Compensation for cancelled signing

On Christmas Eve I received a phone call early afternoon from a signing service and was basically begged to please help them and notarize a re-fi at 7:00 that night. I told them I would do it for 150.00. She said she would have to get it authorized and call me back. Of course they authorized it.
I got the documents a little later and called the borrower to confirm, had to leave a voicemail. I printed the documents, 300 pages, spent an hour prepping them and at 5:30 heard from the borrower. She informed me she was expecting me and verified the address which was not the one I was given. The new one was 51/2 hours out of town. I told her I am sorry there is no way I will be showing up for that. She said she called the loan officer 2 times the day before to let him know where she was.
I then called the signing company and told them what had happened they said sorry they would need to contact the borrower for an address and see if they can get someone there. I asked them if there would be any compensation for my time and supplies. they said to write something in the notes section.
I did this . I asked for 50.00 for paper, ink,and lost time on a holiday to help them out. I also lost a 150.00 job.

Was this a reasonable request? I still have not heard back from them.

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I hope you get fully compensated for this! I’m interested in reading other responses, as I accepted, confirmed, prepped for and showed up at a signing this past Friday, only to be told by the signer that the signing had been canceled and was being rescheduled. It was almost below zero that day (in Chicago) and I was standing outside of the signer’s house in the cold calling for an Uber to pick me up. I made contact with the signing company who apologized and indicated that they were unaware of the cancellation by the title company and would contact me for rescheduling. I have yet to hear back nor has anything been offered to me in way of compensation for prepping and showing up for the signing.

This is where we all have to be careful and ask appropriate questions BEFORE accepting a signing. Most companies will only pay a ‘print fee’…and even that becomes questionable if you print before confirming w/B OR, even if confirmed, print days before Appt (there may be changes…and they won’t want to pay 2 print fees).

If you both print & make trip, but it doesn’t ‘complete’, they usually only want to pay a print fee ($25) and a very nominal/minimal amount for travel. Some will only pay 1/2 agreed fee. So, if there is excessive travel time or mileage, the best thing you can/should do is get in writing that FULL FEE DUE REGARDLESS OF OUTCOME.

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That’s one of the many reasons I no longer do this work. The agencies and title companies don’t really care. However you shouldn’t expect a full fee for doing half the work. I do believe it’s always in their contract. It’s not fair to get paid full fee for something like that. Errors do happen. You didn’t get them to sign the documents or do your job in full so you shouldn’t expect full pay.

I was not asking for full pay nor do I expect it. I however do not feel 50.00 is inappropriate due to the circumstances of printing the documents and it being Christmas Eve which in every right is a holiday and they begged me somewhat at the last minute to do this for them.

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Well, nobhillnotary, in my experience (25 years worth), yes, they will agree to this for 2 reasons: One…it probably won’t happen anyway and 2, they do realize that a no-sign at the table invariably involves a long call to the LO, possibly several long calls while you WAIT. Tho’ a very infrequent thing, you spend nearly as much (or MORE) time at the table than if they had signed it. Nor did you ‘fail to complete the job’. The failure is on the LO. We don’t sell the loan, we just get it signed.

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I say it’s definitely a reasonable request. Printing out the docs and lost time on the holiday. Unfortunate that you have not heard back from them, this may mean that you’ll have to hound them until they comply with your request. They may think that they can sweep this issue under the rug.

Definitely should be compensated & $50 is More than reasonable!!

I don’t know if you can claim a print fee since the confirmation call determined whether you were able to do the job at all. It depends how you value the client. If they are giving you a fair amount of profitable business, I would just eat the cost of printing and hope to maintain status as a preferred signing agent with them.

You should of waited until 1 hour before signing time then called the Signing Co., they and the loan officer would of looked bad on that one.
The Signing Co. giving you an unverified address, the whole order is based on the location & type of signing.
Max they should pay is $25., holiday means nothing to them. Most companies pay $10. print fee.
Next time, that will not happen again. You got excited by the big dollars, it happen to us all.
Just email them an invoice for $25. print fee, see if they pay it.

Your mistake. You did not confirm the address and time with the borrower befor printing… If I can’t get ahold of the signer I call the SS and ask them if they want me to go anyway. If they say yes I inform them that I w
ill print and get paid in full if the borrower is not there.

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Hmmmm…not sure how this was my mistake as I did confirm all details with the signer prior to printing, as stated in my original post/reply. I also confirmed with the title company. This issue was a lack of communication between the other parties that had nothing to do with me. I can now update that the signing was rescheduled, was successful, and I was paid an extra $25 for the reprint fee.

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I have had this happen to and had to bite the bullet. That expensive little lesson taught me not to print anything until I’ve confirmed the signing address with the signer. From what you wrote, it sounds like you printed prior to getting a callback from the signer.