Yes, it is funny that the company is SO big that they can't keep the same person in the same position for more than two weeks also has the "one" person that is backlogged in the payment process for copies. Really!!  They also have a problem receiving a price increase.  I can send a price decrease and it is updated within 12 hours.  A price increase....well it seams to get lost in the shuffle, can you resend that? can you resend that?..  can you resend that?... oh, you need to send that to fax # xxx.xxxx   Yea, really---you didn't have that problem with a price decrease!!!

First American is an interesting nut to crack.  I have delt with them for a long time, and the rules are ever changing.  I had the copy problem.  But I fixed it by not providing copies.  Then they call and complain that they did not get copies.  I ask them to send me a special order # or request for copies and then when they do, I send the copies.  It takes more time, but then you have a written request with the agreed terms. 

I also had problems with companies listing exactly what copies they need, ie. full, vitals, etc. and then when they pay you, they come up with a completly different page count than what you sent.  One in particular was so bad that I started cutting cutting the pages in half, vertically, then faxing the 1/2 page.  They would call and say "we only got 1/2 the page we need it refaxed" and I would politely say, "yes, and when you start paying for all of it, you will get all of it".  They got the message and I don't have a problem now!!!

Getting paid correctly is the toughest part of this business.  However, I have found that the more precise you are with your billing, invoicing, labels, etc... the better you get paid.  Also, be very careful when you get a large payment and make sure you apply the correct amount to each invoice.  It makes it much easier to spot a problem and get it corrected later.  I knew somethat that just let they A/P apply payments as "oldest first".  Needless to say, that didn' work out well!!!