Did I spell that right? Hope so. . .
So anyway, I’m back with more “tales from the dark side.” I am going to continue on my Saga, while throwing Papa John’s Pizza into the mix. Let me just state flat out, in as clear a way as I know how, that CountryWide’s loss mitigation department is the most incompetent group of blundering nincompoops that I have ever seen.
Case #1: I have a certain short sale that Countrywide has had in their possession since February 19th. Two loss mitigators later, and they just ordered the appraisal yesterday.
Case #2: On another active file, newly minted, fresh outta loss mitigation school comes Paul Romero (the name has NOT been changed, so as to shame the guilty) . Now Paul, bless his little heart, indicates that he’s gonna “send the file to the investor” to get their response. Uh. . .Paul? Countrywide owns the loan. He calls me back two days later to indicate that he was wrong. Problem? He’s suddenly discovered that there is PMI on the loan, and he’s “sending the file to them immediately.” That’s great Paul, but their is no PMI on this loan. He argues with me for awhile and says he’s gonna send it to the PMI company to get their response. In the meanwhile, I’m off to demonstrate conclusively that there IS NO PMI on this loan. Within about 3 hours, I have written confirmation that there is indeed NO PMI on this loan. Fast forward 24 hrs. Here’s Paul on the phone again: “Uh. . .the PMI company has denied the short sale. They think the property is worth more than the offer you have given them”. Ok. Paul, let me explain this to you again, real slow. . .: There is no pmi on this loan. He proceeds to tell me that he’s sorry, but the short has been denied. Okay Paul. Give me the policy number, inception date, & contact information for the person handling the case at the PMI company. “Uh. . .I don’t have that information.” Well then how did you send them our offer? “Uh. . .I’ll have to get back with you. Click.
So, I call today. The case has indeed been rejected. Case closed. The peons at the loss mitigation department can’t seem to figure out why, based on Paul’s notes. About an hour or 6 later, I get a call from Paul’s boss:
“We’re sorry Mr. Butler; there was a mistake. There is no PMI on this loan. We’ll have this file ready for you in a few days”.
Huh. I’m speechless.
Then there’s Papa John’s. My wife has unfortunately fallen in love with this new pizza they have. So I ordered some . . . . . . . . . .and waited for almost 2 full hours to receive it. When I did receive it, it was cold. THAT’S FABULOUS! So I call. They offer to deliver a new one. “When? A couple of hours from now?” No sir, it’ll be there in 30 minutes. Great. How about you throw in a little 2.99 desert thingy to make it up to me and my family? Sorry sir. The manager says no. FABULOUS.
I guess my point is this: when someone actually gives even adequate customer service, they are heralded as “amazing” and people marvel. What has the world come to?
Allen
Tom Vanderwell says:
People like those make it easier for people who actually care about what they do to look good.
I think it would, in some ways, be harder to be seen as an excellent loan officer if it weren’t for the people in our business who shouldn’t be there. Not that it justifies it, but it does sort of explain it…..
April 16, 2008 — 8:03 pm
Hunter Jackson says:
Countrywide has the worst loss mitigation dept in the business….as I am finding out through my RE Atty.
Yet the new 6 Cheese pizza (papa johns) actually only has a 3 cheese blend on it….whats the world coming to?
April 16, 2008 — 8:54 pm
Sean Purcell says:
Allen,
One of my favorite sayings:
Without the K-Marts of the world, no one would know how good Nordstrom’s is.
Best of luck (with your pizza… you are SOL on the short sales improving) 🙂
April 16, 2008 — 9:03 pm
Brian Brady says:
Allen,
I think you can fully understand how I have a full head of grey hair, at 42
April 16, 2008 — 10:02 pm
Thomas Johnson says:
Allen: Do you expect the folks who loaned money to people who had no visible means of paying it back to be competent?
Now, the pizza thing gets my hair on fire…
April 16, 2008 — 10:11 pm
Russell Shaw says:
I doubt Countrywide ever had much more than a 30 day supply of money in their history. So it makes sense that there is an “investor”. It never was their money that they were loaning. They made the loans and handled account servicing. It never has been much more than a house of cards. A big house, but still the cards part. 🙂
Years ago I got a pizza to go and got home to find out there was NO cheese on it. None. I called and the guy told me that next time I came in to mention this to him and he would give me extra cheese on that pizza.
April 17, 2008 — 3:16 am
Teri Lussier says:
Ignoring the tales from the dark side…
Just did a google search- You are on page 2 for “nincompoopery”! There’s an SEO lesson here. 😉
April 17, 2008 — 6:09 am
Vance Shutes says:
Allen,
“I guess my point is this: when someone actually gives even adequate customer service, they are heralded as “amazing” and people marvel. What has the world come to?”
It has come to this. Those who actually do deliver outstanding service, with a smile, will simply clean up in the marketplace of competition. But, we’ll have to hear all the belly-aching of those we clean up from!
Keep delivering top-notch service. Never, ever give up!
April 17, 2008 — 7:27 am
Allen Butler says:
Terri- I guess that means I should start a new real estate dictionary with my own made up words (or just obscure ones). Maybe we could bring them into regular parlance.
April 17, 2008 — 8:14 am
Chris Lengquist says:
Are you quite certain the loss mitigator knew what PMI was? He wasn’t confusing it with other acronyms?
April 17, 2008 — 11:28 am