Almost got ripped off 1500b today.

[Topah]

I have a Yale ydr323 digital door lock in my condo and today it did not work and I could not get in. It had the right sound but the mechanism was not moving. I went to the condo office and they gave me a card with a phone number. Man said he will come quickly and see what is wrong. Older short man with fannypack comes and I show what is the problem. He makes his act that he dont have the tools with him to do his work and have to get the things and come back in 1 hour. When we get down back to the lobby he uses his mobile to translate that it will cost 1500b to fix the door lock. As I have been in Thailand for almost 15 years I knew immediately that this poor man is not helping me. He is trying to get good pay.

 

I said you dont need to come in 1 hour. I will call you...

 

Then searched Yale Thailand customer service number and very friendly lady in English said that I need the 9v battery to get the door to service mode and it will open. How this lady can know the issue without seeing the lock but the old service man needed some special tools to "fix" the lock and charge 1500b?

 

Well door lock was not broken and it opened exactly the way lady desribed. 

 

So what I learned from this story? Well I would be more than happy to pay few hundred baht if that old man took the 9v battery out of his pocket and opened it. But instead he made once again the ripping off culture shine. Well it happens in other countries also. Just wanted to share this story and now I go to the condo office and tell this with happy confused face :).

[Halfaboy]

Can you please explain bit more in dept about the 9V battery ? Is this located in the lock or is it part of your remote control to open the door ? Did you need tools to change the battery ? 

Thanks....

[Topah]

6 minutes ago, Halfaboy said:

Can you please explain bit more in dept about the 9V battery ? Is this located in the lock or is it part of your remote control to open the door ? Did you need tools to change the battery ? 

Thanks....

I was outside from my room and code I entered was correct but door did not open. The batteries of the lock are 4xaa batteries inside the room. So the 9v battery helped the door open and all I have to do is to change the 4xaa batteries and voila. There is no need for any tools using the 9v from the outside. There is a terminal under the unit. Very simple.

Edited February 25, 2021 by Topah

[Lantern]

What, so anyone with a 9V battery can get in?

[Oldie]

I guess he wanted to replace the lock. Perhaps he never saw such a lock before. Google would have been your friend too. 

 

 

[Topah]

6 minutes ago, Lantern said:

What, so anyone with a 9V battery can get in?

You need to know the code or have keycard.

[Topah]

3 minutes ago, Oldie said:

I guess he wanted to replace the lock. Perhaps he never saw such a lock before. Google would have been your friend too. 

 

 

This is couple years old condo with 1600 units and I guess hundreds of those yales are installed here. What a pro was that old man if he did not even guess this was the most obvious way to open the door. Even I did it in under 5 seconds. He should work in other job. It was obvious rip off attempt.

Edited February 25, 2021 by Topah

[Halfaboy]

This video makes it all clear to me. Thanks....

[richard_smith237]

9 minutes ago, Lantern said:

What, so anyone with a 9V battery can get in?

 

No....  The batteries in the lock (usually 4x AA batteries) would have died... 

The 9V battery touches against two external contacts to supply power to the lock so that the door can be opened with the code (something which I figured anyone with an electronic lock would know). 

 

A lot of Electronic locks also have a failsafe keyhole where if the batteries have died a cover can be removed and the key can be used (the spare key can be kept in the car or with a friend etc).

[DerbyDan]

What about his time to travel through traffic to your place and back just to replace a battery?

[soi3eddie]

I have a similar situation with a safe deposit box in my condo. It takes 4xAA batteries inside the safe. Should those batteries lose charge then the mechanism will not open due to low power for the motor. The safe supplier provided a separate power pack to plug in externally to overcome this. My advice (and practice) to anyone with these types of electronic locks is to replace batteries annually with quality long life ones.

 

[Oldie]

21 minutes ago, soi3eddie said:

I have a similar situation with a safe deposit box in my condo. It takes 4xAA batteries inside the safe. Should those batteries lose charge then the mechanism will not open due to low power for the motor. The safe supplier provided a separate power pack to plug in externally to overcome this. My advice (and practice) to anyone with these types of electronic locks is to replace batteries annually with quality long life ones.

 

If you want one like this then look that you can open it with a key too. Not only batteries can fail. The electronic could fail too. 

[KhunBENQ]

47 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

A lot of Electronic locks also have a failsafe keyhole where if the batteries have died a cover can be removed and the key can be used (the spare key can be kept in the car or with a friend etc).

That is common at electronic hotel safes.

 

[foreverlomsak]

50 minutes ago, soi3eddie said:

quality long life ones

in Thailand?

[NancyL]

The lock repair guy knew exactly what the problem was and probably had a 9V battery in his fanny pack.

 

If the condo building has this Yale electronic lock as a standard on their doors, then the office should have known this "trick" and could have advised the OP accordingly.  The building handyman would have had a 9V battery and would have been happy to use it for a small gratuity.  I'm surprised the condo office gave him a card for a locksmith instead, if this Yale lock is common in the building.

 

[Topah]

53 minutes ago, NancyL said:

The lock repair guy knew exactly what the problem was and probably had a 9V battery in his fanny pack.

 

If the condo building has this Yale electronic lock as a standard on their doors, then the office should have known this "trick" and could have advised the OP accordingly.  The building handyman would have had a 9V battery and would have been happy to use it for a small gratuity.  I'm surprised the condo office gave him a card for a locksmith instead, if this Yale lock is common in the building.

 

Now when I start to think about this more there can be another option that the office gave me a standard locksmith business card even I explained it is Yale door lock. We have standard locks also. Whatever was the reason it shows that often there is so called experts who say that things need to be changed or fixed with high costs even the fix can be very simple. I was ready to pay for him for coming to look at the issue but after that bs about need a fix...it showed how unprofessional he was. Same happened years back with a top loaded washing machine which did not rotate well. Repair man came and wanted few thousand for the fix. I googled and actually the fix is the loose rubber belt which needs to be changed after few years of use. Cost 100 baht and took 2 minutes to change.

Edited February 25, 2021 by Topah

[BritManToo]

2 hours ago, Topah said:

Whatever was the reason it shows that often there is so called experts who say that things need to be changed or fixed with high costs even the fix can be very simple.

More likely to be a conspiracy between the office staff and the repair guy.

They feed him marks, he pays them 500bht per victim.

[longball53098]

20 hours ago, Lantern said:

What, so anyone with a 9V battery can get in?

No, The  person still needs the correct code to cause the lock to open. All the external 9 V battery does is provide enough power for the electronics and all to operate. This is pretty standard on many locks of this type. An external battery provides power if the internal batteries are low or failing.