How do you handle clients who show up with incomplete documents right before a deadline
Had a situation last week where someone came in needing an apostille; it turns out one of their documents wasn't properly certified, so we couldn't even start the apostille process. they had a visa appointment the next morning. ended up spending two hours trying to figure out what could actually be salvaged in time. we got it sorted but barely. I run dc mobile notary and this happens more than I'd like. curious how other notaries or apostille services handle this, do you do a pre-check before the appointment or just deal with it when it comes up.
Edited: Appreciate all the responses, really helpful to hear how others handle this. we've since made the free pre-check a standard part of our intake at dc mobile notary, especially for time sensitive stuff like fbi apostilles and embassy legalization where a missing certification can kill the whole timeline. seems like the consensus here is front loading the verification is the only real fix.