Posted by CaliNotary on 8/24/04 3:05pm
Msg #6623

Service Link - Grrrrr

Dang I'm annoyed right now.

I did a signing for Service Link on Friday. They called me on Friday morning, 9 am to see if I happened to be available for a noon signing. I was, but the city was pretty far from me, I quoted them a rate of $135 including e-docs ($25). The scheduler had to check into it, called me back and approved it.

The actual address was 60 miles from me. I drove up there, the borrower wasn't home. Sat there for 30 minutes, called Service Link but could only get the voice mail of the person on the confirmation sheet. Told him what the situation was and went home. Left a voice message for the borrower as well.

The borrower called me a few hours later. She said she had no idea why they scheduled the appointment at noon, as she had told them she wouldn't be home unitl 2:00 at the absolute earliest. I agreed to drive back up there after my last signing of the day. Called Service Link again, got only voice mail, tried to get a live person, they just transferred me back to the voicemail box of the original guy.

I left a message explaining that I would complete the signing that evening, but that I expected to be paid my full fee for both trips, except for the edoc fee which I obviously only expected to be paid once for. I was expecting $245 - $110 twice and $25 edocs Did the signing that night, everything was fine. Ended up driving 240 miles for this one signing.

I got a call Monday morning from the Service Link team member. He had tried to track the package, couldn't find it. I explained that it wouldn't be in the system yet, as I had dropped the docs in a box and UPS doesnt' pickup on the weekends so it was probably still sitting there. (Why do we have to explain obvious stuff like this?) He said that he was going to have to check about my fees as he couldn't approve that amount and would get back to me.

Today I got a call from him stating that I was approved for $225. I asked him why it wasn't the full fee. He told me it was, and that with the attitude that I had when I left my voice message for him, I should feel lucky that they were agreeing to pay it. I told him that I didn't have an attitude, but that yes, I expected to be paid in full for both signings, that it wasn't my fault that Service Link scheduled this appointment at a time when the borrower wasn't available. He told me that I shouldn't assume that it was Service Link's fault and that was my bad attitude. I told him that I didn't know or care who's fault it was, I just knew that they called me at 9am for a noon signing and I did exactly what they requested me to do.

He then went into a breakdown of the fees - $55 standard fee, $35 rush fee, $25 edoc fee, $20 copies fee. I told him that all I quoted was $110 for the trip due to the distance from me and $25 for edocs, that I didn't charge a rush fee or a copy fee, and if they paid a $20 copy fee how come I hadn't received it on other edoc signings I did for them? All he could say was that's how it was in the system so that's how I must have given it to them, and the reason my fee was $20 less was because I didn't need to make 2 sets of copies. Like I don't know how I quote my own fees

He also told me that I needed to remember that *I* was working for *them* and that with my unprofessional attitude he wasn't sure how much more they'd be using me anyway. At that point I was so frustrated that I told him that I'd save them the trouble, that they could find somebody else to do the signing that I was scheduled for next week, that I'd send them my final invoice at the end of this month because *I* was f***ing done with them. And then hung up.

Yeah, that last part was not very professional, but by that point I just wanted to reach through the phone and smack this guy around a little bit. It's unprofessional to expect to be paid in full for something that they screwed up on? And he had the nerve to argue with me about the way that I quoted my fees for this job when he wasn't even the one who I originally quoted them to? I actually stayed very calm while I was trying to explain all this fee stuff to him, didn't yell, didn't accuse anyone of anything, just stated the facts. And to be told that I was acting "unprofessionally" because of that just made me snap and drop the f-bomb

Anyway, just needed to vent. I did call the team leader on the other signing I was scheduled for and told her that I would no longer be working for their company and they needed to find somebody else for that job. No sense in screwing her or the borrowers over, and I had my doubts that this guy would have have actually relayed the message to her.

So now we'll see if I have to fight for this payment. This guy was such an a**hole I wouldn't be surprised if he deleted it out of their system or reduced the amount or something like that.

Reply by CaliNotary on 8/24/04 4:26pm
Msg #6631

Well, amazingly enough this has already been resolved. Shortly after I wrote it I got another call from Servicelink offering me another assignment. I told her that I wasn't going to do any more work for them, she asked why, I briefly explained (briefer than above, lol). She immediately transferred me to a supervisor in vendor services because she felt somebody should hear about this. I gave the supervisor the full story (including my potty mouth moment), she said she was going to pass it to HER supervisor and asked me if I wanted to be removed from their system. I told her that I had no problem remaining in their system IF my full fee was met, but that once a company stiffs me on any part of my fee I will no longer work for them.

Her supervisor called me within 10 minutes, told me that she had approved my full fee, told me that I had gone above and beyond what they expected of their notaries, apologized about my earlier conversation, and told me that she hoped I would continue to work for them.

So overall I'm quite pleased with the outcome. While I don't think we should EVER have to fight for previously approved fees, I was definitely impressed by the speed and concern for a resolution by the supervisors involved, as well as the scheduling agent who offered to get me in touch with the supervisors in the first place.

I just love happy endings.

Reply by CarolynCO on 8/25/04 8:46am
Msg #6670

...CaliNotary wrote: The actual address was 60 miles from me. I drove up there, the borrower wasn't home. Sat there for 30 minutes, called Service Link but could only get the voice mail of the person on the confirmation sheet. Told him what the situation was and went home. Left a voice message for the borrower as well.

The borrower called me a few hours later. She said she had no idea why they scheduled the appointment at noon, as she had told them she wouldn't be home unitl 2:00 at the absolute earliest. ...


I take it that since the borrower was unaware of the appointment time, there was no contact number for them on the confirmation sheet ??

Reply by been there on 8/25/04 11:41am
Msg #6676

NOT a good idea to travel 60 miles w/out confirming time
& place w/the borrower. if the confirmation sheet didn't have
a phone # listed, look on the loan app. if that #doesn't work, call the lender
i will not travel anywhere w/out making sure i know the borrowers & i are
on the same page.

Reply by CaliNotary on 8/25/04 11:52am
Msg #6677

There was a contact number, but I just got her answering machine. Since the signing was assigned to me 3 hours before the appointment time there wasn't a whole lot of time to confirm, and she had already left for her appointment by that point.