So with the new front door, we needed to get a new door lock. So….we did….
Yes, it’s going to be one of those stories…
We go to the hardware store that shall remain nameless (Home Depot) on Saturday while the contractor was putting in the new front door. We talked to the Hardware Store Helper Guy, and he talked us into a Baldwin lock. “The Best” These have a smartkey system where you can rekey them yourself whenever you want to. You know, like say…when one of the boys loses their keys and has no clue where they are… 
This is Baldwin’s prestige line. Okay. We’ll pay more for them. We have a double door, so we wanted the matching “fake” handle for the second door. The Hardware Store Helper Guy said he’d call and order that part on Monday. Fast forward to Sunday morning. SuperGuy goes to rekey the front door to an existing key we have. He messes it up. (why, oh, why do males refuse to carefully read instructions??? ) It locks up the front door lock. 
So, SuperGuy pulls the lockset completely out of the door and takes it up to Home Depot where Hardware Store Helper Guy uses their secret-double-probation-key-redoer thingie. They set the lock to our existing keys. SuperGuy comes home and puts the lock back in the door. (He forgets the extra keys he was supposed to have made for the boys and my parents, but I digress…)
Fast forward to Monday. Hardware Store Helper Guy calls. “They don’t make a fake handle for that model you bought. You’ll have to buy another whole set $$$ and just use the handle off of it.” For real??? THEN he says, oh, and I found out the model you bought isn’t made by the Baldwin $$ well made door lock company. It’s made by Black & Decker and just marketed under Baldwin. (So we overpaid for a “good lock” which, well, isn’t one.)
So we can pull the door lock and handle and return it. Buy a new one. Get it rekeyed. Reinstall it. Or go with one door handle.
Why, oh, why is remodeling stuff always like this???
Note to my beloved sons. I did not lock you out of the house. We just need to get you new keys…you know, when we decide what we’re actually going to do about the front door lock.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
This kind of stuff keeps you guys really busy, doesn’t it? Back and forth . . .
Hi Kay,
I’m the Brand Manager for Baldwin. My apology for your troubles. We just launched the Prestige Series this Fall and Dummy handleset conversion kits will be available for your other door in January. We’ll send you out a kit, if you would like, just e-mail me your street address.
Baldwin Prestige door hardware is a retail line of hardware offered by Baldwin. B&D owns many companies including DEWALT, Price Pfister and others, but Baldwin’s Prestige Series is not a B&D product with the Baldwin name. We have been (and still are) manufacturing luxury hardware in Reading, PA since the 1950s. The Prestige Series is produced outside the US (as are all retail hardware lines found at the big box stores), but it was designed and engineered by the same Baldwin team that crafts our ’showroom line’ of luxury hardware that is hand-forged and finished in Reading, PA.
We stand behind our Prestige Series as the premium hardware line within The Home Depot. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.