Fidelity is one of the worst companies I have ever had the displeasure of doing business with. If I could give them negative stars, I would.
Here's the nutshell version of what you can expect if you do business with this company:
1. Zero communication
2. Incompetent employees
3. Delayed closing with no reasons given as to why
4. Continued zero communication
5. Office and County managers who are unwilling to do anything about poor service
6. Negative attitude from employees who simply don't do their jobs
7. To be called names such as b#*&h, nasty, push, or worse.
8. Pay full-price, top-dollar fees for all the above
I called FNT mid-December and opened an escrow with Michelle Padilla on a commercial property that was supposed to have closed by the end of the year. Both I and the seller expected this to be achievable as it was a simple transaction in that all parties live locally, for sale by owner with owner financing, no appraisal, and no inspection. During the phone conversation Michelle took all the information she said she needed and that she would let me know if she needed anything else or had any questions.
After opening escrow I was not contacted by Michelle or anyone else in the company until about three days before the projected close date and then only after I contacted her for status. I never received any information as to what our escrow number was, who the main contact would be, any alternate contacts, the documents received and documents still needed, estimated close date, and estimated closing costs, nothing. When I did speak with her just prior to the close date she sounded irritated and annoyed that she even had to have a conversation with me. She informed me that she 'had just' requested some information from the seller and that we would not be closing at the end of the month but had nothing more, no explanation as to why she was 'just now' requesting information that should have been requested weeks ago or the new projected close date. Nothing.
When, after yet another week of zero contact and a full week after the projected close date I emailed Michelle for further status I was emailed back by another escrow officer informing me that Michelle was on vacation (1/6/14). The escrow officer who was filling in sent me some documents that I needed to fill out and get back to her. I expressed my dissatisfaction to this new person specifically with regard to the lack of communication and the fact that I was only now being sent documents I should have been sent weeks ago and asked yet again when the transaction would be closing. I was told "a couple of days'.
Another week went by with zero contact and still not closed I called the office manager (Sherri Leard) and ultimately spoke with both her on 1/15/14 and the county manager (Robert Auerbach) on 1/16/14. I told both of them that, as a business owner myself, I was utterly disgusted with the complete lack of communication, delays, and substandard work that Fidelity was providing and that if I ran my business in such a manner I would long ago been out of business.
Both managers seemed somewhat sympathetic yet said there was nothing they could do and, in essence, that it was just too bad.
When I attempted to go in to sign documents and pay my closing costs on 1/16/14 Michelle met me with what I perceived to be a very negative attitude. This surprised me because I had been expecting some form of an apology for the poor service and delayed closing. As if having an attitude while in the process of collecting money from a paying customer who has already been delayed and given incompetent and substandard service wasn't enough, it got even worse. When she called us back into her office to commence the signing she made no eye contact, did not welcome us and invite us to sit down, or even introduce herself. There was definitely no apology for how the transaction had been handled thus far. She sat down at her desk and immediately asked both my husband and I for our IDs. I asked her why she needed anything from my husband as he is not part of this transaction but simply along for the ride that day as we had been out running other errands. She snapped that she "wasn't going to argue over every single point of this signing with me". I wanted to remind her that it actually is her job to explain every single point of the signing with me if necessary but both my husband and I simply handed over our IDs as requested.
When Michelle left the room momentarily I happened to notice an open email on her computer as it was sitting directly in front of me. I wasn't snooping at all, just casually glancing around the office waiting for her to come back when my eyes caught the last open email since it was facing me. There, right before my eyes, were no less than three emails calling me 'b#*&h', 'a nasty little thing' and 'pushy'. I was stunned not only that this is how FNT's employees talk about their customers but that she had left such d read more
