Posted by sigtogo/OR on 3/18/13 12:48pm
Msg #461819

If I bash a company its ok but if I praise its not? Why?

there have been a number of posts lately praising a couple of companies and many of you have jumped on them claiming advertising. Do you only want negative reviews reported here while good things can only be reported in SC? Has it occurred to you that when someone's favorite SS gets slammed here, they might want to defend? Or, perhaps after dealing with a number of not so great SS when they find a good one they want to let people know?
I personally keep most, I said most, of my rants and raves of SS in SC unless I need help collecting a past due, but I don't think others must operate the way I do.

There will always be posts that someone will think is a waste of forum. So what? get over it and move on to one that interest you. I personally find it completely unnecessary for there to be numerous posts claiming someone is advertising. Just report it if you must and let NotRot decide.

Have a great week!!

Reply by Rita Adu on 3/18/13 1:33pm
Msg #461822

I think you make a good point

Does anyone else here agree?

Reply by docs1954CA on 3/18/13 2:04pm
Msg #461825

Look at it this way...

Do you really want your competitors knowing who your good clients are? Do you want them taking some business from you, really?

Besides, most of the time companies will ask you post about them , how great they are, how fast they pay..etc, etc...But usually it's because they've had issues and need to try and prop themselves up with a lot of bogus positive comments.

I remember a lot of positive comments about Paul Gambs and how great his company was to work for...

Reply by sigtogo/OR on 3/18/13 2:16pm
Msg #461827

nonetheless, you haven't really addressed the question n/m

Reply by La Trese Breaux on 3/18/13 3:15pm
Msg #461846

Re: Look at it this way...

I understand what you are saying, But if you built a rapport with the signing company you should not fear a competior. like Bill Cosby say's THE PROOF IS IN THE PUDDING lol

Reply by Linda_H/FL on 3/18/13 2:06pm
Msg #461826

No I don't agree with you Rita or the OP

if you go back to February 11, 2013 - Search for Signature Closers on that day - you will find an all out blitz of postings about a company already rated 4.5 stars. It was annoying, noisy, excessive and unnecessary.

I think those who objected to the most recent, unsolicited endorsement were just trying to avoid seeing something like that happen on this forum again.

Reply by Notarysigner on 3/18/13 2:25pm
Msg #461830

Re: S/C Comments is the place to post + OR -

You are only allowed to comment once.

Just because a company is good to you doesn't mean they're good to everyone so then why post. What is your agenda? Oh the plumber was great, the electrician was sparky, the donut maker rocks.

IMO Hiring parties are suppose to be GREAT, pay on time, easy to work with. When they are not, we post about it.

Reply by sigtogo/OR on 3/18/13 2:57pm
Msg #461838

I'm only allowed to post once? Is it okay to post when bad

things are done by a company?

Reply by Notarysigner on 3/18/13 3:11pm
Msg #461844

you do! Msg #460162 members can post whatever they

chose to do, others were answering OP.

Again, hiring parties ARE suppose to pay on time, yada, yada,...end of "general Discussion" GOOD to you doesn't mean GOOD to me.

Reply by sigtogo/OR on 3/18/13 3:25pm
Msg #461849

lol, missing your point n/m

Reply by LKT/CA on 3/18/13 9:19pm
Msg #461896

Agree with James

Praising a company really is only *your* experience. Personally, I take into consideration both the location of the poster and the poster themselves. Does the poster regularly contribute to NotRot or were they "just born"? If they were "just born", I view their post as a shill post. Is the poster a rural notary ? If so, of course they got paid and timely because a company would be a fool to stiff the ONLY notary covering a rural territory. Is the poster even a notary, AT ALL? I've seen threads with 15 negative posts and two positive "I get paid in two weeks, my fee is met, docs are early, no handholding, and I NEVER have problems"....only to find out the two positive posts are from a notary on Jupiter and the other notary lives on Mars - the ONLY notaries who serve their territories.

It's best to post praises in SC and respond to a new thread of someone specifically asking about experiences with that company. When I view SC and see the twelve 5 star ratings/comments from the same state on the same day, while 2 years back there are only 1 and 2 stars ratings?? Uh....yeah....right!!

Reply by La Trese Breaux on 3/18/13 2:50pm
Msg #461835

Re: I think you make a good point

You make a valid point, will you get positive reinforcement on NotRot I doubt it. Like the saying Misery luvs company. Let one person make a snide remark, behold you have another and another and so on, Pack of wolves that try to make you feel stupid. They always say this is a professional Forum but yet they belittle anyone they can. If i did have a signing company I would most defiantly not pick someone that think everyone is below them. watch the response i will recieve from the wolves. LOL

Reply by Linda_H/FL on 3/18/13 2:57pm
Msg #461837

The only response from this wolf, La Trese, is if you

don't like the forum, why stick around? And more, why stick around and bite the hands that are feeding you?

Reply by sigtogo/OR on 3/18/13 2:59pm
Msg #461839

But Linda, conversely if you don't like the positive posts

don't read them.

Reply by jba/fl on 3/18/13 3:06pm
Msg #461843

Do you have a couple of examples in mind that prompted

this question? I know I can better respond to something direct than to vague possibilities.

By all means, post here about all your good companies and why they are good. I know I would like to know who they are and if they are available in FL for work. And your competition would love to know as well......then they can apply, and offer reduced fees, a freebie for every 10 per month, and so on.

OR: when you see a company being complained about that you work with and have no difficulties, jump in and defend them and give them a healthy dose of praise and why along with that. Or, better, quietly defend your reasons for not feeling that way about them.

There is no one stopping you from whatever you want to say here - this is not a censored site.

Reply by Linda_H/FL on 3/18/13 3:13pm
Msg #461845

That wasn't what I was addressing, Donna. n/m

Reply by La Trese Breaux on 3/18/13 3:18pm
Msg #461848

Re: But Linda, conversely if you don't like the positive posts

thats is the million dollars statement

Reply by sigtogo/OR on 3/18/13 3:03pm
Msg #461841

I know La Trese, but it was a slow Monday avoiding taxes :) n/m

Reply by 101livescan on 3/18/13 2:01pm
Msg #461824

The nature of the beast is this. Notaries are getting stiffed all the time. As soon as a notary doesn't get paid, or gets lowballed or has serious collection issues because a company has folded its tent, disconnected phones, taken down their website, and locked their doors, it is posted here. I think we'll see more to come, so brace yourself. we're all doing our homework, checking companies out before we actually download and print to make sure they have at least 4 stars before we go to too much effort and risk not getting paid.

Conversely, there are companies who are asking their notaries (mostly newbie notaries) to come onto this forum and rate them...only they should be rating them in SC, not in the forum. Last month one company was rated 37 times. It was ridiculous, and they aren't even a competitive paying company.

The savvy NSAs on this board know who the good companies are, and we know who the naughty, not so nice companies are too, and we tire of seeing them tirelessly try to inflate their ratings here when in reality they just aren't at the top of their game.

Even some of the companies that once were great to work for, no longer are due to their recent degradation to low balling techniques. We gotta stay on top of them, and unfortunately, our resources are becoming fewer and fewer all the time. It will be interesting to see where we are at year end.

Reply by Rita Adu on 3/18/13 2:31pm
Msg #461831

All good points indeed. Thanks for the feedback.

Reply by sigtogo/OR on 3/18/13 3:01pm
Msg #461840

Many of you are missing the point!! re-read the OP

AS I SAID, I keep my responses for the most part to SS. However, its not about what is wise, its about the rights of people to post what they choose to post. if its blatant advertising, then sure it should not be allowed, but it would be next to impossible to discern if all positive posts about a company are truly advertising.
If we allow, maybe even promote, bashing then we must allow kudos.
MHO of course!!

Reply by jba/fl on 3/18/13 3:16pm
Msg #461847

Re: Many of you are missing the point!! re-read the OP

"we must allow kudos."

Do you not take notice when companies are praised? It is done almost daily.

The big beef is the companies that attach a memo to your check and ask that you say something nice about them on NotRot - and the checks all go out the same day. A day or so later, those companies get 15-30 people commenting, people we have never seen post here before, and probably won't again. I don't know if they feel their check will bounce if they don't place positive comments, but the proper place is not on the forum but in Signing Central.

Reply by sigtogo/OR on 3/18/13 3:43pm
Msg #461851

Yes I take notice, that would be reason for OP

I make use of both negative and positive comments.
In the past few days there has been too much praising for some forum regulars so they claim advertising.
The big beef? While I can imagine a company might do that, heck I might do that! I think it is completely appropriate for a company to ask for reviews. I personally have never received a request as you describe.

My post was not about me personally but rather about recent behavior that I witnessed and found intriguing.

Reply by JanetK_CA on 3/18/13 10:44pm
Msg #461909

Re: Yes I take notice, that would be reason for OP

"I think it is completely appropriate for a company to ask for reviews."

Except that as far as I can recall, I've never seen any of the really good companies [at least the ones I know of] ask to be rated here. When they ask, not only does it distort the ratings system, but suddenly the board is filled with posts that have a rightful place somewhere else, and other potentially more pertinent posts are pushed off the page. It's very annoying and what most here are trying to say, imo, is that the design of this forum provides a proper place for that type of comment. And it appears to me that the vast majority of those who post here prefer that comments be generated organically, not by request.

Reply by HisHughness on 3/18/13 3:54pm
Msg #461852

In answer to your queston re: positive vs negative posts

As a signing agent, I find the negative posts most instructive and wish we had more of them. They would help me winnow out some dubious callers, and might motivate the bottom-feeders to do better. The negative posts, in other words, have the very real advantage of helping me avoid hurt. The positive posts, on the other hand, simply help me improve an already comfortable position in my profession.

There is an added issue with positive posts such as the one that touched off this thread: They are justifiably greeted with a great deal of suspicion. Bottom-feeding signing services have a way of asking naive signing agents to post positive comments on the forum. The motivation behind a negative post is almost always pretty apparent; the motivation behind a positive post is often murky.

Reply by Barb25 on 3/18/13 7:04pm
Msg #461878

Re: In answer to your queston re: positive vs negative posts

But there will alway be those who have a very bad experience with a company that another may think is a wonderful company to work with. That is just a fact of life. Yet I have seen negative comments and reviews on here about companies that have paid me well and I have had no problems with. Others have bashed them terribly. Again, based on individual experience. There are a couple of companies some have rated highly that I would never ever take another job from.

I would hope that nobody reading the comments here are taking them as gospel. There are those exceptions and a few come to miind. But seriously what is this all about anyhow. This is a forum open to members with rules and guidelines that I see linked above. So why all the criticisms lately? Why can't people say what they think?

Reply by SheilaSJCA on 3/18/13 7:42pm
Msg #461882

There is nothing wrong with a company asking us to give a review of them, (if they are listed in Signing Central). That is perfectly fine. What is not fine, is them asking us to "post" a thread/topic about how great they are.

My guess is, you assume that a company will not get the recognition they deserve, unless, you post it here for all to see.

If a company wants you to sing their praises, and they are NOT listed in Signing Central, and want to be reviewed in the forum, (as opposed to be written about in Signing Central) that would be advertising.

Reply by MW/VA on 3/18/13 9:42pm
Msg #461901

There is a difference. We rely on SC for both positive &

negative comments posted. It helps us avoid the bad guys.
Otherwise, this isn't FB, and posting too many positive comments about one co. like the blitz the other week, is suspect. It can't be coincidental, and someone has to be promoting it. That's considered advertising & we do have the "report" button when we see it going on.
Yes, everyone is entitled to express an opinion, and we see a lot of negative threads. Some ss feel this forum has a reputation for "bashing" cos.

Reply by LKT/CA on 3/18/13 9:42pm
Msg #461902

Classic example, sigtogo/OR....#461782

Who is the OP - Lloyd Mantong? Have never seen him post...profile hidden and all he says is "Eric answers the phone, pays well (?) and timely (?). Some here think $75 is good pay, AND they believe they're making $25 an hour <LOL>. In the not so distant past, someone posted that net 120 days was good enough for them, so long as they got paid!! So in essence, to say a company pays wells and timely - without specifics - is relative...and just a lot of hot air that means nothing.

As stated in my prior post, I'd rather read the comments in SC because twelve 5 star posts from the same state on the same day speaks much louder (shill comments as opposed to genuine praise) than any vague useless "pay well and timely" statement ever will, IMHO.

Reply by JanetK_CA on 3/18/13 11:08pm
Msg #461911

"...after dealing with a number of not so great SS when they find a good one they want to let people know?"

It's possible your favorite companies may not want you to "let people know". This is probably most true of the good smaller signing services out there. I can just imagine what happens to their email and phone lines when someone posts on here what a great company they are... If they're busy, busy, busy trying to fill orders, I doubt they want their phone lines to ring off the hook with people of all different levels of experience and expertise trying to get work from them. Perhaps some do, but I know for a fact that that's not true for all of them.

Another point that I haven't seen anyone address here is that the notaries the next street over from the would-be positive posters (and from all the other major contributors to this forum) also have access to that "positive" post and many will try to get a piece of the action. The oldtimers on this board could collectively probably fill a book with stories about being undercut by someone else with a favorite client or two. If that hasn't happened to someone yet, then they probably haven't been at this that long... Sure, we develop some strong relationships with some companies over time, but it's naive to believe that all our clients will stick with us regardless, just because we're good at what we do.

Some will probably think this is bashing, but I'm just trying to offer another perspective that, IMO, is worth considering.

Reply by Mung/CA on 3/19/13 1:54am
Msg #461918

I agree with Sigtop. I also find it funny that...........

people will post negative comments about someone's opinion. Anytime someone posts a question there is always someone that feels the need to point out that "it's been discussed here before" or "use the search feature". Guess what? EVERYTHING has ben discussed here before! That's why it's called a forum. If you don't like what you see just ignore it and move on with your life. Bring on the bashers.

Reply by Mung/CA on 3/19/13 1:57am
Msg #461920

Sorry. Typo. Meant Sigtogo. n/m