Am still arguing with this national company about their request for a full 40 year search that I completed for them in April (at least they brought most of their arrears up to date after 6 weeks of follow up on my part).  Their excuse was that they did not have my fee in their system - who ordered it, the usual BS for stalling.  They requested my fees again for all types of "normal" searches", which I forwarded again even though I have been working with them for over 2 years.
Today, I received an e-mail questioning whether these are flat fees that include copies and what would the fee be if they didn't want copies of the open mortgages.  I wanted to share my reply - just to vent -
"The fees in the schedule include NORMAL copies (deed and 1st mortgage - up to 7 pages).  I really cannot reduce the fees even if you do not need copies of the open mortgages (copies in MN are between $1-$2 per page - my cost).  May I remind you of a very old saying - Good no cheap - cheap no good.  Considering the mess that everyone is finding in the recorders offices because of the refi boom and things being recorded incorrectly - that saying is very appropriate.  You can either have a cheap search from an inexperienced abstractor and wait for the claims to hit (and they will) or you can pay a reasonable fee to an experienced abstractor and sleep well at night not worrying about claims, the success or failure of your company or your job.   Commonwealth at one time was the top title insurer in the country.  However, in the late 80s and early 90s, they became VERY lax in their requirements.  They ended up having to merge with Lawyers Title Insurance to become LandAmerica just to not go down the tubes because of all the claims.  Just something to think about."

Anita