Title and Escrow Services, Inc.

Complaint[redacted] title closing firm, [redacted], handled the closing of my home at [redacted] on August 15. I have yet to receive approximately $2,800 of my funds because the title/closing company sent my funds to the buyer instead of me. They have refused to rectify the situation. I received the following email from a [redacted] on September 3, 2013."[redacted], the buyers attorney is the one who held the taxes while waiting for them to post as paid. I have called them and am waiting for them to get back to me regarding your refund. Ill get back to you just as soon as I hear. Thanks!! [redacted] XXX-XXX-XXXX XXX-XXX-XXXX fax"Product_Or_Service: TitDesired SettlementI would like my refund plus interstBusiness Response Realtor requested we represent his client in the sale of her home. Closing was set for August 15, 2013. We represented the seller, and [redacted] (another closing company) represented the buyer. August 7 we received a payoff from [redacted] on our seller's loan.August 15 closing took place. Staff closer for Title and Escrow explained to the client that since city taxes would be delinquent August 31, and [redacted] had not paid the bill, the amount due (($2,245.70) would be withheld from proceeds to pay those taxes before the delinquent date. It is customary that the Buyer's closing agent is the disburser of funds and our staff closer further advised client that we would request that [redacted] hold said funds in order to see whether [redacted] paid the amount from her escrow before the end of August. If [redacted] did not pay by then, [redacted] would have to disburse funds to pay taxes at the end of the month to make sure the taxes did not become delinquent. If [redacted] paid, holding funds would allow her to get her refund faster from [redacted] If [redacted] had to pay the taxes to avoid delinquency, then [redacted] would be sending her the refund either in the refund of funds left in escrow account or by separate check later.August 16 the payoff was made to [redacted] on clients behalf and at that time we asked [redacted] to hold the tax check to see if [redacted] in fact, paid the taxes, which [redacted] agreed to do.August 20, [redacted] inadvertently disbursed the taxes to the [redacted] of [redacted] which created the problem.August 23, [redacted] sent their payment to the [redacted]When the [redacted] receives two payments, the first is recorded and the second received is refunded. It takes weeks not only to process all of their checks, but to issue refunds to the companies and individuals who have duplicate payments. This process is further complicated by the fact that [redacted] used a company called [redacted] to process all it's clients' tax payments. [redacted] pays thousands of taxes for lenders. When they pay the [redacted] it is usually by a wire or check with paperwork to show all the tax ID numbers tax payments are to be credited to.We were advised by the [redacted] of [redacted] that on October 17 the [redacted] refunded the funds for client to [redacted] and [redacted] advised that [redacted] received these funds on October 29th. [redacted] has advised that it will take approximately 10 days to process the refund and send back to [redacted] to disburse back to client.The client has stated that this is all our fault and accused us and [redacted] of being incompetent. Actually, everyone has been trying to help her from the beginning by speeding up the refund process. In this case, an inadvertent disbursement of [redacted] check caused the problem, but it was certainly not intentional.Some closing agents refuse to hold taxes and just let any tax refunds take place through the normal course of business by the tax authorities. We were trying to keep this potential problem from happening. If funds had been held as agreed, she would have received her refund check long ago.Due to this this client's multiple, verbally abusive phone calls including accusations of incompetence, lying and repeated threats of lawsuits (we would have preferred to respond to her attorney rather than her), we have changed our company policy. In the future, we will not attempt to speed up the process of refunding tax checks if our office does not have control of the funds. It is too bad her actions will result in numerous sellers suffering long waits for any refund to come from the [redacted] and the [redacted]We conduct closings on a daily basis and our customer service is a large part of our success over the last thirteen years. It takes two parties listening and working together to solve problems that may come up during or after the closing process. With a client who will not listen to our efforts at resolution, and try to understand the process, any conflict is extremely difficult to resolve.We would hope that even though the client has accused my staff of lying and failing to give her the tax refund, which our office did not control, she will eventually see that we have always tried to help her get this situation resolved and that it is a process that includes a number of offices working together to obtain the necessary result. Unfortunately she would not listen and twisted what was said to her instead of being a party to resolution.[redacted] Bank has assured the client that they will refund this duplicate tax payment to her once they have received funds from [redacted]