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For the Bankers, Manufacturers, and Insurance Companies
You are quite familiar with the Field Servicing that provides your employees with the information required to proceed with their jobs. The collections department needs face-to-face interviews to establish contact. Your foreclosure department needs occupancy checks to know where they stand in proceedings. The REO department must maintain properties to avoid city citations and prepare properties for conveyance or sale. Your accounts payable departments need additional information on inventory held or verification that coupons have been legitimately redeemed. The underwriter needs detail information to proceed in processing a new policy, or just to update an existing policy. All of this information and service provision is ultimately provided by a representative in the field who is local to the subject of inquiry.
Traditionally, you secure these services through a single vendor, who in turn locates a local field service representative who will gather the information for you. We are those field service representatives. We have formed this organization because there are issues arising in the field that we are uncomfortable with and which you may or may not be aware of. Issues such as the forging of information. Issues such as substandard provision of services. Issues such as field representatives not being paid for services rendered. Our goal is to bring this issues to your attention so that you can make a more informed decision when selecting a vendor for the field services you need.
The members of S.I.R.s have gathered because we are proud of the quality services that we provide to you. We are highly concerned that you are paying for information that is not up-to-date, substandard services, and misinformation. We understand that you wish to receive the best possible price for information and services. We also understand that every vendor involved in processing your requests must not only profit but also desires to receive information and services for the best possible price. However, with the current trends of allowing price only to be the determining factor in who provides services, many disturbing events are taking place.
What is disturbing is that many field service representatives that have made it their business to provide accurate information and quality service are being replaced with field service representatives who have no idea what they are doing. These new field service representatives cannot locate properties. Once they do locate a property, they do not return to the property for updates and you are not receiving current information. Vacant properties are being neglected because they are not reported as vacant in a timely fashion. Once they are reported as such, the preservation services are assigned to field service representatives that do not know how to complete the work appropriately.
All too often, field service representatives are not being paid their fees because your vendors attempt to increase their profits by random deductions and or complete failure to pay for services rendered. As a result, you are being shortchanged. Field service representatives find ways to recuperate their fees by completing work, not in the field, but in their office. They place liens on your properties. And you suddenly are very upset at the results of your endeavors.
Typically, many of your vendors determine set fees which they charge you based on your needs and requests. Often, your vendor not only has a set fee which they will charge you but they also have a set fee which they will pay to a field service representative. While most industries operate on a level of the vendor determining the fee for services, in this industry your vendor not only sets the fee they will charge, but also the fee they will pay. Of those fees, approximately 20 to 30% covers the vendor's expense of locating a field service provider. Some of your vendors retain as much as 50 to 75% of those fees. When you pay $30 for a service, it is quite possible that the field service representative is paid only $5 for that service. This leaves both you and the field service representative no longer in control of their independent business.
To help you determine if you are receiving the quality of services you deserve, S.I.R.s recommends that you randomly audit your vendor. Ask for the detailed billing that was submitted by the actual person that performed the service. Then call the company listed to verify they actually performed the work, or if they in turn hired the work out. Keep making calls until you come to the person who actually performed the fieldwork. This way you can compare what you paid for the service to what the field representative was paid. If you have to make more than one or two phone calls, then too many companies were involved in paperwork and the field representative was probably paid very little, if paid at all. By random auditing, you may avoid possible liens and lawsuits and you will learn the actual quality of services you are receiving for the fees you are paying.
S.I.R.s believes that it is of the utmost importance that your interests and needs be protected. We take pride in the work we do and want to provide you with the very best of services possible. Feel free to browse the websites of our members to see the quality services that you should be expecting and which S.I.R.s members strive to deliver. We believe this information will help you to see the industry from our perspective. If there is anyway that we can be of service, helping you select a vendor, helping you determine if your vendor is being fair with not only you but with the representatives they select to complete your requests, please feel free to contact us.
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