Matthew,

I have a few things to say regarding your post.  First, you are right, you can't tell the client that you screwed up.  They don't care about that.  They only want that title back asap so they can close the loan and make their $.  As a vendor manager, it is your responsability to protect your vendors at all costs.  When "one slips through the cracks" that is ultimately your responsability.  If the vendor usually confirms an order within 3 hours, if this isn't done, why was a call or email not sent with the order to make sure that they did recieve it? I know that is the system that I use with the searches that are my responsability. 

As to the $26 fee.  Of course it is not a big deal to you, you don't have to worry about that check coming on pay day.  Your vendors rely on you to get that check for services that they provided to you.  Without them getting all of the information for you, you wouldn't have anyone to "manage".  So when a vendor calls or emails you and says that you owe them money for a service they provided, you need to make sure that the situation is rectified ASAP.  Whether it be, having the accounting department cut a check for you to overnight to them, or adding the fee in to a current acive search to compensate for it.  Both of these I done a few times for my vendors because they have already provided a service and they need to be paid for it. 

With the attitude of "it's not a big deal" you will not keep vendors working for you very long.  Believe me, I learned the hard way a long time ago that the vendors are not to be treated as employees.  Without a good relationship with them, you can not get your job done.  They are the ones that let you do your job and make you look good to your clients.

Hopefully, you will keep that in mine the next time, a vendor lets you know that  you owe them money.  Suck it up and pay the bill.  The most it will take is 15 minutes of your day to take care of a situation that shouldn't have happened to begin  with.