Well, here's what I'm getting from the replies..... I find it odd that the majority of responders are soley focused or predominantly focused in their responses on the fee (which is my reason for continuing to comment on it as well in response to clear up some assumptions and misconceptions). The fee was the last straw at the end of the story. There is a whole other bigger issue at play: A large service company like SL (not to mention the plethora of Notary vendor companies) not only cutting fees drastically but demanding more (large fax backs, more pages of do's and don'ts on pre and post closing instructions, waiting around to hear for company approval on faxes before dropping pacakges, etc) as well as requiring very little of themselves when it comes to respecting the notary as a partner that also allows them to make money/have a job. SL first and foremost in my mind yesterday had employees who showed no interest in solving an urgent issue (remember not only the team leader, but the scheduler never responded to me, and the persons answering the phones past me off twice after looking up the file and hearing me tell them the urgent doc situation). A lot of those commenting on my post almost seem to overlook that. Is that because to them this is just the way it works in their experience?
Clearly there are SL fans out there. Good for you that you have positive experiences with them. I USED to be one of them. They took my fees and I could depend on getting paid that and for them to do their job. BUT, if my SL office or any one notary vendor company provides me with 2 - 3 closings a year , can't do THERE job satisfactorily, can't say what they mean and mean what they say, cause me to have to second guess what they tell me, and make it my sole responsibility to cross examine them thoroughly so I can feel comfortable that I know what to expect from them on a closing from scheduling to payment and everything inbetween, then I don't want to do business with them and I fail to see how I'm shooting myself in the foot?
The majority of my business I choose to do directly with settlement companies and establish direct relationships with them. I'm not saying that in 8 years of doing this full time as an independent after holding other positions in the lending industry that I haven't run into a less than on the ball settlement company here and there. However, on the whole settlement companies are very respectful of me, my time, the role I play in allowing them to confidently expand there business into other areas in the state, and are very concerned with keeping me informed and returning messages promply especially when there's a closing about to take place. On top of that they haven't ever quibbled about my fee or took it upon themselves to lower my fee on what they think is a fair price for printing docs should they decide to print them themselves and overnight them which is almost never. If they call me to schedule and I miss their call for what ever reason, they wait to hear from me. They don't start immediately dialing another notary. Mutual Loyalty. Mutual respect. There is a relationship there that doesn't exist in most cases with these vendor companies or larger service companies. Yet, the trend is going toward vendor companies and larger service companies. If it continues, many notaries who like what they do for a living and have been successfully doing it a long time may have to re-evaluate.
Here's a final thought for SL and the fee issues. Taking into consideration all that's been posted re: SL on this site about them admittedly switching to overnight docs as much as possible yet scheduling notaries as e-docs only to switch to overnight in the end and lower the fee (whether the notary knew to pad the fee ahead of time or not), why don't they ask what a notary's fee is for overnight docs and confirm that as the agreed upon fee?? Seems simple and straight forward to me. Not to mention more accurate. Then they can say "we'll add xx to that if we need to switch to e-docs". I'm sure the SL lovers with efficient offices will take issue here, but I think it's because most notaries will choose "no thanks" if they got SL's "overnight docs closing fee" quoted to them up front.
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