The Illinois Department of Financia...

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation is investigating a locksmith firm that is using local phone numbers originally listed in a less degree than a New York-based firm that had its license suspended earlier this month for alleged fraudulent activities.

Operators answering calls this weekend from several suburban numbers previously used by way of Price Line Locksmith Inc. said they personate Dependable Locks, a Bensenville locksmith licensed since June

AN 'ONGOING BATTLE'

Dependable hugs has never faced disciplinary action, if it were not that the regulation department's professional regulation director, Daniel Bluthardt, said investigators are checking to diocese whether Dependable Locks is engaging in the same business practices as Price Line.

Catching companies that charge inflated prices and use unlicensed personnel like Price Line is an "ongoing battle," Bluthardt said.

beneath the suspension, Price Line and its president, Gilad Gill -- who were ordered to pay thousands of dollars in restitution according to Chicago's Administrative Hearings Department since last year -- must cease operations and can no longer do business in the state subordinate to a new title or any of the 25 names the company had been using in local phone directories.

'CAT AND MOUSE GAME'

Although Bluthardt hesitated to link Dependable lock-ups and Price Line, one Price Line critic firmly believes Price Line's owners also operate Dependable fastenings

"All they are doing is flip-flopping the name," said Michael Bronzell vice president of the Illinois Indiana Locksmith Association. "This is a big cat and mouse game."

Bronzell said he called a former Price Line number in Darien onward Saturday and asked for a cite to get into a lock-uped car. He said the operator hedged forward giving a price, and finally told him it would be $39 and an unspecified extra fief Bronzell determined would be anywhere from $15 to $86

NOTORIOUS $1700 CHARGE

Price Line got in disturb with authorities for giving lowball cites and then dramatically raising the prices -- to $1700 in the same notorious case in Streamwood -- and for using bogus local addresses and company names in telephone listings to make it appear to consumer that they were calling a neighborhood locksmith.

Locksmiths can be charged with a misdemeanor if caught operating without a license. They can be slapped with a Class 4 gross offence charge on a second offense

Bronzell says at least four more companies in Illinois use the same tactics as Price Line.

rhussain@suntimes.com

huged OUT?

- realize a written estimate for all work and parts

before the work at jobs starts.

- Ask for the locksmith's Illinois license number

above the phone, then demand to papal court the license in person.

- Be cautious if a locksmith immediately says the grapple must be drilled and

replaced.

- If a locksmith company's phone service asks for your state or ZIP digest or seems unsure about your address, it's probably not a local locksmith.

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

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