Posted by Lauriec on 3/6/05 12:49pm
Msg #23936

frustrated

A lot of things about this job are frustrating and here is something that I need to "vent" about! At the end of Jan. I had a signing on a Sat. afternoon and the docs were emailed to me. I sat down early Sat. morning with my cup of tea to print my docs because I knew it was a smooth Citibank 30 page Heloc. Unfortunately, the docs were sent over in the wrong format (word~ I had requested pdf.) and 3 1/2 hours later I was STILL at the computer trying to print them in Adobe, wordpad, notepad, ANYTHING. I was also calling the co., dialing every extension # I had, emailing every email address I had for them, to no avail b/c they had no one available on Saturdays. Finally, I had to leave for the closing, I took the set of docs (I had printed them out 4 ways!) that turned out the "best", thinking at least the borrower could lock in at the rate by siging that day and I would return later with a set that was more acceptable. I faxed a letter to the co. explaining why some of the docs looked the way they did, emailed the same letter, and sent the letter back with the docs.
A few days later I got a nasty email saying the docs were unacceptable and I had to return to the borrowers home and have a new set resigned that were being mailed to me. I wrote this person back explaining everything that had happened and received no response. The borrower had gone on vacation to FL and it took me about 3 weeks to catch up with her. (I told the title co. this, also.) I made another appt. had her resign and emailed the co. that I thought they should pay me a trip fee for having to go back (45 min. ride) when none of this was my mistake.
Yesterday I received my payment for this $110 signing. They paid me $60! They docked me $50 for their mistake! (I am venting now so I can calm down before calling them tomorrow!) Of course, the check arrived on Sat. which leaves me steaming until Monday!

Reply by Lee/AR on 3/6/05 12:55pm
Msg #23938

I feel your frustration. By Monday, you'll be calm enough to call them and get their mess straightened out. Good luck, Laurie.

Reply by CaliNotary on 3/6/05 1:09pm
Msg #23941

Was this a signing through NASCO?

If it was, I'd suggest that you try not to create too many waves and smooth things over with them as much as possible. I know you're frustrated, but keep the bigger picture in mind. A lot of us in here get a LOT of business from them. The signings are really simple (mine usually take 15-20 minutes) and they pay well (and quickly) for them. You could be depriving yourself of a lot of future business; is it worth it for $50? To drag out an old cliche, don't cut off your nose to spite your face. Of course that's assuming that it's already not too late and that this one signing killed your chances of any future business.

Also, you really should have proper word processing software on your computer. Part of accepting edocs is having the proper tools, and sometimes things are sent in Word, and it's not unreasonable for the companies to expect us to be able to open something in such a common simple format. You should have gone to Kinkos or a neighbor or something rather than having the borrower sign a screwed up set of docs.

I'm sure WordPerfect or Star Office or other programs have the capabilities to open Word documents if you don't want to install Word specifically. Get one of them installed ASAP.

Reply by PAW_Fl on 3/6/05 3:31pm
Msg #23964

No need to buy any special programs. Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom, provides the Word Viewer absolutely free ... http://office.microsoft.com/search/redir.aspx?assetid=DC011320141033&url=http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=95E24C87-8732-48D5-8689-AB826E7B8FDF&displaylang=en&hurl=F291AF9F7982D1EDEE56841E7617E9EB

If the above link doesn't work, go to http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdate/CD011197531033.aspx and select the viewer download.

Caution: Size: 12023 KB (28 min @ 56 Kbps)

Reply by Lawrence_OK on 3/7/05 7:22am
Msg #24050

602/PC Suite is also good software and it's free. You can also use microsoft office online to view and print word docs.

Reply by Jon on 3/7/05 10:28pm
Msg #24249

Visit .......

www.openoffice.org

They have an office suite that is compatible with MS Office. You can download the entire suite for FREE. Just have a DSL or cable connection as the download is large. With DSL the download took me about 12 min. I have been using this for over a year with no problems.

Reply by fiKS on 3/6/05 1:20pm
Msg #23944

Laurie, here's a link to various types of doc viewers. One of them is for Word docs. You can download them as you need them, but I'd recommend downloading Word viewer, just because, like you, I don't have MS Word on my computer and I get Word docs attached to email just as often as PDF.

http://tonymangone.50megs.com/docviewers.html


BTW, next time you run into these kinds of problem, do not hesitate to post here for immidiate help. Someone could have helped you get those documents printed out yesterday in the proper format.

Reply by Lauriec on 3/6/05 2:11pm
Msg #23951

Thank you for your advice and I appreciate the link! I will visit the site now and download the viewer. I have Word Perfect and it doesn't work for the word docs.
It was NASCO, Lee! How did you know? Is this something they do often? lol I haven't been getting calls from them since this particular signing and was wondering if they've blacklisted me! I do have one coming up through their Chase division and I mentioned to the person that called to schedule what had happened with that particular closing and he said they don't make those mistakes at the Chase division! (He knew it was the Citibank division before I mentioned it.) I did enjoy those Citibank closings, how can I get back in their good graces, even though it wasn't my fault?

Reply by CaliNotary on 3/6/05 2:22pm
Msg #23956

I know you can open Word documents in WordPerfect. If I remember correctly (it's been a long time since I've done it) if you save the document to your hard drive, open Wordperfect, then use the "open file" option in the Wordperfect menu it should open.

Reply by fiKS on 3/6/05 2:25pm
Msg #23958

I believe it depends on the version of WP and Word. However, there is a significant percentage of incompatiblity. The document does not print in the same format. The page breaks are off and often times the fonts are also incompatible when printing.

Reply by Lauriec on 3/6/05 9:25pm
Msg #24026

Yes, that is what happened...the docs printed a different way in each format that I tried to open them in. The wordpad docs looked the best, maybe two or three pages were off a bit, ie. the signature line would show up on the next page. I downloaded the viewer from the link you gave me and I am set if the situation ever occurs again! (Although it shouldn't because I've heard they have people there on Saturdays now...probably b/c this has happened to other notaries...)

Reply by fiKS on 3/6/05 11:29pm
Msg #24031

You will be able to identify a Word document with the "doc" extestion of the file attachment. If you click on the attachment and the file does not open with the proper Word viewer. Close the document and copy it to your desktop. Then right click it and choose "MS Word Viewer" from the "Open With" menu which will pop up when you right click on the file. If you saved the previous attachment, why don't you try to open the document with MS Word viewer. You can email me directly if you need help. [e-mail address]

Reply by thnotary_NY on 3/7/05 8:29am
Msg #24055

I'm wondering, do any of these viewers cover a .tif file.?

Reply by PAW_Fl on 3/7/05 8:54am
Msg #24064

The best all-around picture viewer that I have found (for TIF files as well as others) is IrfanView. And it's FREE.
http://www.irfanview.com/

Reply by Lauriec on 3/7/05 9:48pm
Msg #24236

I called NASCO today and spoke with someone in the acctg. dept. I explained everything that had happened and she forwarded the info to the person responsible for deciding to cut my pay. I just got an email from him! I will try to copy and paste it...

This order had the $50.00 deduction done because the notary printed the
docs incorrectly. The package ran together Notary still had the borrowers
sign this incorrectly printed package and it is unacceptable the mtg could
not even be recorded. The deduction still stands if the notary as a problem
printing a certain format of docs when the schedulers ask which way the
notary can accept docs PDF or WORD the notary should know which they can
accept. This is why they are asked.

There it is...the email the acctg. person sent him CLEARLY stated that I had asked for the proper format and it was sent another way. I wrote a reply but, didn't send it yet b/c I am angry. What would you do? I figure I don't want to be a schmuck!

Reply by PAW_Fl on 3/7/05 10:04pm
Msg #24238

If you got the docs in the wrong format, why didn't you call NASCO? They have people there until 11 PM (ET) and even Saturday mornings. The would have resent it to you in PDF if you couldn't print Word (DOC) documents.

Reply by Lauriec on 3/7/05 10:26pm
Msg #24248

I called every extension # I had for them that day. It was 1/31, Sat. they had no staff working Saturdays at that time. I emailed every address I had, sent faxes to both fax lines, I went with what I had b/c I thought it would be best to have the borrower at least sign what I had and get her rate locked in. I explained to her that I would most likely be back with new docs later. (She was away for weeks after that and it took about 3 weeks to catch up w/her to re-sign.) I faxed these docs back to NASCO along with a letter explaining everything that had happened. I sent the docs back with the same letter. ( Emailed and called them explaining about receiving the email in the wrong format. Thought I'd covered my tracks pretty good!)