I do loan signings and mostly use signing agencies to get work. I had my first unpleasant experience and wanted to ask advice on how to handle it.
I had a signing that did not have a valid contact number and had to call to ask for another way to contact signer, as the number was not in use. The second number provided worked and I was able to confirm the appointment for that night, reading the address right off of the signing order. I drove to the location I had mapped on my GPS, but once I arrived the address I could not find the property. I called the signer and after naming nearby streets and the city, he just said he was unfamiliar with the streets. He then shared his location since I drove up and down the street and was unable to find the property. When he shared his location, I realized he was on the same street but in a city 5+ hours away. After realizing the mistake, I apologized to the signer and called the after hours number to the signing agency and informed them of the mix up. They assured me I would be paid for driving and printing docs, and it would be sorted out in the morning. I updated the file as well. In the morning I received an email from title asking what happened. I informed her that the address was correct but the city was incorrect and was 5+hours away, I should have never been assigned this signing, but the signer did confirm the address even with the wrong city. The signing company contact then admitted to his mistake, but then said I did not follow protocol and incorrectly confirmed the appointment because there was no way the signer would confirm the wrong city, completely throwing me under the bus to the title agency and blaming me for his mistake. I repeatedly said the city name to the signer and he never once corrected me, and in hindsight, do not believe he knew what I was saying and just focused on the street address, which was correct.
I do not want a bad review or to get blacklisted from signings when I was not at fault and did in fact do my due diligence confirming the appointment. I had no indication anything was wrong when the order stated the city and the signer had confirmed it. I emailed the company but never heard back. Any suggestions on how to handle this?
What did the doc package have as property address? OR–why it matters to pay attention to the details. Despite that, about all you can do is try to get something in writing (e-mail) from the signer stating that, yes, he did confirm the city to you…that–& the ‘signing co. admitted to his mistake’, hopefully will get you at least a print/trip fee. If not, a learning experience is what you get when you don’t get paid.
This is one of the reasons that the first thing I ask a scheduler for is the zip code of the signing location. There is a Richland in both Washington and Oregon, but the zip codes will be different! Learning experience #1. Even without the confirmation from the signer, the SS staff made an error that cost you time and money. You are entitled to your print and trip fee no questions asked. Speak to partner management, this is no time to get into a back and forth with a scheduler. They are in CYA mode, ask to speak to a higher up and stand your ground. Don’t concern yourself so much with a bad review, although is is maddening and frustrating. On occasion, through no fault of your own, you will receive one of those and it is possible you will never know why. You can overcome an occasional one of those with excellent performance.
I can understand, but sounds like you did all you could do to clean up this mess. Theres nothing you can do more but let it go and learn from the situation. I personally call the signer once only. If they answer, I confirm day/time. If not i text them once with day/time and request yes to confirm.
Then on the day before or day of the signing, 4 hours before or so and before I print anything, I text the signer again just to verifying address. So this is my second contact with them. I text "Hi Jack! I’m Cari, your notary for our appt. tomorrow, just want to verify that your address is 3445 hfhnhfxj? "
I feel text is way more clear than phone contact. About times/days/address info.
I do this because I’ve been screwed with cancelation after printing. So I ALWAYS verify two times now because I learned my lesson.
Just to add again, everyone experience is by trial and errors. I have made errors and I expect to not hear from that particular signing service but its just part of the game. Theres lots more out there that you can do business for. In the end, we are all human and we learn by experience.
