Dear Debi,

I just read the email thread of this email that Alvin had sent you.  The subject on the thread is:

QUOTE AND ETA - LINCOLN TN

You have copied and pasted here the one of the emails Alvin sent you.  It is not really the whole picture.   I concluded that he was giving you MORE information for  you in order to quote the job as your previous email is below and you couldn't determine which property to search.

We could do a search on Mauk or on Ty Hagan.  Each 30 year search would be $105 and include all copies found in the ROD office.

Even though a full search is performed you may never locate the 3.77 acres.  All metes and bounds descriptions are + or – and thus typically

have a few acres they are off and never located.  It’s your call – let us know if you wish to order a search and on whom. 

We could go to Lincoln county the first of next week.

You were stating you did not know which owner to search and did not have accurate acreage to search.  So Alvin sent you the Assessor's property card so that you could quote that one property.  

Alvin also had sent you an email earlier to please hold until he received our client's approval.

But I can see that Alvin's last email to you could have been clearer.  Such as: Here is further info attached so that you can give the best quote for this exact parcel. 

For future reference, when we approve or give the go ahead it is pretty obvious like: Thank you for your quote and eta.  Our client has approved the fees.  Please go ahead and do this search.  We will send you a work order through our computer system momentarily so you have our work order number with the full info and instructions.

I just wanted to clarify all of this on this forum.

We are not a big greedy company just trying to wheedle prices down and take advantage of our searchers.  We are all experienced searchers here and lean more on the side of the abstractor.

I don't believe you are trying to take advantage of us and in the interest of keeping goodwill with you, I will offer to pay you half of your invoice.  If that is not satisfactory, please tell me what you would propose.

Also, it would be way cool, if in the future, if there is a complaint, you could email us and let us know before coming to this public forum.  We are responsive and treat people fairly even if we are not pressured in a public forum.

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Oh my gosh, I just read the last thing Alvin emailed to you on that email thread:

He offered you the whole payment even though we are getting NOTHING.  Alvin did this without my direction and without seeing your post.  I know this because he does not read SOT.  He doesn't have time to peruse this discussion board.  I believe this proves our general goodwill and willingness to be fair to abstractors.  Maybe overly fair.  We will of course honor Alvin's promise to you.

So do you still have some reason to complain?

Angela