First American Direct (not FASS) uses snapdocs for their platform, and they are the only ones who can answer questions, but won’t. I recently bid $110 on a signing for their Spokane office. That was ignored and the fee was reposted at $115, which I also accepted. It went to another notary at the higher rate. This is not the first time this has happened. Any input on this. All the other signings I previously did for them were perfect, although the last one they assigned me was six months ago. My rating on Snapdocs is high. I’m confused. My signings this year on Snapdocs are well over 100.
Hi Linda, you are looking for an reason or explanation that may exist only in the ether.
There are many possible explanations and here are a couple possibilities I can think of. You say First American Direct is the “only one who can answer questions, but won’t.” You have done a number of signings and by now you understand that the lifespan of a signing request is short. Once it is assigned to a notary signing agent, it’s gone. Sometimes in milliseconds. Sometimes without explanation. Sometimes that signing request bounces right back (perhaps the agent it was assigned to discovered they had a scheduling conflict and kicked it back), and then POOF! it’s gone again, assigned to a different signing agent. None of these companies want to spend valuable time researching why an assignment went to one signing agent rather than another. So don’t dwell on it. That is my advice. When this happens, don’t take it personally. Just smile and move on.
Another possibility: First American Direct is the title company, but may not necessarily be the company who entered the signing request into SnapDocs. Perhaps a signing service did it. But once again, because these signing requests have such a short life, we must accept that some of these assignments are going to whiz right past us, no matter how fast at the draw we think we are.
Sorry not to be of much help to you. But I hope you can take comfort knowing that many of us can certainly empathize with your frustration.
Cheers!
~Carmen
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Thanks Carmen. Yes, sometimes the frustration overflows. You are correct. It’s really not of consequence. Also, I get tired of all those companies that only want to offer $75 for printing 300 pages and spending a couple of hour driving and participating in a signing, and the notaries who accept these lowball fees. Not something to spend too much time on. It’s what it is and we make the best of it working for the good companies.
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This is when you have to think strategically. I’ll on occasion take a ‘low ball’ offer if the package size is small and within my home zip code. I have to balance my costs/benefits/return on investment to remain profitable.
For example, I received a late evening request to travel 40 miles round trip to get a 25 page package signed, with scan backs, for $25. I replied with a $75 counter offer. No reply.
This morning I received a request for a 200+ page signing, i.e. 400+ pages in all, for another 40 mile round trip signing, with scan backs, offering $75. If my Time and Material costs were $60 that leaves $15. This type of engagement often takes close to 1.5 hours to conduct the signing, leaving me earning $10/hour pretax.
Usually No reply means someone took the lowball offer. Yes, I have become selective as I am in a rural area with no nearby overnight service. Scanbacks further away take two trips of 36 miles r/t each and I respond accordingly. Some companies, like Office Depot, let me scan back there and then I can drop off the package. A big plus. I have a minimum I need to earn after expenses and I don’t bid on quite a few.