions are welcome on WhatsApp at +31 85 083 5355.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the ACM warning published?
On acm.nl, under the heading about rogue locksmith practices. It also sets out what the regulator has done about it.
Does this only apply to locksmiths?
No. The ACM writes that the same parties also operate as plumbers, pest controllers and leak detection firms. The shape is the same everywhere: an emergency, a stranger and no price up front.
What is an AI receptionist exactly?
Software that answers your phone, asks what the call is about and sends you a readable briefing. It is explained in what an AI receptionist is.
What does something like this cost for a small firm?
The build-up is in what an AI receptionist costs. What the other Dutch providers charge is in the price comparison.
I work alone. Is this really for me?
That depends on how often you are called while you cannot answer. The trade-off is set out in how to never miss a business call.