Issue with lock in new front door - who is responsible

[islandgirl]

Yes but being able to get extra keys if required would be a part of having a new door fitted. What if there are 6 people in a household? Do you ration keys? I would expect the door supplier to provide a lock that was fit for purpose (to me that includes the ability to get extra keys) and if it was not he should stand by the product and fit the FOC lock from Yale FOC. Perhaps it is just me?

[wales01man]

Yes but being able to get extra keys if required would be a part of having a new door fitted. What if there are 6 people in a household? Do you ration keys? I would expect the door supplier to provide a lock that was fit for purpose (to me that includes the ability to get extra keys) and if it was not he should stand by the product and fit the FOC lock from Yale FOC. Perhaps it is just me?

Surely the contract to supply and fit the door was with the contractor and was for a door and 3 keys why should the contractor have to fit keys supplied by Yale. Unless the contract was to do extra work

[islandgirl]

In my opinion the fact that you cannot get extra keys renders the lock useless. I would not have agreed to fit a door if I knew it could only ever have 3 keys. However I agree that legally it would be difficult to make the door contractor fit the new lock. I would be beyond disappointed if I ended up in the OPs position

[Manxman]

Unless the OP specified to the installer that they needed 6 (or however many) keys, I don't really see what the installer has done wrong. They've supplied and fitted doors with locks and keys that work.

There's nothing in principle preventing the OP from getting additional keys cut - the problem is that Yale can't provide ones that work in the lock that they manufactured!

The only way I can see that the OP could have a remedy against the installer would be if it could be established that the lock supplied by the installer was in fact faulty. But I'm sure the installer would point to the keys that they supplied and say "Look. There's nothing wrong with the lock. The keys we supplied work. It's the spare keys bought from Yale that don't work".

TBH I'm more than a little surprised that Yale can't provide spare keys and their best advice is to change the lock. I find that a bit worrying...

I can't help wondering if there's been some mix up or other confusion over the key codes or serial numbers that are part of the security featues.

The OP says he knows a local locksmith. I'd ask him if he can have look at the keys and the lock to see what's wrong and see if he can confirm that Yale have supplied the correct spare keys for that lock. Or that the key code is the right one for that lock.

I suppose if it can be established that the lock is faulty in some way, then the OP could chase the installer. But as above, I'm sure the installer will simply point out that the lock works with the keys they supplied.

I think atticus might be suggesting the OP tries a warranty claim - although I'm not sure if he means against Yale or the installer. I'm not sure if that would get the OP any further than they are at the moment with a free replacement lock - unless the warranty covered fitting.

Personally I think that if Yale are accepting there's a problem with the lock, they ought to be fitting the replacement free of charge.