Hand written forms are back -- yuck!
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My fee to do shops that require such goes up substantially. Printing cost are miniscule but time to handwrite then type into report exact as written or vice versa is time consuming and unnecessary. Add to that time to photograph and upload after converting to pdf to make more readable. I would take normal cost for me to do job and add $20 to $30 for the hassle.
Shopping Western NY, Northeast and Central PA, and parts of Ohio and West Virginia. Have car will travel anywhere if the monies right.
I remember when those handwritten forms were sent FedEx after we entered the data. I guess that cost too much, so the banking client accepted the idea of receiving them as pdf.
Well, this shop paid $45 including $10 for the paper form, so it was worth doing. But still a pain. I have terrible handwriting, so I was thrilled when shops went online. The MS companies were as well, I'm sure.@BuffaloNY101 wrote:
I would take normal cost for me to do job and add $20 to $30 for the hassle.
Hey folks,
There is a simple, and client-acceptable way to make those forms easy. Anywhere that the form requires narrative, just write in, "Please see addendum, attached." Do the check-box answers by hand. From the on line version, cut and paste any narratives into a text document labeled, :Addendum, " and then add the date and the facility name. Print out that addendum, place it immediately behind the front page of the handwritten form, and you are DONE. This is about the 10th time that I have reported this method on the forum and, btw, ALL of my reports done this way are accepted with very positive remarks.
Enjoy !
There is a simple, and client-acceptable way to make those forms easy. Anywhere that the form requires narrative, just write in, "Please see addendum, attached." Do the check-box answers by hand. From the on line version, cut and paste any narratives into a text document labeled, :Addendum, " and then add the date and the facility name. Print out that addendum, place it immediately behind the front page of the handwritten form, and you are DONE. This is about the 10th time that I have reported this method on the forum and, btw, ALL of my reports done this way are accepted with very positive remarks.
Enjoy !
Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel
Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel
Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
I started doing that for handwritten forms that had long narratives when that was still a thing since some companies would complain about my handwriting! Fortunately this one did not have any long write-ups. And here's an update to my original post -- they actually sent my report back to me because I had not written the shop # on the front page of the report, and because the rate I entered online did not match the paper form. So someone actually compared the two submissions. I will admit that I had mistyped the interest rate in the online form, so I fixed that. But I had to rescan the first page and reassemble the 13-page PDF. Fortunately they did not complain that my write-ups on the form did not match what I wrote online (which I made more detailed).
Did you know that if you type or copy and paste your report into Word, that you can save it as .pdf? Also there is a free application that can make a .pdf copy from a photograph (http://www.freepdfsolutions.com). Either of these methods should take no more than a minute.@BuffaloNY101 wrote:
My fee to do shops that require such goes up substantially. Printing cost are miniscule but time to handwrite then type into report exact as written or vice versa is time consuming and unnecessary. Add to that time to photograph and upload after converting to pdf to make more readable. I would take normal cost for me to do job and add $20 to $30 for the hassle.
I agree that handwritten reports are so yesterday. I doubt any client would pay me what it would take to get me to do such a shop, especially when there are so many shops available that allow me to take advantage of technology. I type my narratives into a Word document first anyway in case something goes wrong with their technology.
Jut remembered another story from the "old days". I had a company complaining about my handwriting, so I typed it up online, printed it and glued it onto the form where I was supposed to write. They complained that it was not handwritten.
Modern printer/scanners will scan to pdf.
Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel
Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel
Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
@AZwolfman wrote:
Did you know that if you type or copy and paste your report into Word, that you can save it as .pdf? Also there is a free application that can make a .pdf copy from a photograph (http://www.freepdfsolutions.com). Either of these methods should take no more than a minute.@BuffaloNY101 wrote:
My fee to do shops that require such goes up substantially. Printing cost are miniscule but time to handwrite then type into report exact as written or vice versa is time consuming and unnecessary. Add to that time to photograph and upload after converting to pdf to make more readable. I would take normal cost for me to do job and add $20 to $30 for the hassle.
I agree that handwritten reports are so yesterday. I doubt any client would pay me what it would take to get me to do such a shop, especially when there are so many shops available that allow me to take advantage of technology. I type my narratives into a Word document first anyway in case something goes wrong with their technology.
I have a pdf convertor and yes it takes like 10 seconds to convert a pic to pdf. That is not a problem or cost adder. The cost is handwriting the report. I like walesmaven idea and if that is acceptable would make me consider the very few shops that require a handwritten in addition to the online report.
Shopping Western NY, Northeast and Central PA, and parts of Ohio and West Virginia. Have car will travel anywhere if the monies right.
So will Google Drive. My printer's autofeed isn't working, so I just took pictures with my phone in Drive and let it put together the PDF file for me.@walesmaven wrote:
Modern printer/scanners will scan to pdf.
Just checked their website and my shop was accepted, so I guess they were OK with the shop other than the two issues.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/28/2020 05:51AM by MisterBill.
I did the same shop last month. Didn't mind the handwriting that much because it made me feel young again lol. (I was a solid "B" in penmanship when that was on report cards.) But I admit I'll try walesmaven's idea if I do another one.@MisterBill wrote:
Well, this shop paid $45 including $10 for the paper form, so it was worth doing. But still a pain. I have terrible handwriting, so I was thrilled when shops went online. The MS companies were as well, I'm sure.@BuffaloNY101 wrote:
I would take normal cost for me to do job and add $20 to $30 for the hassle.
So... umm... are they analyzing people's handwriting? Profiling shoppers this way? Recruiting people with "good" handwriting to put little notes on snail mail-outs?
I am so cynical...
I am so cynical...
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. - Lao-Tzu
Maybe they think it's a way to ensure that the shopper writes down the information as soon as they leave the bank? Didn't work for me, when I got there I remembered that I had forgotten to print it out@Shop-et-al wrote:
So... umm... are they analyzing people's handwriting? Profiling shoppers this way? Recruiting people with "good" handwriting to put little notes on snail mail-outs?
I am so cynical...
.Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/28/2020 03:37PM by MisterBill.
I have been told that it is the client, not the MSC that imposes this requirement. On the one hand, I suspect that the client is relying on legal advice that is not actually justified. It seems like evidence overkill to require a written report, complete with shopper signature. On the other hand, the client may have been badly burned by some legal action way back before they introduced the requirement.
Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel
Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel
Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
I forgot about the signature. But it seems like they could have just had us print and sign that page. On the other hand, in theory the shop fee includes a bonus amount for printing and scanning, so it's costing them a bundle to have it.@walesmaven wrote:
I have been told that it is the client, not the MSC that imposes this requirement. On the one hand, I suspect that the client is relying on legal advice that is not actually justified. It seems like evidence overkill to require a written report, complete with shopper signature. On the other hand, the client may have been badly burned by some legal action way back before they introduced the requirement.
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