Just to clarify. We never agreed to pay $175 for the signing. We didn't even get that much from the client. We told the ntoary that if they could produce the confirmation with this amount, as we do for every assignment, we would be more than happy to review the situation again.
We did however send the notary $80 for the first signing, as she asked and we agreed to. We also sent her $90 for the 2nd trip to try and appease her. When she invoiced us for $175 we just assumed it was for the entire assignment, 1st and 2nd trip and trid to compromise. When she tried to get more money out of us, we asked for proof so we could resolve it, and felt we might be getting taken advantage of. She never responded and called the client and slandered our company to them. Bad business pratices for sure and now a legal issue. We will honor any fee we agree to. But ask that if there is a dispute, we are provided with proof of the agreed fees. We send out a confirmation with the fees just to avoid problems like these. Most notaries require the confirmation before going out to the assignment. We regret the miscommunication with the notary and appreciate the completion of the signing. But we can not justify sending out an additional check when we have no record of agreeing to an amount so inflated from our standard agreed fee. Lastly, the client only paid us for 1 trip so we ate the 2nd fee we paid her just to keep good business. Unfortunately, she did not do the same. |
