Posted by grapebed on 12/21/12 8:22pm
Msg #447436

Unusual situation. Need advice pleeze.

The President of a large local title company contacted me on December 10th. "Would I be available to come in to the office on Wed, Dec 26th, Thursday Dec. 27 & Friday December 28th and do in house closings all day @ $60.00 a closing.?" They are less than one mile from my house, no travel, no printing, beautiful offices, etc. Yes sir, I said.

"And would I be able to do a Mobile on Christmas Eve at 11;00AM for a very good customer." Yes,sir. I must have turned down 10-12 assignments from my good customers who requested signings on those days.

He calls me at 5;30pm today. I am exhausted having done 5 closings. "We are pushing out some closings to January. We don't need you. But thanks for doing the closing Christmas Eve". Huh? R U kidding me? That's a $1,xxx screwup. I think its indefensible, but don't know what to do. I get one closing a month from them.

Any thoughts, comments, suggestions ( yes, keep my kewl). I would really welcome them. .

Thanks very much.

Reply by Yoli/CA on 12/21/12 9:09pm
Msg #447445

Send him a nice personal Thank You card saying "thank you for keeping me in mind for the Holidays and end-of-year closings." Think he'll get the message?

Reply by PegiT_MN on 12/21/12 9:14pm
Msg #447446

That is why I do not have any desire to work with the locals. I do overflow purchases for a a major home builder here in the Cities for their in-house mortgage department and their in-house title company, but that is the extent of it. I prefer to work with the out of state title companies and signing companies.

Reply by MikeC/TX on 12/21/12 9:14pm
Msg #447447

You've been Scrooged...

but unless he got you to do the Christmas Eve signing at a huge discount because of the others he promised, I would go ahead and do it. 11AM on Christmas Eve is not that big a deal - it's a work day for most folks.

Reply by HSH/WA on 12/21/12 11:31pm
Msg #447455

Re: Would you have signed the Christmas Eve at 11 am

anyway? It sounds like a bate and switch where you will get all this business but you have to do the Christmas Eve one too. I'd go ahead but remember this next time.

Reply by grapebed on 12/22/12 3:22am
Msg #447468

Re: Would you have signed the Christmas Eve at 11 am

Yes I would have done the Christmas Eve signing.

Reply by MikeC/TX on 12/22/12 6:30pm
Msg #447576

Re: Would you have signed the Christmas Eve at 11 am

"It sounds like a bate and switch where you will get all this business but you have to do the Christmas Eve one too. I'd go ahead but remember this next time."

Oh, definitely remember it for the next time. What's the quote? "Those who cannot remember history are doomed to repeat it."

OK, so maybe that was intended for much weightier matters than signing assignments, but I think it still applies here...

Reply by JanetK_CA on 12/22/12 3:24am
Msg #447469

Bummer!! "Indefensible" is kinder than what would be going through my head if I were in that situation! How utterly thoughtless! I hope you get lots of calls to fill in for what you would have been doing. Maybe you'll end up picking up the same revenue with fewer signings...?

I can't say if I would have done anything different, but after hearing your story, going forward, it sounds like it would be a very good idea to negotiate a cancellation fee in advance, since you're blocking off substantial segments of your schedule and would be turning away other work. (I generally do that for general notary work if I'm traveling to their location.) If you had something like that in place, he might have made a different decision about what to do those days. Clearly he didn't give your potential loss a second thought because it doesn't have any impact on HIS business. It's probably not going to work trying to do something like that after the fact, but your experience will hopefully be a good lesson for the future and for the rest of us, should we ever be offered a similar gig.

Reply by ToniK on 12/22/12 8:30am
Msg #447486

Wow!!! I never thought about that happening. I have seen Title companies request that type of work but never crossed my mind what would happen it fell through. I'd be beyond pissed as this week I made what most ppl make in a month and half.