Barristers Title Was Not My Friend By kateri27 on - Updated Oct 15, 2011
I have bought and sold four houses in the past seven years. I have used four different title agencies, and for the most part have been pretty darn pleased with them.
I was that is until I used Barristers title Company in Independence, Ohio. It is a somehow related to Howard Hanna/Smythe Cramer, how exactly I am not sure?
We relocated from another part of the state so we signed al of the paperwork in front of a notary with very little contact with the title company. What contact we did have was, well frankly disturbing. First they asked for an additional $136 to be wired just in case we had "additional fees come up, because they would hate to call me up and ask me to mail them in $9.00."
Well the math obviously did not add up on that one. I did not send in the overage. After all was said and done they actually ended up calling me and telling me that we had a credit of $30 and could we come and pick up the check at their office (I guess they didn't know what a stamp was?) Well moving does not alot a lot of free time so we told them to just mail the check. Supposedly they did, but wait it gets better. After the put the check in the mail they told me they made a mistake, and guess what WE owed them $8, so we should just rip up the check and come in and give them money.
After all of this we never did end up getting that "stop payment" check for $30, but then again we never did mail them their check for $8 like I said I would.
I will never use barristers title again.
Too funny. I just got a letter from them asking me to send in a check for $30. Why, because I apparently owe them $9. Somehow the math doesn't add up. What is going on with this company asking us to send in more money then we actually owe?
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Aren't title companies fairly regional in nature? Either way, thanks for the warning about this one and what could be a general warning abou title companies overall. We had a pretty dismal experience with one in our area so I feel your pain.
I'm sorry to hear you had so much trouble.
I have experience of dealing with title companies from the side of being a mortgage loan processor. Yes, some do rip you off but they should have had exact figures before the time of closing. Good job on helping others to avoid using a company that has issues.
Well, atleast we have filter to tattle on the bad companies on this website
I have never heard of them either, I hate to hear you had a bad experience but thank you for sharing and possibly saving the headache for someone else.:(
Wow... I'm wary of all of these places, but I think you genuinely found a bad apple. Thanks for testing it out for the rest of us, haha!
That is strange and sounds fishy. In Canada, our lawyers deal with title companies in real estate transactions so something like this rarely happens - at least in my experience.