I took a loan signing from Coast to Coast yesterday that turned into a nightmare. I did not plan on taking any signings but when I received a request for a signing at 5p that was .5mi away for $75 (with scan backs) it appeared to be an easy job. The appointment was scheduled for 7pm. The documents did not arrive until 7:35p and the job required 2 sets of documents totaling over 300pg so, I did not arrive at the appointment until 8:30p since I had to take time to sort through, read and flag the documents for signing- Coast to Coast contacted me 1 hour later and asked for an update. After finishing the loan (which had 4 different signers) I had to scan this nightmare back which took another 2 hours.
This job was grossly lowballed! Even as a new notary I have done 125pg jobs for $150 (with one signer) and at least 24hr notice.
I am happy to learn the ups and downs of doing this work-lesson of the day when dealing with Coast to Coast- think carefully before accepting!
Soo…i guess I’m wondering why #1 you agreed to $75 in the first place; and further why you didn’t renegotiate your fee when you (a) had late docs; (b) saw the size of the package; (c) realized there were 4 signers; (d) saw full faxbacks I don’t care if it’s 5 miles or 50 miles - everything you had to do is TIME…and time is money.
Lesson learned I hope.
I’m so sorry Lisa played yo u like this. She is greedy and heartless.
Good experience…When you don’t get paid your worth!
You never have to revisit this experience again.
In fairness to Coast to Coast, this isn’t something that only happens with them. It actually happens even with the best of signing companies. They have a standard fee for everything and they just put it out there and wait for someone to accept. They don’t differentiate between number of pages or number of signers or whether there are scanbacks or not. I know…that’s not fair to us, but that’s how it is…not just with them, but with all of the signing companies. Generally speaking, anything over 2 signers should be an extra fee. Scanbacks should be an extra fee. Last minute rush jobs should be an extra fee. Over time you will learn what the hot buttons are for you and consider them before accepting a job. You can always ask for more than they’re offering. Either they accept or they don’t.
Thanks- and my intent was not to blame C2C because they are a business first. I had a chance to reflect, learn and document my boundaries in this business. If it didn’t happen now it would have at some point.
Yes you did learn a lesson and taking the time to “reflect” is commendable. I do believe that Coast2Coast always pays too low. I stopped doing signings with them because of the low pay and Lisa was very nasty.
I get plenty of work with other companies, so if you decide not to work for them, don’t worry, you will get more work.
Wow, don’t you think you’re being a little harsh? We don’t always know everything about the signing until it is accepted.
And once you accept it and review the requirements, and see all the extra work required, you do something about it, right? Or do you just go along and say “okay, I said $75 so I’ll bite the bullet” - I sure hope you don’t.
So I wasn’t trying to be harsh - just trying to figure out why, if they’ve gotten $150 for 125 page jobs, why would they lower themselves to $75 and NOT request fair fee for all the extra work involved. If it sounded harsh, the truth hurts sometimes. But it was a lesson learned for the OP - which is a good thing.
And shame on C2C for taking advantage of her that way.
I may not have been clear.
I did not know until the job was accepted regarding the number of signers and work involved. My experience in my full time work and professionalism compelled me to complete the job that I accepted.
My reason for writing this post is to inform and obtain insight from people that have learned or can learn from this experience. So- are you expecting me to make a declaration? If the goal of this forum is to belittle anyone that makes an error then I made a second mistake in speaking freely in this forum.
I was not belittling you - but you know your worth; don’t settle for anything less.
I understand and agree with you. I can say that most assignments are accepted based on the orignial offer and we don’t always know exactly what is expected. I always want to be professional, so if I accept a signing and then realize it was more than I bargained for, I complete the signing. Then I try to not make that mistake again. Also, I’ve learned some companies do that on a regular basis while others don’t. So, again, I will be careful when I see an assignment come my way from that particular company.
You learned a lesson so that’s very good. Don’t we all learn from mistakes? I do, and it wasn’t always from one mistake, but by multiple ones.
Please feel free to post because I know I’m not the only experienced notary that can always learn.
That certainly is a nightmare! But why do you flag where the Borrowers sign??? Is really a lot of wasted time!
You probably will never get away from getting scheduled a sign with an extra large package which should have been priced accordingly. My annoyance is that my time and energy should be respected and when a scheduler sneaks a large package in on you it jams your day, makes you work way to hard and is likely to create mistakes. It’s still is completely inexcusable and unnecessary after all the years I have been doing this work that this situation has not been resolved. Good Luck!
Signing agency work here in southern CA is dead. $75 seems to be the going rate for all refinance packages. I don’t get it. Notaries here are allowed to charge $15 per signature.
This is only my 6th signing job so I still flag the pages to help me ensure I get all signatures.
Write it off to experience. You will know better next time. should have been additional pay for last minute, fax backs, high volume of copies, after hours and additional signers! My fee would have been pretty high.
EXCUSE ME? greedy and heartless.?
I am here to help. please call me so we can go over. Most of the above is out of our hands. But if you feel we have treated you badly please call me 909-741-0551
Lisa Bittner
we are not greedy, or heartless.
true, but signing agents are not paid per signature… I do wish our clients paid more… but with bundled fees makes for low fees. C2C is NOT making a killing on our files.
Lisa
we did not take advantage of anyone, we do not always have the number of borrowers or page size, if someone feels the fee does not meet the job they can email me always
Lisa@c2csignings.com
Lisa
Lisa,
Thank you for replying on this forum. I will call you directly to discuss my concern.