Signing Services Of America JUST NO

After reading reviews of this company, I feel like I dodged a bullet.
Accepted an offer of $145 for a refinance in another county via text over signing order.com. After I accepted, I received an email asking if I would take a reduction to $125 since it was only 21 miles from me (it was actually more) and then I would be put on their preferred list for future orders. I was letting that percolate while about my day when I received a call from the owner asking about taking the same order for $125. When I said, is this the one I accepted for $145, he said yes, but that offer was a mistake. He wouldn’t own the mistake and blamed it on someone else- red flag. We talked for a bit and he did tell me that I would receive a reduction if I made a mistake, even if I corrected it. He told me he had lost customers because of mistakes so this was his way of mitigating that. This is a practice with a few other services that I don’t like but kind of get, so I accepted it. Took the order for $125 against my better judgement (only 9 months in as a signing agent) and proceeded to contact the client. She didn’t have a non expired government ID, only a temporary paper driver’s license that had expired (hadn’t received permanent one after 4 months). I communicated with the signing services owner that I would not be able to notarize without a valid ID. He asked about a credible witness. Told him that NC requires that both me and the client know the witness. Not going to happen. Then he called the client and collected information about all her other forms of ID (none of which were valid) and sent me an email listing that info along with ‘her grandson can serve as a credible witness’ so “we should be good to go”. I told him that those weren’t valid ways of confirming identity in NC and I would not be proceeding and to remove me from the order. To which he replied “OK”. No thanks for your time, effort (for free) etc. Just “OK”. The next day- the day of the order- he texted me and said the client had gone to the DMV and has her new license and was I available to complete the order. I told him no but could do it the next day if the ID was permanent- not temporary (doubtful unless NC has changed- they mail the IDs). He said it was but since I couldn’t completed day of, he said, “will catch you next time.” Again, no thanks for your effort, upaid labor
Next time? there won’t be a next time.

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@skywalktrace Welcome :tada: & Thank you for sharing your direct experience communicating with this business entity. This information will be helpful to other Notary Cafe members.

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There is additional immediately available information found within the Notary Cafe database on this business entity.

This information is a GOLDMINE!

Most members express that they find it difficult/NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE to locate the Search Function in order to access the wealth of information available within the database.

To be helpful, I’ve inserted an image for you & others [see below] to help members locate it to unlock the wisdom & knowledge of other members on the forums.

I’ve performed a cursory Search on your behalf and the results show 11 separate threads (in addition to yours) about this particular topic. There is a plethora of data immediately available on the threads within Notary Cafe. :sparkles::tulip:

https://forum.notarycafe.com/search?q=%22Signing+Services+Of+America%22

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Accessing the database to locate information about potential clients has saved many of us an inordinate amount of time ‘chasing’ payments for Services professionally provided to potential non-payers . . . :crown:

:swan:

You just turned off a good company they are rated 4 or 5 stars since 2016.

That may be good for some, but not for me. Asking me to notarize something without proper ID is at extraordinarily uprofessional.

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There are a number of reputable companies on that portal and I have been called before to be told there was a mistake in the order. 9 times out of 10 the error is in my favor. Once in a while they ask for a reduction if the job is far smaller than originally thought. If it makes business sense I will accept the reduced fee. In California if a person doesn’t have valid, government issued photo ID, you can use one Credible Witness who is known to both you and the signer or two Credible witnesses who know the Signer. A Notary is not required to see the IDs, but to administer an oath to the Credible witnesses. I ask for them to produce IDs anyways and make a note in the journal.

What portal are you talking about?

Hi, the portal is SigningOrder.com. There are some very good companies on that portal. I think the post said the offer came from one of their vendors.

@keaton4notary - Correction: In California, the credible witness(es) must have a valid government-issued photo ID which is presented to the notary, the notary enters the CW’s ID info in the notary journal, the CW(es) sign the journal and the CW(es) swear/affirm under penalty of perjury as to the several items listed in our Notary Handbook. May I refer you to page 9 under the heading of Identification. To wit:

"B. Oath of a Single Credible Witness – The identity of the signer can be established by
the oath of a single credible witness whom the notary public personally knows (Civil Code section 1185(b)(1)). The notary public must establish the identity of the credible witness by the presentation of paper identification documents as set forth above. Under oath, the credible witness must swear or affirm that each of the following is true (Civil Code section 1185(b)(1)(A)(i)-(v)):

  1. The individual appearing before the notary public as the signer of the document is the person named in the document;
  2. The credible witness personally knows the signer;
  3. The credible witness reasonably believes that the circumstances of the signer are such that it would be very difficult or impossible for the signer to obtain another form of identification;
  4. The signer does not possess any of the identification documents authorized by law to establish the signer’s identity; and
  5. The credible witness does not have a financial interest and is not named in the
    document signed.
    Note: The single credible witness must sign the notary public’s journal, or the notary public must indicate in their journal the type of identifying document, the identifying number of the document, and the date of issuance or expiration of the document presented by the witness to establish the identity of the witness. (Government Code section 8206(a)(2)(D))
    C. Oaths of Two Credible Witnesses – The identity of the signer can be established by the oaths of two credible witnesses whom the notary public does not personally know. The notary public frst must establish the identities of the two credible witnesses by the presentation of paper identification documents as listed above. Under oath, the credible witnesses must swear or affirm under penalty of perjury to each of the things sworn to or affirmed by a single credible witness, as set forth above. (Civil Code sections 1185(b)(2) and 1185(b)(1)(A)(i)-(v))
    Note: The credible witnesses must sign the notary public’s journal and the notary public must indicate in their journal the type of identifying documents, the identifying numbers of the documents, and the dates of issuance or expiration of the documents presented by the witnesses to establish their identities. (Government Code section 8206(a)(2)(E))"

I bring this up only to avoid confusing any newbies reading here who may not be aware of the procedure for using credible witnesses in California.

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