How to contact a locksmith

Cards that mention Notfall or Pikett are marked on the English list as an on-call note. That mark is copied from the German entry. It is not a time, and it does not describe the language used on the phone.

If someone has broken in, or you are unsafe, call the police on 117. That number is the national police short code, published for the public on the Confederation’s portal. A locksmith card is for a lock, not for an emergency service of the state. Fire is 118, ambulance is 144. See those numbers.

Words

• ausgesperrt / enfermé dehors — locked out
• Zylinder / cylindre — cylinder
• Schloss / serrure — lock
• Türöffnung / ouverture de porte — opening the door
• Schlüssel / clé — key

The German locksmith pages do not print a flat fee. The price is time on site plus the cylinder. Ask, before anyone drills, what the visit costs if the door is opened without a new cylinder, and what a cylinder costs if it has to be replaced.

Message you can send

Send the German text in Zürich, Basel and Bern. Send the French text in Genève and Lausanne. The English line is only so you know what you sent. It is not a claim that a reply will come back in English.

German

Guten Tag. Ich bin an der Adresse [Strasse, PLZ, Ort] ausgesperrt. Tür: [Wohnung / Haus], Stock [Zahl]. Bitte um Rückruf mit einer ungefähren Ankunft und dem Ansatz, bevor gebohrt wird. Eine Antwort auf Deutsch genügt. [Name, Telefon]

French

Bonjour. Je suis enfermé dehors à l’adresse [rue, NPA, lieu]. Porte : [appartement / maison], étage [nombre]. Merci de me rappeler avec un délai approximatif et le tarif avant de percer. Une réponse en français me convient. [nom, téléphone]

You say you are locked out, you name the door, and you ask for a rough arrival and the rate before anyone drills. The card itself still promises neither.

Look the name up in Zefix if the invoice is large enough to matter. A 24-hour word in a business name is the business’s own wording. This website did not test it.