Posted by SanDiegoCA on 7/26/08 7:59pm
Msg #257081

Notary Time - possible "new" scam SS

Following the general advice and what I think notary signing agents who are a member (posting or just lurking) of this forum considers to be a good idea, as well as the proper use of this forum, I'd like to bring up the name of a fairly new (I assume) signing service who APPEARS to be another scam operation to lend a bit more protection for my industry peers reading here

The first listing found in a search here for NOTARY TIME was posted on 3/28/08 12:44pm by Gigi/CA titled "Anyone heard of Notary Time GBU n/m". That brought the response of tidarod of CA on 5/13/08 2:27pm, "I did work for them in Feb and I am still waiting for payment. I called title and escrow today and they are getting in contact with Jason Andrews for me. They said the file closed. Did you receive payment?"

The second mention or question about NOTARY TIME was posted on 5/13/08 8:30am by brengreen/ca who said "I recommend you do not work for this company"

I have to join then in that advice, for the following reasons :

I picked up a call and assignment on 4/8/08, for a signing the next day, and was offered up front a fee that was my minimum for an eDOC signing, and having time to search, I did take timne to look here and finding nothing negative listed about them, I completed the singing, called the SS to notify them that we were completed speaking directly to Jason Andres, the fellow who had initially called me. I then shipped the package via FedEx that day and then sent a prepared W-9, and my invoice by email as requested after getting back to my office.

The package was delivered the next day, and the title company has verified that the settlement completed properly. My April EOM billing for the case had just aged 21 days, no real delay in my payment, obviously.

I invoice ALL open accounts every EOM by USPS mail, so the May invoice for this signing was done as usual, but I do not consider payment for a signing still at under 45days aging past due, in general the clients that I have been working with might, at that time, still be preparing to pay my fee after getting paid by the title company, which has never been a real problem.

At 45 days, however, I mailed AND emailed my normal 45 days statement notice outside of my normal EOM billing schedule, which has helped several times working with signing services who are on the up and up, and I normally either get a call or an email quickly, followed most often then with a payment shortly there after. The normal May EOM billing included notice that the account was now due on receipt

In my June 30 statement / invoice to them, I included a red PAST DUE notice on the envelope and stronger worded letter, as this account had then aged 80 days. I have now called the person shown below several times, and received the same phone company message each time "the number that you have dialed is temporarily off line" ....... which I have never heard before ......

This week I have emailed and FAXed notice that the account is past due, about to go to collection, and admonished Jason that if the account was not paid, my obligation to fellow notary signing agents is to post details about this non-payment issue on every forum that I have access to, as well as follow up with both title company AND mortgage company about the non-payment.

Now, I post all of the above not to prove anything about myself, I hope everybody is doing at least this much to be fair to as yet unknown signing services in billing. I believe that I have been fair, so I will now follow up with completing my warning to you folks about this non-paying signing service.

Notary Time
Jason Andrews
[e-mail address]
Tel - 818 430 0818
FAX - 818-827-3327
address on appointment confirmation:
18450 Vincennes St
Northridge, Ca 91325

Note, this address did not work for delivery of my statement and invoice, and that was returned as undeliverable.

I had to call Jason and get another address, and was given
14545 Friar St.
Vanuys, CA 91411
before his phone went "temporarily off line" .....

Obviously, my recommendation is to consider working for this SS as HIGHLY RISKY. Take appointments at your own risk!

In the title of this post, I said "possible" scam SS. If I get paid, I will post again and let everyone know.

But I think due to all the things that were "wrong", address, phone number being "temporarily off line" we can all assume that this, too, like SOX and others, is just another scam artist playing and praying on notary signing agents because it's so easy to do.

Reply by David Kruss on 7/26/08 8:43pm
Msg #257086

Typically, there is no SOS registration as a corporation or LLC from Notary Time. Also no fictitious name for Los Angeles County where bot Northridge and Van Nuys are located.

At the Friar St address there is a Metro Notary Signings, (818) 988-0510. Of course no registrations of that name either.

IMHO I'd say scam artist sounds about right.

Reply by JanetK_CA on 7/26/08 10:26pm
Msg #257092

Why not link your post to signing central?

That way it will come up when someone looks there for this company. Makes it easier to find posts about a company.

Reply by docs1954CA on 7/26/08 11:30pm
Msg #257095

Re: Why not link your post to signing central?

I tried to link them up. it says they are already there.

Reply by KODI/CA on 7/27/08 12:05am
Msg #257096

I just read your rate schedule. You are one of the signing agents that believes in lowball payments. SHAME ON YOU.

Reply by sue_pa on 7/27/08 9:34am
Msg #257109

oh my

How did you figure out this guy is a low baller? After your post, I peeked. I would never be able to figure out what he's charging from what is listed !!!! What a cluster **** on his fee page. Why in the world would anyone call him? Basic fee, e-doc fee, receiving fax fee, fuel surcharge, fax back fee, appts. outside regular hours, parking fee, additional charge for certain zip fees (you must take the posted number & multiply by 2 yourself rather than him putting the 'real' fee), reduction for repeat clients ...

While all of those things should be taken into consideration in reaching the fees we charge, again, who would call this guy? What's wrong with saying my fee is $100, $150, $500? What in the world is the purpose of all this jibberish and apparent justification of the fees?

We often see someone tell a new person to be sure to complete their profile. Some should be reminded, as Bobbi says, K.I.S.S.

Perhaps (realizing he is in a saturated area) this is part of the reason he's 'celebrating' an average of less than 6 loans per week in the past 3 years !!!!!

Reply by CaliNotary on 7/27/08 3:34am
Msg #257102

"we can all assume that this, too, like SOX and others, is just another scam artist playing and praying on notary signing agents because it's so easy to do."

Gasp! SOX's biggest cheerleader is finally admitting that they're scammers?

Reply by Cari on 7/27/08 8:43am
Msg #257104

I think that if the email for any SS is a Yahoo, Gmail, or

Hotmail, etc., to me it means that the SS is too damn cheap to open up a real business email, and really, that's like my personal red flag....just my 2 cents...

Reply by thnotary_NY on 7/27/08 11:20am
Msg #257151

Re: I think that if the email for any SS is a Yahoo, Gmail, or

Not only that, but I always try to look at their web site(?) for the address, phone #s and how the site looks in general. Funny how no one has mentioned this ss and their ratings on 123.

Reply by SanDiegoCA on 7/27/08 2:51pm
Msg #257192

Re: I think that if the email for any SS is a Yahoo, Gmail,

David Kruss wrote:
"At the Friar St address there is a Metro Notary Signings, (818) 988-0510. Of course no registrations of that name either."

That info is appreciated, as well as the info gathered from several private messages received from members of this forum.

JanetK_CA wrote:
"Why not link your post to signing central? That way it will come up when someone looks there for this company. Makes it easier to find posts about a company."
Then docs1954CA wrote:
"I tried to link them up. it says they are already there."

That was attempted before posting about them here, it could not be added although that name does not show up in the list there. It was posted here, though, so it would come up when the SS name was searched for here.

KODI/CA wrote:
"I just read your rate schedule. You are one of the signing agents that believes in lowball payments. SHAME ON YOU."
Then sue_pa wrote:
"How did you figure out this guy is a low baller?" etc., etc,. etc ........

Sorry that you two don't like the website, or prices put together in 2005 after poling price scales offered from many different potential sources for assignments done here in San Diego as well as doing the normal business calculations on profitable pricing for a business like this in this location.

That marketing gathers calls daily, mostly for offered prices that are the same as those I used, with only a small few that are slightly higher. This allows me to turn down those that are lower than that every time that they come in.

It's been successful marketing that brings in more opportunities to work than I care to take on due to other business activities also done in my office. At this time multiple streams of income seem to be one of the few sure things to follow, luckily I have pursued that since my early retirement in 1997.

CaliNotary wrote:
"Gasp! SOX's biggest cheerleader is finally admitting that they're scammers?"

I see that my favorite detractor and perpetual forum stalker as now chimed in, forgetting again to mention that my initial posts on SOX were related to my personal experiences with them after being paid, easily and quickly, for the first half dozen assignments, AND that I have retracted that initial opinion both in personal messages to them and publicly here in this forum several times. Nice to hear from you again!

Cari wrote:
"Hotmail, etc., to me it means that the SS is too damn cheap to open up a real business email, and really, that's like my personal red flag....just my 2 cents."

Excellent point to remember Cari, if only to be extra careful in this declining industry and although that has proved to be not the case in a VERY small handful of times in my personal experience, it's a good idea to remember it, always.

thnotary_NY wrote:
"Not only that, but I always try to look at their web site(?) for the address, phone #s and how the site looks in general. Funny how no one has mentioned this ss and their ratings on 123."

Another excellent observation, as common thoughts are that ANY real, legitimate business must have a web site that confirms issues like that, as well as a toll free telephone number. It is probably only good luck that several well paying and respectable clients in my list do not have a web site, or their own SMTP email server.

While I hadn't paid Jeremy Belmont @123 for his SS list and ratings, I do also market at that web site, so I assume the list and ratings are also as good as his other services, especially the great certification test available there.

Thanks again to those who replied privately to my publicly posted warning, and I also appreciate the fact that a few of you, too, prefer not to chance having to engage the select few here who can't resist any chance to ridicule, insult and stalk those posting publicly. No doubt they will be now forced to decide whether they do the same again now. :o]

Reply by CaliNotary on 7/27/08 5:36pm
Msg #257201

Re: I think that if the email for any SS is a Yahoo, Gmail,

"I see that my favorite detractor and perpetual forum stalker as now chimed in, forgetting again to mention that my initial posts on SOX were related to my personal experiences with them after being paid, easily and quickly, for the first half dozen assignments, AND that I have retracted that initial opinion both in personal messages to them and publicly here in this forum several times. Nice to hear from you again!"

Um, if I were stalking you, wouldn't that mean I would have seen your retraction in the past?

Are you really telling me that that huge boner you had for SOX, that caused you to repeatedly post over several months how great they were and that the only reason people weren't getting paid were because they weren't smart enough to follow the payment directions like you were, you're saying that was based on SIX SIGNINGS????? Bwahahahahaahahaha, that is freaking hilarious. You really must have felt like an idiot when they screwed you.

Reply by MikeC/NY on 7/27/08 9:20pm
Msg #257223

"just another scam artist playing and praying on notary signing agents because it's so easy to do."

Screwing an SA out of their money may be a religious experience for some signing services, but I think the word you wanted here was "preying"...