Are we in Jr. High?

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What is with these Signing Services as of late? I’ve been beginning to turn down jobs that have the excessive directions. Maybe if they hire the seasoned notaries instead of the ones that the 6 figure guy trains and tells to take lower fees, we wouldn’t have so many issues.

I just picked up one today from a service that actually wants me to take a picture of my shipping receipt and text it to them. Plus wait for shipping approval. I also saw where they made reference in one spot to take a picture of my stack of documents after I print to make sure I have printed in letter/legal. I will not work for these people again, that’s for sure. I have made note of them and will no longer accept their assignments.

Accepted another signing. Also see that I am to hold documents until after the ok is given to ship.

The first order will be Sunday morning and the other Monday evening. If I come home with the docs, there is nowhere decent to shipi. I live rural and work in areas where I know there is decent shipping. Guess what, they’re getting Dollar General shipping from me because the nearest actual shipper is an hour away.

Ok, I think I’m done ranting. I’m just sick of the pages and pages of directions because they just pick any notary then the rest of us suffer.

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I was thinking exactly the same thing. Dumb & Greedy Signing Companies hiring inexperienced notaries – Rather than hiring experienced. I think all Signing Companies are now asking for Scans… So annoying. Yes, more annoying when you have to wait for Approval. ugh.

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I almost never take the offers that state “hold documents for our approval before shipping”. Those are the same people who demand same day shipping on 4pm signings…with scanbacks.

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Agree with both the above posts. Unfortunately, however, it’s not only the inexperienced NSAs causing issues. I’ve been in this biz for over 19 years. I’ve seen in the notary forums more than one notary posting they: 1) print only on letter-sized paper without issue; 2) ship whenever they get around to it whether same day or next day or day after that (some even claim to hold on to packages until they receive payment); 3) print signer’s package in letter size only or may not even print a set for signer.

Insofar as shipping from somewhere other than Fedex/UPS (i.e. Dollar General or Walgreen’s) – I also service rural areas where there are NO Fedex or UPS facilities. I let Title know that the only available shipping services are using (for example) Walgreen’s or I can drive for an additional hour (one way) for an additional $50+ and assure them I can get a shipping receipt (text or email to me) from that Walgreen’s/Dollar General/etc. Title usually agrees to rural availability.

Yes, most of those myriad of instruction pages are due to problems caused by the inexperienced. Unfortunately, there are also some veteran notaries who try to take short cuts or simply don’t care. Regardless, it just makes it so unnecessarily cumbersome for the next notary.

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Oh, boy! Please divulge the name of the SS so I never even entertain the idea of countering what is sure to be a lowball offer.

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You want to turn down orders because they come with a lot of instructions?

Some of those instructions have to be signed and approved. As for hold until approved I never do that after I do a double check. It’s never been a problem when there’s nothing wrong with the documents.

I did a signing Friday that required same day ship AND wanted a scan but I won’t do a mobile scan over 40 pages so I told the escrow gal if she needed a scan it wouldn’t ship today. She said to ship it. I’ve done a dozen jobs for her.

I’m also very rural and FedEx has shortened the drop off for same day ship because it all goes with the Ground Truck now. Same day ship and a scan isn’t possible a LOT. Same day ship isn’t possible after 1pm. If they want me to drive it for same day ship to the airport location 35 miles from me they have to pay a courier fee.

Signed trailing documents yesterday at 5pm they wanted same day ship HAVE to have it Monday, explained there’s only the airport 40 miles away from me that does a Saturday ship it costs x for me to drive there.

I got the x.

Y’all need to relax. It’s the business. And unfortunately the big influx of new notaries means errors are on the rise and instructions go on forever. It doesn’t matter what a SS demands it’s how you handle the demands.

It doesn’t matter how good you are. If you’re difficult and uncompromising you’re not going to be a favored notary. If you’re doing this as a hobby and that’s okay with you, that’s your decision.

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Send 'em a picture of the stack of docs? C’mon now, that’s a bit much.

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It takes 12 seconds who cares. That’s how I look at it. I always tell SS I can’t get a receipt where I drop documents instead of a picture of documents I sent a picture of the shipping center. It was never an issue after that.

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@jennifer.shaffor Would you please share the name of the SS? Thank You

:swan:

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Sorry Everyone. Had a revolving door of grandbabies the last two days and just got back from todays siging. The biggest offender this week was Superlative Signings. I don’t mind doing a bit extra but I don’t remember where it’s the norm to go through an ALTA line by line. Email directions are nothing like the ones they send with the order.

Email:
If you cannot reach the signers by phone/email STILL GO TO THE SIGNING.

The appt. has already been confirmed by title.

DO NOT DROP DOCS WITHOUT APPROVAL TO DO SO

Do not offer to hand-deliver documents. If our clients need this service they will request it.

SCANS MUST BE UPLOADED SAME DAY AND WITHIN 2 HOURS AFTER THE SIGNING

DO NOT DROP DOCS UNTIL SCANS ARE REVIEWED AND APPROVED(we’ll text/call/email) The priority is 100% correct docs, not making FedEx same day. If you ignore this, you will not be paid. Please do not scan or return our signing instructions pdf.

PREFER EMAIL OR PHONE CALL FOR PRESSING MATTERS (ANYTHING THAT MAY CAUSE A DELAY OR ISSUE WITH YOUR SIGNING) NOT TEXTING

Pay is NET40 via ACH using our bank Relay Financial. You will receive this invite closer to your payment due date of NET40 days.

WE DO NOT PAY WITH CHECKS. IF YOU DON’T HAVE A BANK ACCOUNT, WE CANNOT PAY YOU. PLEASE UNASSIGN YOURSELF.

PLEASE SCAN THE ENTIRE PACKAGE BACK (DO NOT LEAVE ANYTHING OUT) WHEN DOING SCANS AND UPLOAD ID’S

We expect our closers to answer basic questions at the table, walk signers through the ALTA line by line(unless signers say they don’t need it) and to CALL US with any questions you can’t answer. If this is not something you’re comfortable doing, PLEASE let us know so we can reassign. We don’t want point & sign notaries for our closings.

EXAMPLE BUYER SCRIPT HERE: Buyer Loan Docs Walkthrough

EXAMPLE ALTA SCRIPT HERE: How to review an Alta(both sides)

PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU DOWNLOAD & PRINT OUR COMPANY’S SIGNING INSTRUCTIONS ABOVE THE DOCS UPLOADED

The PDF attached to the email is 20 pages including a picture of business casual dress. I cant remember which one threatened to NOT PAY if you don’t wait for shipping approval.

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@jennifer.shaffor WoW!! :exploding_head: “. . . you will not be paid.”

This could easily constitute Theft of Services. Reference the following direct Notary Cafe url:

:swan:

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Exactly the Theft of Services and the answering of questions on the ALTA. Borderline Legal Advice. And I will not be a doormat and taken advantage of as some others might allow to happen to them. I did not send a picture of my stack of documents nor will I be. I have better things to do on a Sunday afternoon. I did a signing for them not all that long ago and I do not remember that much direction. I think a picture of the shipping receipt was the only request. No wait to ship, no picture of my document stack. Last job for them. I don’t need my income, I just like to work and get out for a little bit.

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one assignment I had sent 19 pages …yes 19 pages of directions, these included basic notarization instructions to instructions on common forms . I took the lot and into the bin it went and to the signing I went (gasp) without reading that novel.

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I review directions I don’t print them. And I delete those pages before printing a borrower copy because I am spending quite enough on paper. But if signing services vetted their notaries better, they’d see cleaner documents.

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@chandie.kent “included basic notarization instructions to instructions on common forms” Oh Boy!! :exploding_head:

You’re correct that this indubitably identifies the general lack of basic training found within their signing agent “pool.”

When working with Signing Services [SSs] I sometimes query where they Search out signing agents when they have a need in a different region of the country. Often, they’ll name a platform that is well-known for the inexperienced/untrained.

At that point, I provide additional Resources for their Search. Invariably they’ll comment when we subsequently interface, that the Resources I provided have resulted in a much higher level of professionalism. :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

.

:swan:

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OMG they want us to work for peanuts for that? No way. if they want to micromanage my personal business, they can find somebody else to do it

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I thought it was just me. I feel like because of all the notary instructions the special instructions gets drowned out. I’m not going to sit there and read all that especially when I’m in a rush.

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Some instructions now require a notary signature to acknowledge and have to be returned so be sure you look for that.

I’m discussing with a service today that the document preparer who split a notarization document onto two pages is the reason for the notarization error and that I should not be paying for that shipping label. It did look odd to me, but it’s not a scope of assignment for a notary to fix documents that are poorly prepared. Should I have known to use my own acknowledgement instead? That’s the conversation we’re having. There were a few preparing errors that were glaring. One document had the signature line preprinted name for signing wrong.

So it’s not just new notaries there are also new escrow support personnel that are not doing a great job. Addressing it is a challenge because it looks super defensive when it’s not really that either.

This is the same signing that had the corrupted page that kept returning a printing error message. It’s difficult to accept “you made this error” when a natural response is “what about this crap file you sent me?” but you can’t say that.

At least not LIKE that. I’m going to call and talk to the gal when I get back from correcting 3 pages. 2 were on me, the notarization I feel is on them because they prepared the document poorly and split the notarization on two pages.

Should be fun.

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Yes, but when YOU were inexperienced, you were happy that they were hiring you instead of the experienced notaries. What goes around, comes around (as the old proverb goes) :slight_smile:

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If I see instructions on the initial job request that seem ridiculous to me, I won’t even respond to the request. The problem is that we do have to be quick in responding to a blast job offer if we have any hope of getting it. Sometmes these little details slip through the cracks until we actually get assigned and read the requirements. Recently, I have turned back jobs when I read what they actually wanted me to do. I find that it’s much safer to stick with my tried and true companies and forgo companies that I’ve never dealt with before…at least until I’ve read favorable comments about them from others.