LESLIE LOCKE "SECURITY" GATES 
are they REALLY secure???? 

A public service announcement brought to you by Locksmith Charley 

Here I  have an interesting VIDEO CLIP (aired by ABC-26 news in New Orleans) related to LESLIE LOCKE security gates... 

  LESLIE LOCKE and HOME DEPOT  companies both headquartered in Atlanta seem to be engaging in a conspiracy to entice consumers into purchasing "SECURITY GATES" that BOTH* know do little if anything to secure their customers homes or businesses from intrusion. When I lived in New Orleans I came home one Saturday before Mardi Gras to find my TV & stereo gone. On Sunday I went to HOME DEPOT and purchased 2 "Security gates" that boasted such claims as "HEAVY DUTY WELDED STEEL CONSTRUCTION" and installing on them the BEST locks that I had on my service truck.  I spent all day Sunday installing these gates on the front and rear entrances to my house. Then I went and bought a new TV so I'd have some entertainment. Imagine my surprise when I decided to take a break on Monday, "Lundi Gras", and discovered that my back door had been kicked in yet again, damaged much more severely than on Saturday! 

The most astounding thing was that when I looked at the security gate the 1" deadbolt (Lori deadbolt - 100% SOLID  as opposed to various Kwikset and Schlage models which are partially hollow)  was still extended from the gate. 

The VIDEO CLIP (aired by ABC-26 news in New Orleans) will show that someone with moderate strength can (sometimes with ONE hand) grasp the center vertical bar of the gate, yank hard, and have the gate bow in the middle so much that the 1" deadbolt will simply pass by the strike (hole into which it projects) rendering the gate and the deadbolt utterly useless. When I contacted the manufacturer LESLIE LOCKE company they insisted that despite all of the CRAP (I mean advertising claims) they printed on their packaging their official corporate position was "We don't guarantee that our products will keep anyone out of anything... We sell them merely as a deterrent." When I inquired why their packaging said "Security Gate" manufactured with "HEAVY DUTY WELDED STEEL CONSTRUCTION" rather than "Merely Deterrent Gate" their explanation - if any - was wholly insufficient in my PROFESSIONAL opinion. Needless to say having already sold the gates to HOME DEPOT who sold them to me LESLIE LOCKE obviously didn't give a SHIT nor were they at all interested in offering me any compensation for my losses after I  relied on the FALSE ADVERTISING that they printed on the packaging on their products. I will note that this occurred 3-5 years ago and LESLIE LOCKE has changed their packaging,  but that is NOT the issue (for me anyway). The issue is that LESLIE LOCKE make a great many claims about their products including the model of the gate in question. 

Some of the advertising LESLIE LOCKE provides and that  Home Depot prominently displays looks like this: 





The only problem with the prominent display of this advertising is that they fail to show any testing related to grabbing the center vertical bar and yanking it thus causing the gate to bow vertically in the middle so that the deadbolt passes by the strike!

These pictures were extracted from the video...


This was aired on ABC-26 news in New Orleans a few years ago. 

 

 
It is really hard to try to make this clear since its a moving picture, but this shows going from LOCKED to open in 1/2 second simply by yanking on the center vertical bar. I am able to do this with ONE HAND (or at least I could at the time).


This shows that the Lori®  deadbolt was extended its full 1" at the time I yanked the gate open. 

I couldn't get a good enough capture to show the text that was on their packaging at the time I purchased these gates but here is what I could get... note that it proclaims in bold letters "STEEL SECURITY DOOR"   and the part that starts out "HEAVY DUTY" was "HEAVY DUTY WELDED STEEL CONSTRUCTION" 

 

 In MY opinion LESLIE LOCKE should RECALL all of the gates of that model that they have sold and presumably made $$MILLIONS$$ on which at best LURE unsuspecting consumers into a FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY. 

Despite having initially secured agreement from responsible parties within Home Depot's corporate management to cease and desist from selling these CRAPPY units unfortunately they are still to this day peddling this  SHIT  to unsuspecting customers. More unfortunately, in their endeavor to continue  peddling this  SHIT  to unsuspecting customers they are displaying self serving advertising (pictured above), probably created by Leslie Locke that claim their gates were independently tested to withstand X number of pounds of force to open complete with diagrams that show the force being applied in every way conceivable BUT EXCLUDING grabbing the center bar and bowing the door in the middle where it is most susceptible.

* Both Home Depot's and Leslie Locke's corporate headquarters were notified as immediately as possible (by telephone in an IRATE manner)  after my New Orleans home was burglarized. Both companies were provided video years ago yet they STILL manufacture and sell this product.  Neither company wanted to cooperate in (a) taking this crappy product off the market, (b) initiating a recall of this CRAPPY product or (c) compensating me for my losses. I finally disputed the charges on my credit card for the purchase of the gates and had my account credited (Home Depot never did come to take them back) for the purchase price. Fortunately my homeowners insurance paid for all the stuff that was taken. UNFORTUNATELY home depot & leslie locke felt no impulse whatsoever to stand up and take ANY responsibility for the SHIT they sold me...

I understand that these gates are also sold at other retailers such as Hill-Behen Lumber and others.

IF YOU are a victim of a burglary that happened after you installed these security gates I want to hear from you. Please e-mail me at Charley@LocksmithCharley.com.