I've come across this a lot over the years -  title attorneys and abstractors accepting work from people known to have a bad history of payment.    People afraid to ask for the money that is due them, because if they do they won't get repeat business.  ????   People willing to pay for their own background check for searching public records.   People afraid to ask for a reference, because they may offend a potential non paying client.   It boggles the mind.