It has been my experience that most vendor managers don't give a tinker's damn about their vendors. Their main concern is to get the work done as cheaply and rapidly as possible. Most of them would sell you out in five minutes if the they found an abstractor to perform the search for $5 less. 

It really has reached a point where abstractors can't afford to charge any less for their services while at the same time being expected to offer increased services (mobile office, 8 hour turn around, etc.) added to this is the increased cost of gasoline.

It may have reached a time for the abstractors to stand on the side lines for a while to determine the direction in which the industry is moving.If in fact the VM's are happy with the electronic searches with their errors and omissions or the work performed by the cut rate uninsured abstractors, so be it. The situation is only going to become worse, and there is little that the abstractor can do about it other than to find a better paying line of work.

On the other hand, if the VM's eventually come to the realization that the thin title plants and uninsured searches are not doing the job, they will need to return to the reliable abstractors, and at the point I think the abstractors will be able to negotiate better prices than the nickles and dimes currently offered .However, this more optomistic view is probably years away.

By the way on the issue of the post 90 bill, guess the client has not heard of the stature of limitations. Yet another fine resolution of the payment problem by a VM.