Charge A Fee For Weeks Of Contact Flaking?

[miktay]

I spent a couple of hours every day... for five days a week... for an entire month on this. Forty hours. I spent a week at a full-time job on trying to schedule this inspection.

It sounds like you need to be putting MUCH less effort into scheduling appraisal inspections.
One appointment takes me several minutes to schedule. Not hours or days.

 

[Overimprovement]

SOC said, I spent a couple of hours every day... for five days a week... for an entire month on this. Forty hours. I spent a week at a full-time job on trying to schedule this inspection.

I wouldn't have spent more than 5 minutes a week on arranging an appointment. If someone can't make an appointment around my other appointments, its, 'sorry, catch you next week.' Why would you want to fit a square peg in a round hole?

Absolutely!

I will add that this just doesn't add up, no matter how you slice it. We have all had difficult clients to schedule. It sounds like you are trying to justify charging this client some outrageous fee or hourly rate. Not gonna fly. To be candid, if you spend more than 15-20 TOTAL minutes trying to schedule an appointment, then that is entirely on you. Either your company's process is the MOST inefficient in the world, and you need to find another employer/mentor/supervisor, or you are terrible at what you do.

We have all had to reschedule things, and juggle multiple assignments in a day, rescheduling some, etc. It just doesn't come close to adding up, sorry.

 

[VolcanoLvr]

This was the OP's comment:
They finally cancelled the order today and asked for any fees we would require.

Bill them an appropriate amount for the time wasted on this potential assignment

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

I know a lot of appraisers who would have the report half done while attempting to schedule same. I recall one guy who repeatedly avoided us as well as the bank, as he knew he was underwater. He had two properties, one residential, one commercial. He provided phony Offer and acceptance on the commercial building. And a phone lease agreement to boot, claiming the building generated income of $1,800/month (a rural shop building). The occupant said he was paying $500/month.

 

[TRESinc]

IF a client offers to pay a fee knowing you did not visit the property but spent lots of time on it, they expect a charge and will think you are unprofessional for not charging.

complete and utter bull$h!t. my oldest client has been with me for more than 20 years and they appreciate things like this, and have told me so on many occasions. it all likelihood it is the exact opposite of what jgrant posted - charging them something for a handful of phone calls and maybe 10 mins of work once a week? i bet you waste more time than that on a daily basis while doing your job (no offense, we all do or this place would not have half the traffic it does). your opinion may vary, but good client relationships are built up over time. if this is a good client then end it here. when your office gets an easy order, or one you have previously done, do you offer your client a discounted price? take the good with the bad,

They won't "reward" you for not charging.

again, completely untrue. the client i referenced above has their normal orders, then they have their pre-forclosure/REO type orders. those orders are not sent out via their normal methods, rather the chief appraiser and his staff manually select who these types of orders will go to. i get more than my fair share of them because of our history and relationship.

 

[Cob]

I am a one man shop, but my rule with a borrower is like baseball, they have 3 strikes, DON'T let it get to 5 attempts like this one, after the 3rd strike, I contact whoever ordered the appraisal and inform them that after 3 attempts I am no longer contacting them, if whoever ordered the appraisal wants to try and set it up, they are more than welcome to try and relay the information to me.

 

[ramrcdk]

WOW well there you have it and them & a lot of opinions. It is a personal business choice.
Enough time = $$$ & respectfully, other clients needs. After 1 reschedule & prior the second, it is my DD (due diligence) to inform the client, place the order on hold, & let the client figure out why their borrower is hesitate about the inspection process or resulting appraisal. Once a newbie, a similar situation happened. Turned out, the guy was crazy nuts, just out of the joint, & mad as hell. Kicked me out of his house for "looking around" & being noisy. The Lender, once explained became one of my best ever clients. Communication is KEY!

 

[Overimprovement]

I am a one man shop, but my rule with a borrower is like baseball, they have 3 strikes, DON'T let it get to 5 attempts like this one, after the 3rd strike, I contact whoever ordered the appraisal and inform them that after 3 attempts I am no longer contacting them, if whoever ordered the appraisal wants to try and set it up, they are more than welcome to try and relay the information to me.

The only difference I have is I ask after 3 attempts if there is a different # to try. USUALLY, it is a contact # issue. With today's prevalent pre-recorded voice mails, I am only assured of the number I am calling when I leave a message, NOT that I am actually reaching the intended person.

 

[Deleted member 152047]

After the second cancellation I probably would have put it in the client's lap. Sounds like you did everything right....but whether to charge or not is tough. I will say that most of my clients know time is money and don't balk at partial fees for time.

Best of luck and awesome name!