HOUSTON—When Stewart Presnall’s meal at a local restaurant was interrupted by screams, he ran outside.

He said he saw a man beat up a woman and run off with her keys.

“He was pushing her down and hitting her,” Presnall said.

But when help arrived for the woman, things only got worse.

Presnall said police called KD Locks so the woman could get a new set of keys.

But when the locksmith showed up, Presnall said he demanded more money.

“I think they take advantage of people that are in situations when they know they have them between a rock and a hard place,” Presnall said.

Presnall said the locksmith charged the woman $189.

“I said, ‘Well, you told the police officer that it’s going to be $129,’” Presnall said.

After a few questions, Presnall said the locksmith took off, leaving the woman still locked out of her car. It was almost midnight.

Jeff Floeck is affiliated with the Associated Locksmiths of America, which regulates locksmiths.

He said if you give a locksmith the make and model of your car, you should get an accurate quote.

“The price they quote you should be the price that they end up charging you,” Floeck said.

KD Locks advertises a local phone number, but the company is based out of Irving.

That’s not uncommon .  A lot of supposedly local locksmiths aren’t what they seem.

Here’s how it works:

Say you look up a local locksmith, and their address is listed as 55 Waugh.  But 55 Waugh is an office building, and when you call their listed number, you’re actually connected to USA Locksmith.  That’s a national company that operates in many states.  Their offices aren’t in Houston – they’re in New Jersey.

The physical address listed for Macgregor 24-Hour Locksmith in southeast Houston is actually a Wendy’s.

When you call the corresponding number, you get this message:

“You have reached USA answering machine.  If you have an emergency, please dial one.”

USA Locksmith advertises as 70 different companies in Houston, like the MacFarlane Brothers on Cullen, where we found a closed-down barbecue restaurant.

Apparently, companies like USA use technicians who don’t work at local offices.  They work out of their cars.

Sometimes they are licensed. Sometimes they’re not.

That means you don’t know who is making a key to your front door.

State law requires locksmiths to carry licenses issued by the Department of Public Safety. You can have a license only if you haven’t been convicted of certain misdemeanors or a felony.

That means if your locksmith doesn’t have a license, he or she could be a convicted criminal – a criminal with your keys.