All You Need to Know About Key Fobs and What to Do in Lockout Situations with Shaun Henna

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Interview Transcription

ADRIENNE:
Welcome back. And thanks for listening to the Team Lally Real estate show home of the guaranteed sold program or we’ll buy it. I’m Adrienne, and I’m still Attilio and if you have any questions, just give us a call at 7999596 or check us out online at Teamlally.com.

ATTILIO: 
Our guest today is the owner of Ultra Lock and Key LLC. He grew up in Kahaluu, moved to Honolulu during middle school and is currently based here. He started out as an apprentice locksmith in 2011. After six years of mentorship by Richard Barrios Sr and Richard Jr from Affordable Locksmith and Son, he launched Ultra lock and key. Please welcome our guest, Shaun Henna he is the Karate Kid of locksmithing

ADRIENNE: 
and I just also want to add a big shout out to our mechanic Usman which is hired us to him which is how we came into contact with Shaun and Waipahu and Shaun has helped us out several times.

ATTILIO: 
Yeah. Good job, Shaun. So Shaun, let’s get to it. Because you know when I say a karate kid of locksmith is because it sounds like you worked with two people that were like Mr. Miyagi. They’re like, Yeah, this car was locked the car, unlock the car, lock the car. Yeah. And then finally you like this? Did they bring you into a room and then tell you that once you snatch the pebble from my hand, you will be graduated to full on locksmith? No, that was karate. Movie kung fu.

ADRIENNE: 
I don’t think you snatch. I think you’re snatching the car key the car. The car FOB.

ATTILIO: 
Yeah. So let’s talk about your business. Couple exciting things. You know it. Nothing becomes top of mind. More so when it happens to you. So I want to talk about the fact that I had a vehicle on Turo. And then I get the client come text me. They’re like, hey, we use that Walmart. And we dropped the fob that starts your vehicle at Walmart. And it exploded into a million pieces. And I’m like, Huh? Because I’ve dropped the thing all the time. But no, it was a freak accident. And like, we kind of put it together and we got the car open and started but we need a new fob. So I took a new fob over there. And then this is like, I think they hadn’t gone anywhere for a couple of days because they were just hanging out at Koolina. But then I get a frantic calls and text messages. They’re trying to leave to go to the airport to catch their flight. And the second fob I gave them doesn’t work.

ADRIENNE: 
Why? Why didn’t the second FOB work? Attilio

ATTILIO: 
dead battery dead battery.

ADRIENNE: 
And then what did Shaun do to save the day?

ATTILIO:
Shaun, I came to see Shaun and he was like in that movie Sixth Sense. He’s like, I see dead fobs. And now you’re the and you have a solution for that.

ADRIENNE: 
So let’s walk people through that because that a solution for both of those situations

ATTILIO: 
or both of those situations because here’s the deal. After all the dust settle I went to Surfco dealership sorry Surfco it was $500 to replace this fob. And I’m like, What are you giving me one that’s gold plated? And does my kids homework What the heck $500 for on fob. So Shaun, let’s talk about Well, first of all, your inventory of the cases for these fobs? Because we had you on a video and I looked behind you and I thought it was like a wall of like, maybe a yo yo collection? Or maybe these were Pokemon cards, but these are cases for the fobs. How many do you think you have in your inventory?

SHAUN: 
Yes, the Great Wall, the Great Wall of fobs. Yeah. And that they have like 20,000 pieces listed. Wow. It’s kind of a way it’s pretty huge man.

ATTILIO: 
Yeah. So you don’t have to go to you like the Amazon of key fobs for Oahu.

ADRIENNE: 
And the other thing that’s really great about Shaun is that he’s mobile. So you can go to him or he will come to you depending on you know,

ATTILIO: 
yeah, because I think there’s a there’s a conspiracy with fobs. They’re like, You know what, when they leave the house, we’re gonna let them start the car one more time. And when they go when they go clubbing, and it’s three in the morning and they’re the DD we’re not gonna let the car start when you downtown and in the middle of the night and so Okay, dead fob, dead fob, you know, because more and more of these cars are like holiday starters with the button to push the button. And so what’s your first recommendation at that point? Because you gave me a great tip that saves the trip charge. And then Shaun, you know, I mean, you’re gonna have Shaun show up. He’s gonna be there but he gonna be all like sleepy and stuff because it’s the middle of the night. You can come he’s like Batman of the locksmith. And but what did you What do you recommend or what people don’t mostly know about with the fob when it’s dead?

SHAUN: 
You can emergency start the car. Yeah, you know, if you have to, there’s a insert blade inside of it. It’s hidden, you can’t normally see it. But it’s usually where the key ring is attached to. You can pull it out, you know and get in the car. Because if the battery dies in the fob, your car’s not going to open, you’re gonna get stuck outside. So you’re gonna look at the handle first. If you see the lock cylinder, then you get to insert blade, you pull it out, you stick it in and turn it to unlock you open the door, but if you don’t see the lock cylinder, you know there, there’s always a lock cylinder, like a backup cylinder to get in the car. So it’s either gonna be behind your handle, or it’s going to be modular, so you’re gonna go under the handle and it’s you Shouldn’t be a little hole. Yeah, poke it with the blade and pop the cap off. And then you’ll see the lock cylinder, you can get in the car, touch the fob to the star button most times, but it’s not, you know, some cars have learning pockets or learning spots in it. And this is in the dealer, the manual that comes with a car. Yeah, or you can look online, you know, and you’re always still always have an emergency slot or learning pocket.

ATTILIO: 
Yeah. And so again, the tip there is people like the you know, the worst time to do a fire drill is when the whole house is on fire. You do it beforehand, so you’re not all trying to figure it out at three in the morning in one parking garage and Waikiki is actually do it now at home with all the light and not three shots of tequila in you and figure out how to remove the blade how to insert in the lock so you can manually open your fancy fancy fancy car and then that emergency start and I’ll tell you when I did the emergency start on my Lexus it worked

ADRIENNE: 
and then also have that yeah, that second key Yeah, so I’m guilty like both of my cars. I only have one fob so I’m gonna come see you Shaun. You can help me with that. But if any of our listeners any of our listeners also are guilty with only having one key or one fob, I would say call give Shaun a call. Go visit with him he’ll help you out because

ATTILIO: 
because Adrienne and she gonna be like moonlight walk in Makapuu and then you’re not gonna be able to start a call and then she can call me. And I’ll be like, oh call Shaun and then I’m gonna hang up.

ADRIENNE: 
So Shaun’s number you can call them at 6751522, 6751522 and super responsive. He’ll come to you you can go to him Yeah, but have that second fob if you only have the one.

ATTILIO: 
well, so it’s important to I would probably take it’s worth it probably take your second fob. You know, also tell them about the thing that to that you taught me about the batteries that you buy at Long’s sorry Long’s you got batteries. It’s sitting on your shelf. It’s like we’re doing a show where Long’s are anywhere, anywhere like all these places, Walmart. So we’re doing a show where we’re repelling sponsors and telling them that this stuff doesn’t work. But tell them about the what happens. The little quarter sized battery that goes in these remotes, what do they need to know?

SHAUN: 
So at the big box stores, you know, there’s not a lot of people buy the batteries. So they sit on the shelf? Usually for a long time. Yeah, you might get lucky though. And then they put a new stock out, you know, batteries are fresh. Yeah, a lot of times they’ll sit there and then they’ll just get old, you know, and they lose the voltage. And then you know, you popped open a brand new battery casing and put it in your fob, then it still doesn’t work. So you think the fob’s dead, Yep, you know, so it’s always good to make where you could bring it to me. And then I could check the battery. You know, I can make sure it’s three volts, or at least able to send out a voltage. And then if it is probably your key fob dead, yeah, if not, then your battery voltage is low. I stock a lot of batteries I have I pretty much have like every battery for the other fobs that’s on the road. And I can replace it. And then you want me to get in?

ATTILIO: 
Yeah, and Shaun does this crazy thing. He pays attention to the expiration dates. So

ADRIENNE: 
are you so Attilio mentioned like a price that was quoted from the dealership? On average, Shaun, like, How much money are you saving your customers from? Like, with your expertise and being able to help?

SHAUN:
Yeah, anywhere from about 200 bucks to 300 bucks. That’s a big, more. Yeah,

ATTILIO: 
yeah. No, Shaun saved me about that much money and and it was, you know, when you go to a dealership, it’s like going to the emergency room at a hospital. It’s like a 12 hour ordeal. You go to the dealership, don’t even think about the guy that got a nice waiting room in the coffee because you’re gonna be there forever till you till you start collecting Social Security because you’re just there forever. But that was Shawn I was Shawn I was like, there I think 15 minutes and and let me describe the Shaun’s like okay, well maybe you go no, he’s like, put the new battery to the vault check of the battery, put it in the thing and then you gotta go hook up this computer to the thing and program the remote. And then you test it all the features of the remote so I’m not out I kind of point going off house on this thing. Don’t know, but so very thorough.

ADRIENNE: 
So we have about five minutes left in our show. And I want to make sure that we touch on this because Shaun, you’re going to be launching a new company 2024 Can you share with us and our listeners a little bit about what you have in the in the near future? Yeah.

SHAUN: 
Yeah, so it’s gonna be called ARTLU Car Keys. We’re just gonna focus on spare keys and we’re gonna do a mobile service. So it’s gonna be by appointment and we’re We’re not gonna have a travel fee. Yeah, you know just as long as it’s it’s on scheduled and it’s on the same route you know we’ll come to you to the house or to your workplace

ATTILIO: 
you’re like Merry Maids for the second key yeah yeah yeah I know the house and Ewa beach up going to the do tool already. Adrienne the kids remote in the ocean. Okay, bye. No. Well go ahead Shaun.

SHAUN: 
Exactly what happens yeah, but no, yeah. So it would just be convenient because nowadays you know, everybody wants convenience. Baby, you know, I want to be the one drive nowhere. So we’re just gonna plan to you know, come straight direct to you make a spare key fraction of the dealer price and a lot of our keys they’re original that genuine parts we also have asked the market but I don’t recommend ask the market. Yes, you know, because it’s Chinese parts and well most in Chinese and it doesn’t last long. You know, it works in the beginning. But over time, it doesn’t hold up as well as a genuine part. Yeah.

ATTILIO:
Especially when you have a luxury vehicle your your you know, whatever your vehicle is important. You want to I think safety is above price consciousness and you know, the yellow Pokemon fob, just it’s not gonna last that long. The factory.

SHAUN: 
Yeah, cuz if you think about it, you’re gonna spend let’s say maybe 200 bucks to 225 for aftermarket FOB, right? Yeah. You could have got the genuine one for $300 Maybe 350s. Like maybe $75 $100. But it’s an investment. You know, because you don’t want to get stranded one year later. Yeah, not gonna park in line and then you’re gonna ask to pay another, you know, $350 for somebody to come out there and rescue. So you should have just got the better part. You know, and that’s what we’re gonna offer and kind of educate the customers about it because everybody they don’t, you know, they don’t know about and just think yeah, if it works, it works. You know, but that’s not the case. Is this how long it’s gonna last for?

ADRIENNE:
It’s not all created equal.

ATTILIO:
Yeah. So people start getting to do some preventative maintenance of not getting stuck somewhere on on parking garage in Waikiki or Kaena point. I would highly recommend you call Shaun. He’s gonna put you on the schedule.

ADRIENNE:
6751522. And it’s Ultra Lock and Key. Shaun, is there a good website that they can go to for your business? Not yet. Not yet. But just

SHAUN: 
just the Yelp. The Yelp is the best and website it is under construction. We’re going to make it all spiffy nice artistic. Yeah,

ADRIENNE: 
well look at them on Yelp with all the great reviews. Give them a call.

ATTILIO: 
Get on the schedule. Get on this. It’s like Santa Claus. He’s gonna come if you’re on the nice list. Not visit you fell on the naughty list. He could, you know, he got basically on the naughty list. We’re gonna be like three in the morning at one parking garage in Waikiki and will cost you more money. All right.

ADRIENNE: 
Thank you Shaun for being our guest. 

SHAUN: 
Welcome, guys. Thank you for having me.

ATTILIO:
Yes, we’re gonna have you on next year to give us an update on that. Nice list, replacing people’s fobs. Thank you so much. 

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