Quality Control Profit Centers
Posted on | April 4, 2008 | No Comments
Since you may not have read any of my e-books about the mortgage field services business, I’m gonna let you in on a small part of it:Â How mortgage field service companies steal from their field reps and call it quality control.
This particular theft occurred a couple of years ago but it’s still the best example I have. There are others of course.
The conflict began when we received the e-mail notice notifying us that we were being charged back $35 because we had reported a house occupied when it was vacant.
The property preservation crew had been sent to the house and found it vacant and proceeded to complete their work order issued by the error-free national company.  My question: “why was a property preservation crew sent in the first place when I reported the property occupied?”, went right over the QC manager’s head.
In order to rub it in my face, they had their QC department send the e-mail notifying us that my protest had been discussed with upper management and they were procedding with the punitive action. Yes, that was the word used – punitive. Well chosen don’t you think?
Well, of course, I was mad as $”%^&& but I knew I was right. The property in this particular town has very peculiar addressing. Many houses have a number but no street actually – just an alley in back that is used as the street name for the houses in back of that alley. Confusing, really! The town was laid out and most of it built before there were cars; so there was not much use for streets. The streets came into existance during WWII when the government bought houses to tear down and put in streets. They needed the streets to get workers to the nearby shipyards to build Liberty Ships. And, the governement built more houses over close to the shipyard.
Anyway, I knew I was right and I knew what went wrong. I asked Vickie to go with me to take pictures of what I knew was going to be an absolute joy to behold.
I had met this homeowner many times delivering “call back notices”. He is a really nice guy and after months of monthly visits, I knew about his unemployment, his new job, his new Dodge pickup and so on. When I explained why I was there, he really perked up and I could tell he was going to enjoy it too. He took our orders for cold drinks: cola for me and water for Vickie.
We posed in front of his house number for a picture. It was one of those pictures that looks like one of us is receiving an award of some type. Standing facing each other at 45 degree angles with a firm handshake between us. The house number was directly over my right shoulder.
Then, just to rub it in their face, I asked him to write an affidavit and sign it which he did. I think my failure was caused by not having it notarized.
Then, the three of us walked behind his house and sit a while to watch the property preservation crew tear out roofing, a bunch of flooring, appliances and a claw-foot tub.
Hmmm! Tub?
They were at the wrong house of course but we dared not intervene. After all, the place really did need some updating. The guy at the right house, sitting next to me, said that house had been vacant about eleven years.
I laughed so much that I began to cry. Vickie was constantly taking pictures until she couldn’t stand it anymore. We sent the affadavit and all the pictures with a narrative to the company QC deparment and waited…. and waited …..
Mind you now, this is the same company and the same QC department that sent me to Dauphin Island Alabama after hurricane Katrina (ever hear of it) to take pictures for them. Lo and behold, their QC department called to say the picture of the sandy beach was nice but they knew the house was there – because it was in the tax records!
I’ll wait a while for you to recover……
I’m a changed man. The notice today was welcomed with open arms. The total charge back today is only $31.50. The circumstances are reversed this time though.  We said it was vacant and the property preservation crew said it was occupied. A gallon of gas is approaching $4.00 and inspection fees won’t buy enough gas to do the inspections anyway. I am now telling everyone in this office to use no additional time or gasoline trying to find out if a property is vacant or occupied. If there is any doubt, mark it as vacant and let the property preservation crew buy the gasoline. It’s well worth $35 (10.7 gal) so the QC department can raise their charge back from $31.50 to $35. More income for the QC department.
The notice today said the QC department used their client’s photos and aerial photos to prove us wrong. We know the client is never wrong but the last aerial photos this QC department sent me were dated four years before the house was built. Aerial photos? Brilliant!
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