This Deed is Killing Me

I called the lawyer on March 14 and spoke with the receptionist, Gwen (sure I'll use her real name). Of course the lawyer was busy or not around, so I left a message saying to please start the transfer of the deed process. Gwen told me that they could get all the paperwork done and I wouldn't have to come in for a visit until the paperwork was finalized. This is great news because my grandmother's house is for sale at the end of April. Gwen told me that they would give me a call when it was ready.

I hadn't heard anything by the following week, so I called again on Monday, March 27. I don't know how long it takes to transfer a deed, so I was giving them the benefit of the doubt. I didn't want to seem too pushy, so I figured a week was plenty of time. Well, Gwen answers the phone, and tells me that she seems to have somehow lost the copy of the deed that she made the day I took off work to actually get the deed to them. Now, I have to say, my grandmother lives 2 hours north of me, in another state, so it's not like I can just run down the road and give them the deed on my lunch break. Isn't that great? Gwen lost the deed, and couldn't even call me to tell me. I had to call her! She said "There is no one to blame but myself." I'm thinking 'duh. You got that right, sister.' I said "Don't I have a file, where you keep the stuff that I gave you when I came in for my consultation?" She said 'Yes, you have a file, but somehow the deed isn't in there.' I'm already through with this conversation. I told her I'd somehow get a copy of the deed to her.

My mother went to visit Mom-mom this weekend, and I stopped by their house on Monday to pick up the deed. YB and I got the copy, and I sent it overnight to her. Oh, at the top of the paper, I wrote 'Please call me when you receive this. Here is my cell and my work number.' The lawyer called me today, but amazingly I was actually working and missed the call. I just called back, and surprisingly the lawyer was busy. *rolling eyes* Gwen tells me that I have to set up an appointment to come in and talk to them about the house getting foreclosed on and all this stuff. I told Gwen that I had already talked to them about that, and I am not really willing to miss more work if they are only going to talk to me for 10 minutes. I set up an appointment anyway, but I told her to have the lawyer call me anytime this afternoon or evening so I can at least figure out if I NEED to go see them. I told her that my phone number was at the top of the paperwork, and I would give it to her again. She said "Oh, I inverted the numbers that you left on the last message, but the lawyer did try to call you." I was very patient and I said with gritted teeth, "MY NUMBER IS ON THE PAPERWORK THAT I JUST SENT. MY WORK NUMBER AND MY HOME NUMBER ARE THERE, SO PLEASE HAVE HER CALL ME."

I've never had to work with a lawyer before, and I don't want to say that all of them are like this, but if they are I hope I never have to deal with them again. Or..maybe it's not them, but their incompetent staff members. Gwen is old, so I feel a little bad for her, but if this happens to a lot of people, the lawyers are going to go bankrupt because no one will use them anymore. I'm going to scream. At least I get some time off work as early as Monday, and I get to hang out with Mom-mom. That will be nice.