Posted by Anonymous on 12/6/05 11:51am
Msg #80595

East Coast Notaries

Hello All,

Dont mean to post anonymously, but my whole name shows up on posts.

Do any east coast notaries have issues with SS calling late at night, last night i got calls from a reputable ss up until 10:30 at night, and even after i complained to them about how late it was. How do you deal with that? Do you each just accept the fact that its part of the business?

Brian, Massachusetts

Reply by Charles_Ca on 12/6/05 12:04pm
Msg #80601

Hi Brian:

You can choose how your name appears when you log on. On the topic of late night calls, I find that not everybody is as sensitive as us Yankees (I'm a transplanted Mainiac). I wouldn't dream of calling anyone after 8 PM unless I know them personally and they said it was OK. Same thing in the morning, never before 8:30 or 9. Sunday's I usually only call in the afternoon. On the West Coast it seems that the niceties we take for granted are a completely foreign concept. People frequently don't think of the time difference between the time zones and most think its OK to just pick up the phone and call whenever they think of it.

I have my office numbers and my home phone. I frequently work from home so I use call forwarding from my office numbers to direct callers to my home phone. When I want private time and at night I just turn off the call forwarding. I have friends who use their cell phone as their business phone and then they just turn off the phones at night. Voice mail and a recording machine take care of phone calls after hours.

A service I like which gives me an 800 number is freedomvoice.com. Freedom Voice is very reasonable and accepts voice mail, faxes, has multiple voicemail boxes, can provide information on multiple services, and you either can get your messages via e-mail (audio files or PDFs of Faxes) or it has a forwarding feature. I really like my freedom voice and since its just me and I have 10 mailboxes included I share the costs and mailboxes with colleagues.

Reply by Nd_WA on 12/6/05 12:04pm
Msg #80602

There is a 3 hours difference between the East & West coast. I have gotten calls as late as 8:00PM here from a TC.

***...and even after i complained to them about how late it was.***

Might as well turn your phone off if you're not going to do business that late.

Reply by Brian_MA on 12/6/05 12:11pm
Msg #80605

I guess you are right about shutting the phone off. I just dont like shutting the phone off because I use it for my private life as well. But since I am married with a five month old, I suppose no one would want to call me anyway.

Reply by Charles_Ca on 12/6/05 12:15pm
Msg #80607

Get a second line Brian, or a cell phone and then you always have one available for emergenies. I don't like to turn off my home phone either since I have freinds and family all over the US and sometimes they have to call.

Reply by Charles_Ca on 12/6/05 12:13pm
Msg #80606

Not trying to be pugnacious but.....

You obviously know the time difference, would you call someone on the East coast at 8PM PST? At the same time I have also gotten calls from the East coast at 5 in the morning. I am not a morinig person and a 5AM call just ruins my whole day! I am not being difficult and I have taken care of the problem for myself but has consideration for the "other guy" reached such a low point in our society that it's ok to call whenever we feel like it?

Reply by PAW_Fl on 12/6/05 12:10pm
Msg #80604

Yes, Brian, quite often I get calls late at night, usually from west coast companies. As others have said, make sure you have a phone number specifically for business and turn it off or have it go to voice mail (which they probably won't leave any) if you don't want to be bothered.

Reply by PA_Notary_II on 12/6/05 12:46pm
Msg #80615

I have caller ID and find it useful in deciding whether I want to answer a call or not. I also have two phone lines, but use one for data only.

Reply by BP/WV on 12/6/05 1:16pm
Msg #80623

Brian,
I am on the east coast as well. I do get late calls for signings from those on the west coast. This does not present a problem for me; After all, I do advertise "available 24/7".

Reply by Beth/MD on 12/6/05 1:23pm
Msg #80626

As others have stated...I also turn off my business phone around 9pm. Sometimes later. I don't advertise a 24/7 service so I don't want to get calls after 9pm. This doesn't mean I haven't done appointments later than 9 though.

Reply by eXpedN_TX on 12/6/05 1:38pm
Msg #80634

I advertise 24/7 as well, so it's not an issue for me at this time. But if I had a family, I would think about getting a separate line as well.

Reply by Charles_Ca on 12/6/05 2:07pm
Msg #80650

Gosh! 24/7 is a major commitment, even without family NM

Reply by BP/WV on 12/6/05 2:40pm
Msg #80664

Re: Gosh! 24/7 is a major commitment, even without family NM

I am a single parent with two children, so every call I get, no matter how late it is, is very important to me.

Reply by eXpedN_TX on 12/6/05 4:07pm
Msg #80704

Re: Gosh! 24/7 is a major commitment, even without family NM

It helps to have a business partner, too.

Reply by MDNSA on 3/31/06 10:58am
Msg #110053

I turn my phones off when I'm done for the night.