Posted by Linda_H/FL on 1/25/10 3:00pm
Msg #319461

Fairfax Apology - see Msg #319458 n/m

Reply by Joseph Scamardi on 1/25/10 3:08pm
Msg #319464

Re: Fairfax Apology - see Msg #319458

I had a gut feeling it was a disgruntled employee, because why would an individual build a company and then deliberately destroy its reputation and partnership with all notaries involved with it???

Reply by Notarysigner on 1/25/10 3:14pm
Msg #319469

Re: Fairfax Apology - see Msg #319458

Same here...seemed odd so I kept my big mouth shut and waited, like old folks know to do. LOL

Reply by docs1954CA on 1/25/10 3:23pm
Msg #319471

Re: Fairfax Apology - see Msg #319458

I seriously doubt the account was "hacked into".IMO I tend to believe it was a disgruntled employee making a final statement on his way out.The problem is, this moron said what most of believe anyways, and is painfully true.We are usually taken advantage of if we let them.We are sometimes at the mercy of SS that feel that they can pay if they want to, and we are limited in our methods to collect.

What really sticks in my craw is the statement that nobody gets paid when a file fails to close.I seriously doubt that the people that worked on the file at the title company give back their pay for the time they worked on the file.The appraiser gets paid, along with many others that are paid on an hourly basis. For some strange reason these SS seem to think we should also share in the risk when the loan fails to fund.It's just too bad the SS don't get paid, but that's the risk they take along with the brokers that work on commission.

Reply by MW/VA on 1/25/10 4:07pm
Msg #319482

Re: Fairfax Apology - see Msg #319458

"Hacked into" can mean a former employee could still access their internet. I know someone who was in a business that had great concern that a former employee might crash the whole system. Who knows what goes on in the tech world?

Reply by MW/VA on 1/25/10 3:22pm
Msg #319470

Re: Fairfax Apology - see Msg #319458

Wow, that's really wierd. Too bad the co's rep was about destroyed via this forum. I hope everyone gets to see the correction. Thanks for posting this, Linda.

Reply by pat/WA on 1/25/10 3:39pm
Msg #319474

Re: Fairfax Apology - see Msg #319458

I am not getting anything for message #319458

Reply by John Schenk on 1/25/10 3:46pm
Msg #319477

Apology recopied for you.

Please be advised that Fairfax Signing account on Notary Rotary has been hacked into. Fairfax Signing apologizes for all inflammatory or derogatory statements that have been posted to this site.

Fairfax Signing value our relationship with our Notary Partners. Fairfax have strive to make it our priority to pay all our notaries on time.

As we all know in our industry it is very volatile. There are circumstances that are out of our control when Buyer cancels. When the file cancels, nobody gets paid. Title, escrow, real estate agent, loan officer, Seller.... etc. do not get paid when a file cancels, even though we ALL worked on the file.

We have dealt with the person involved in the hacking of the account and we are confident that this incident will not happen again.

Again, we sincerely apologize this incident occurred.

Fairfax Management

Reply by Cari on 1/25/10 3:47pm
Msg #319478

IMO, damage is done. Would anyone now, accept a closing? n/m

Reply by Yoli/CA on 1/25/10 4:06pm
Msg #319481

Tom Nguyen, Integrity Escrow, emailed me this morning

advising they were investigating matter, asking for copy of initial inflamatory email, and address of property in question for fee. Responded by copying NotRot private message, gave him message number, gave him pertinent information for signing (address, file #). He responded by saying he'd looked at file and it's still open and they work on "in trust accounts" and they haven't been paid. I responded that I was contracted by Fairfax Signings for notarial duties and I have performed my notary duties as prescribed by law and am therefore owed my fee now. No further response from them.

I then accessed message #293441 from Matthew Nguyen, manager, Fairfax Signings, wherein he states they pay their notaries regardless of whether loan closes or not and reminded him via private messaged him that Fairfax owes me my signing fee.

I'm very glad Fairfax has at least made the attempt to apologize to this forum. Be it sincere or not, is irrelevant. They have, nonetheless, admitted to some wrongdoing by someone on their payroll and no one should have the right to address anyone in that manner.

Reply by Charles_Ca on 1/25/10 4:39pm
Msg #319488

Re: Tom Nguyen, Integrity Escrow, emailed me this morning

Perhaps its a cultural thing but I would have received the apology much more warmly had it been signed by someone in control. It may just be me but having been signed by "The Management" it makes me feel that "The Management" is cold and uncaring

Reply by Tish/CA on 1/25/10 4:56pm
Msg #319491

Re: Tom Nguyen, Integrity Escrow, emailed me this morning

I agree Charles. Had this been my company's reputation at stake I would have signed off with my full name and contact information.

Also, did anyone else have issues with the grammer and flow of the email? Just get a weird vibe from all of this but if nothing else, it looks like Yoli may get her $130 fee.

Reply by John Schenk on 1/25/10 7:04pm
Msg #319504

Re: Apology recopied for you.

I doubt it was any "hacking of the account," but rather just a disgruntled employee on the way out the door with the user name and password. They gave him the keys, and he drove the car while drunk, it appeared. That's called "negligent entrustment" in my business. Someone running their business, as I think they should, should have changed the password when this person was on the way out the door. A change of password is most likely all that was done to prevent the incident from happening again. In their defense, they may not have known it was coming, who knows?

I agree that the signature of "Fairfax Management" is a poor way to sign an apology, as previously stated. The things stated in that thread were pretty awful. I'd certainly want folks to know that "Hey, this is me responding to that thread, I am running this show, and the buck stops here!" An apology, such as this one, should be personal from the individual running the company rather than generically "Management."

Going back to the original post that evoked this response, I believe that the payment issue for the notary could have been addressed better, rather than generically speaking of what can happen on a loan that doesn't fund. They never said that this loan didn't fund, they just addressed it in general terms. If it were my company I would have clearly stated that this loan did not fund and the known policy is that notaries do not get paid if a loan does not fund, or whatever policy their policy is as I have not worked for them in my life.

A SS gets an order in and locates a notary to do the closing, sends a confirmation, and their little instructions, and they're done once the notary confirms the loan is closed. The notary spends the time and money printing the edocs, calling the BO, getting the docs signed, and notarized, travel to the closing no matter how far that may be, and personal liability for mistakes now, and in the future, faxbacks (when required), looking over the docs to be sure the docs we know should be there are there plus looking for obvious screwups in the doc prep, and we have to point that out to the folks that do doc prep for a living just so we can go out and close their loan, etc., etc.. It's even in the instructions on a lot of them to make sure that 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 docs are in the edocs when you get them. I have never figured out why that is my job? They need to scan those in, and make sure that they have them all for Christ sakes! It's THEIR docs, not mine. Yah, I go through there and make sure they're there, but I sure as hell don't like overseeing the TC and Lender's work to make sure THEY did THEIR jobs, especially when they don't get you the docs at least 2 hours before the closing. "Okay, John...here's your docs....45 minutes before closing, and BTW, check over our work and make sure we sent them all to you, okay? If not, you're gonna get docked on your fee." That's totally ludicrous to me. I've had them send them to me with a missing Deed/Mortgage! How the hell could they possibly miss that? LOL It's the longest doc in the bundle, except for title instructions sometimes or the appraisal. GEEEZZZ Rather than making a phone call to a notary and booking a signing, if it goes through a SS the SS should look over the docs and make sure they're all in there. They ought to do something to earn their money off of us rather than just sit back, get paid right after the 3 day RTC has expired, use our money for 30-60-90 days, or FOREVER, in some cases. Just venting a bit, but it ticks me off. It is the way it is, and we allow that.

JJ

Reply by Susan Fischer on 1/25/10 10:34pm
Msg #319547

Look out, Vern, it might be Luke...as in warm.

I'm not wowed, I'm barely 'ok, maybe...'. A rather non-apology apology; unsatisfactory excuse-making, questionable message of a no-sign situation, and generic author. Management? Really? I just can't share their "confidence".

The bottom line for me - if Yoli gets paid asap. Like overnighted paid. If not? Ka-woosh, as in flushed.

Reply by Tish/CA on 1/25/10 4:19pm
Msg #319484

Re: Fairfax Apology - see Msg #319458

I remain a bit skeptical. There was a lot of "spilling the beans" going on in that thread and the other thread as well. If that was a disgruntled employee or a hacker as they seem to imply they know, that's an open and shut case of libel if I've ever seen one. I'm no lawyer, etc. but I'd like to know if they plan on pursuing a lawsuit against this person and if not why not...?
The jury still out for me on this one.

Reply by LKT/CA on 1/25/10 4:34pm
Msg #319486

Re: Fairfax Apology - see Msg #319458

The other thread began with a Notary commenting that she sent a demand letter for an unpaid loan signing. Even if the disgruntled person had not posted, the real issue is that Fairfax did not pay a Notary for services completed - to the point where she had to send a demand letter. Because of that alone, I've added Fairfax to my "do not work with" list.

Reply by Marian_in_CA on 1/25/10 5:48pm
Msg #319496

I'm confused by this...

They said the account was "hacked" -- so I take it that the person was a former employee? Or, is it an employee who hacked in to an old account?

The part that bugs me is that it was the result of a demand letter sent to Fairfax, right? Well, only a current employee of the company would have seen or been aware of that, right?

I want to buy this apology... but something isn't adding up.

They said, "We have dealt with the person involved in the hacking of the account and we are confident that this incident will not happen again."

That tells me they know who did it... and they never said it was a former employee. That seems to me that it was (at the time) a current employee. That doesn't negate the comments that were posted by the "hacker". The sentiment and facts are absolutely believable.

Of course... they said they "dealt" with the person. In reading this... it could just mean that "We told him to knock it off and then we had a big laugh over it."

Also, the person who posted the comments on Friday had an interesting style. Notice how he put a dollar sign after the numbers? 130$? I see this all the time here in California... usually from people who are used to dealing with pesos, where the peso symbol is written after the number. It's a common mistake, even among some who learn English quite well. Plus some of the comments were such that the person obviously doesn't understand some of the details of our legal system.

And the apology today is clearly one that was wirtten by someone who is likely not a Native English speaker.

I'm not really convinced this wasn't one and the same person. My apologies to Fairfax, but it just doesn't jive with me for some reason.

Reply by Tish/CA on 1/25/10 6:12pm
Msg #319497

Re: I'm confused by this...

I agree, Marian. I remain skeptical.

Reply by Stamper_WI on 1/25/10 8:39pm
Msg #319524

Re: I'm confused by this...

Didn't the writer also comment that they began drinking mid afternoon on Friday's and this all happened on a Friday?

Reply by LisaWI on 1/25/10 8:49pm
Msg #319527

Re: I'm confused by this...

Zana, You know, that actually makes alot of sense. By the brashness of this persons postings, that would explain it. Not that I would know, lol What do you think we do all winter up here.....cuddle? JK, maybe in my younger days, lol

Reply by Stamper_WI on 1/25/10 9:26pm
Msg #319534

Re: I'm confused by this...

Being a non drinker and the eternal designated driver, this all came to me on friday. By that comment and the brashness. Especially when they started talking about the other company (escapes me right now).
In college I had a summer job as a file clerk for an engineering project. On fridays, the engineers would go out on a boat and do "inspections". They'd take me or another college student along to get them and the boat back to the dock. Having known these guys since they were students and they babysat me while interns for my Dad, I heard some amazing uninhibited speeches about the company.

Reply by John Schenk on 1/25/10 9:40pm
Msg #319538

Re: I'm confused by this...

I believe there was a degree of truth in some of those posts, but also believe the guy was out to trash the company on the way out the door. Where one, or the other, ends or begins, there's no way to know, but we all have our opinions on what was posted that we believe, and what we don't, which is subjective.

JJ

Reply by KODI/CA on 1/25/10 10:02pm
Msg #319545

Fairfax Apology

IMO Yoli took all of the correct actions relating to the original thread. In addition, all other SS and TC (and yes, they do read this forum), were put on notice that this forum is tired of being taken advantage of and this forum has the gumption to so something about it. Isn't it about time? Way to go Yoli!

Reply by Marian_in_CA on 1/25/10 11:31pm
Msg #319549

The really interesting in all of this...

... is not so much*what* was said on Friday. Whether it be a drunken rant or a disgruntled employee... some of the opinions voiced are not a surprise to most of us. Many of these companies already tell us these same things by their actions anyway. They already give us the impression that they feel that way - through late paperwork, skirting laws, requesting illegal things (backdating), offering just 1/3 (or less) of the total notary fee the borrowers pay for doing 98% of the work, late payments or no payments.... it's all a common thread in the loan industry, and I doubt few of us were actually surprised by the sentiment. The fact that somebody had the cajones to admit it? Sure... but the sentiment itself? Hardly.