Posted by Michael/NC on 1/3/08 2:42pm
Msg #228865

Precision Closings--Received Partial Payment

This is my last comment on Precision Closings and I felt obliged to write this considering I was entirely frustrated with this company. I just received a Partial Payment of 56.25% of the amount that they owed me. That is considerably more than 0% which I thought was going to happen. I think that some effort to square your debts is better than none at all (ie Keith Dean of Dean Notaries). Keith Dean should take a page from Precisions Closings playbook. Thank you Precision Closings for your attempt to make things right and I hope you did this for all persons that you owe.

Reply by CARID on 1/3/08 3:58pm
Msg #228877

Same here, Just got my check today. Will it clear ??? n/m

Reply by CARID on 1/3/08 4:02pm
Msg #228878

I should also note it came with a letter that stated

" Precision has no other choice. Due to the current market conditions, several clients shutting their doors and several not paying their bills, Precision has been forced to close our doors effective immediately. These situations have left Precision financially bankrupt and we were forced to stop all operations."

Reply by Ralph Wedertz on 1/3/08 6:29pm
Msg #228898

Fortunately, they didn't owe me that much - I did not receive any message that said they were going out of business. When you opt to run a signing business, you take on the responsibility (foreign word to many) of paying your notaries, whether you are paid or not. After all, the notary did perform the task assigned. That's the risk (another foreign word) you take when you open a signing business. I did receive a tiny check today - guess that's better than nothing.

Reply by Dorothy_MI on 1/3/08 6:39pm
Msg #228901

Very odd

that you feel that only the SS should have any risk because they are a business, but we as notaries should not have any risks. Wake up, we too are a business and all businesses come with risk. Is risk a foreign word to you? Sure sounds like it.

Now don't get me wrong, I want to get paid just as much as the next person. We are NOT employees. I would wager that Precision wanted to get paid from their customers too. This BUSINESS is NOT for the faint of heart.

Reply by SueW/Tn on 1/3/08 7:24pm
Msg #228903

Risk? A phone call is a risk? C'mon...

I assume risk and I've be stiffed by 2 companies in 2007. I printed docs, did the job, spent my time and did follow up. I'm out my time, my materials etc. Tell me Dorothy, what is the loss that the SS has? What...maybe 15 minutes (if that) in phone calls? Perhaps if they spent more time staying on top of who was paying them and keeping the A/R to a minimum they wouldn't be sending 50% of what they owe. Blaming the mortgage implosion for every SS that doesn't pay the SA is far too convenient as far as I'm concerned. What about the ones that have gotten paid and just haven't gotten around to paying the SA? I don't allow a company to run up a tab with me, pay me and then I'll work for you again. If not, call another SA. I only work for those that have a proven track record, cutting risk is what it's all about.

Reply by JanelWI on 1/4/08 7:12am
Msg #228925

Re: I am actually impressed that they paid at least

something. Granted full payment would have been the best. I was stiffed over $700 from Equal Closing Services out of Milwaukee by Kevin Richardson. He had some bogus story about an attorney working on getting him paid from Ameriquest, he then turned over all questions about being paid to MOMMY. MOMMY then started refusing to return phone calls giving a sob story of having to constantly bail out her son and his misspending. I never got a dime. I was also stiffed by Sunset Closing Services as well from the same area. Ameriquest closed their doors and they used that as an excuse not to pay me as well, that was over $200. Funny, I am still going and they are not, at least in this area for business. Perhaps the lesson is diversity to minimize risk. I was hoping that this would be my only gig. But, now I have two other jobs I work as well as this. I stay with SA work because I enjoy it. Risk is everywhere, but like Sue said, you can make choices that help minimize risk.

Reply by Dorothy_MI on 1/5/08 12:55pm
Msg #229066

I'm not disagreeing with either of you

we need to be prudent and watch our A/R like a hawk, however, to only expect everyone but us to take risks is not being realistic. All three of us have lost money (and probably more than we would want to -- heck NO ONE wants to lose even $1), but this is a business -- not a JOB and that was the attitude I thought I was addressing. Guess I did not make myself very clear. I know that some SS are run from their home, but the vast majority have a bricks and mortar location, most have employees, insurance, utilities, well you get the point. One of the reasons I'm doing this is because I don't have those additional overheads. When I closed my last business I vowed that I'd NEVER again have a business with employees and fixed overhead. Many times, especially with new companies leases, etc have to also have a personal guarantee -- which means that if they close their doors, their overhead DOES NOT automatically go away (some may have been big enough or been in business long enough that they no longer have to personally guarantee these things), but I'd be willing to bet a $1 to a donut that while we are sitting here thinking that they just skated away, I'd be willing to bet that the vast majority are taking plenty of personal debt with them. Now if a SS is stiffed who has the greater loss? And believe me I'm not crying in my milk over them, but we need to compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges. I wish when we had to close our former business that I'd walked away only out a few hours time, some gas, some paper and some toner. We had to close our business not because we spent lavish amounts of money on us or our life style, but the market for our product changed and people weren't buying our products any more. In retrospect, I wish I'd pulled the plug much, much sooner than working over 15 hours a day, seven days a week trying to pump life into a dead corpse; I'd certainly be much better off today.

A great many of the lenders, SS and even title companies that got into this in it's hay day, just assumed that business was ALWAYS going to be good. (If you know any business that is no cyclical (sp) please let me know what it is). Many times it was youth and inexperience that led to that thought process.