No Phone number of signer, should I knock the signer door ?
I have signing order in , but I dont have phone number of signer except address. Should I knock the door to to get the sign, what are pros/cons…
Signing company saying, they trying to find phone, but they saying signer knows that notary will come for signing ?
Please advise…
My procedure - and ONLY my procedure -
No phone number, no appointment - I would not go to a home without first confirming with signers and asking all the pertinent questions - do you have current valid photo ID? (and I’ll need a copy to send back), Covid questions! (what is this company thinking???) and especially in my case, directions - I want specific directions to their house - also, if at night, the chance to ask them to please leave a light on outside for me.
How you handle this is entirely up to you - I, personally, would insist on a phone number for signers so I can confirm with them…OR the company’s written guarantee that if I go without calling and the deal falls through I will still get my full fee.
JMO
LindaH,
Again giving great information. I had this situation for the first time last week. A out 5-7 times it said DO NOT CONTACT BORROWER prior to the appointment. I was somewhat apprehensive because every other time and the training states to contact the borrower.
The good thing is luckily for me she was an extremely nice 78yr old lady, who was definitely expecting me. The bad part is she had 6 cats. I only saw one but he was up on the table and payed on the papers. Cats are not my animal of choice.
Now I am armed with additional thoughts and possible questions to ask if I come across this situation again.
Thank you LindaH for sharing wisdom, I will follow guidelines you outlined.
@MobileNotary100, I had a similar experience and the company insisted that I’d go ahead and meet with borrowers and I was told there was no phone number listed! 
I wasn’t going to do that as they were also an hour away from me. I looked through the documents on the pdf file and found a phone number and when I called it I actually reached the borrower. They told me they were no longer in my State and traveled back to their home state to get ready to move into their new home and were waiting to sign documents in their area because they had told the lender and title company several times they needed to leave my area on a certain date. This is why it’s important to get a hold of the signers to verbally confirm with them. Good luck and hope you resolved your situation.
Well, my reasoning (and why I said it’s MY procedure only - not telling others what to do) is based on my demographics and experiences…for example:
I’ve contacted signers only to find out they’re not even in my state - they’re out of state and they TOLD title and their LO they would be out of state - if I were not able to contact them I’d never have known - because obviously title and/or SS and/or lender all forgot that little detail.
Finally contacting signers and they were livid because they had NO intention of signing and had already told their LO to take a hike! Yeah, I want to walk into THAT situation unannounced…uummm…no.
My demographics - no street lights, very dark rural roads, homes with 330+ foot frontage (like my own home) - and no front lights (exactly like my house! LOL) I want specific information as to where I’m going AND I want to be able to contact them if they have to walk me into their property via phone. I remember back when I started using a flashlight to see street signs…
So just my reasons for that procedure…
You have to keep in mind that there are females who do this business also and it’s more dangerous for us than men.
Once again! I’m a business owner and NO SS will tell me how to run my business. I will always confirm my appointment before going to the signers home. It’s proper procedure and it can save some time and trouble than having to drive all the way there to find out it’s the wrong address, the signer has moved, it’s a set up for a robbery, etc.
I called to confirm an appointment. The signer (who was a woman) did not pick up the phone so I left a message saying I would call back in 15 minutes. I called back and a man answered the phone. I asked for the woman and he said I had the wrong number and he gave me the correct number to the signer 
.
I called the woman to let her know I was coming and told her how I got her number. She said that was strange. If I had not called and asked questions where the signing would take place I would have not known that it was going to be in a parking lot across from a construction site. So I brought my card table and 2 chairs. I have learned from experience that anything can go wrong if I don’t do things to protect myself and call to confirm.
And…now a days a person will pull a gun on you in a minute if they aren’t expecting you or call the police. That actually happened to a notary who was at the wrong house for a signing, someone called the police on her.
I created me a questionnaire that I use when contacting the borrowers etc.
NO phone number, NO appointment -PERIOD!
I’ve also had that experience with the company that insists ‘no contact’. Not in this day and age- I need to screen my clients for COVID as well as go through my ‘script’ with them. I agree with all the other reasons folks gave here for INSISTING on phone/contact info.
The real question here is: who are the notaries abiding by this nonsense that allow these companies to think this is OK?
ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS confirm. For safety, for courtesy, for common sense. I often get orders without a phone number. First step is a return email to title/escrow/SS requesting a contact method. I’ve confirmed via email, text and phone… but I ALWAYS confirm.
No confirmation, no appointment.
Quick reminder - if nowhere else, a phone number can often be found on the 1003.
I’m new to this forum, but as a notary public, I often face cases like this. It can be frustrating when you don’t have a phone number for the signer, but sometimes people just don’t want to leave their numbers.
Sometimes, people use a temporary phone number. There are apps out there that let you get a temporary phone number for situations like this.
Knocking on the door is always an option. The pros are that you’ll be able to get the signature right then and there, and you won’t have to worry about missing the signer. The cons are that it can be awkward to knock on a stranger’s door, and there’s no guarantee that they’ll be home.
