What a Week.

Friday 28th August to Friday 4th September will not go down in history as one of the best weeks we've had. We've encountered the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, and all in the space of hours.

Friday 28th August just happened to be my Husband's 40th Birthday. The day before we had our house inspection and were extremely happy with only 66 minor items to fix, all of which could be completed in a week, and the house would be ready to handover on the 4th. We knew the bank most likely wouldn't be ready, but little did we know they would completely stuff us around. More on that later...

So, for the big birthday, we chose to eat at a lovely local Italian restaurant. Upon returning to the car, we noticed that the inside cover to the boot was up (which it never is). We looked around the car and noticed the ipod and the GPS, which were very well hidden, had gone. The drivers' side lock was completely wrecked, and once at the Police Station we also realised the 2 white china dinner sets we had bought the night before but left in the car had also gone. Not a nice way to end your 40th Birthday, but to also be out of pocket over $1200. Fair enough the ipod and the GPS have served us well over the past 5 years, but the dinner sets were for the new house and were still nicely wrapped in their boxes. I hadn't even looked at them.

There's probably not a chance in hell the Police will ever find the culprits, but I have informed Myer that 2 new unopened dinner sets 'may' be brought back, and I'm on the lookout on ebay. Chances are they'll be sold at a market, a pub or off the back of a truck. I was furious, to say the least.

After having our inspection on Thursday, the final invoice and cover letter explaining what to do with the left over funds was faxed off to 'the bank' on Friday morning. On Monday, my Husband rang them to see if they had the fax. To which the person replied they did, and began to read it back over the phone. Fabulous! Confirmation that they have it and they can begin to process it....so we thought.

With a school cross country race on Friday 28th, a Ballet Concert on the Saturday and a family party/dinner for Hubby on the Sunday, I ended up having my Daughter home sick from school on the Monday through to Thursday. The poor thing was absolutely exhausted. It enabled me to do a fair bit of tidying and packing, which was a good thing! On Thursday I was finally able to get out of the house and hit the shops again! ;-)

Friday 4th there was a Fathers Day Breakfast and a circus performance at school in the morning, followed by our re-inspection of our house to check to see all the items had been attended to, and to our satisfaction. All but 3 items were fixed properly. The 4 on the list included:

* Touch up the render on the right pillar of the portico (the metal edging was still visible)
* The skirting on the curved wall in the 3rd bedroom was still a little wonky
* The spreader on the downpipe from the top storey to the garage roof HAD been fixed, but not to the inspectors liking, so it will be done again!

The 4th item on the list is one we should have picked up earlier, but it didn't occur to us until last week. All our network, speaker and HDMI cabling had been done by an external person pre plaster and at our own cost. When the electrical fit off took place, the sparkies fitted a cover plate to the HDMI cable in the alfresco, which is fine, but in doing so they cut the end of the $200 cable complete with the fitted plug on it, rendering it useless. It has been suggested that the sparkies might be able to solder on another plug, but Hubby seems to think it is not possible due to the nature of the cable. If they can't do that, then they will have to fork out of their own pocket another cable and *fingers crossed* use the existing damaged one to draw it through the wall cavity and through the other end in the family room. If they can't, well then I guess they'll have to rip out the plaster and replace the cable that way. We really are not happy that this has happened, as they perhaps should not have touched the HDMI cable in the first place as it wasn't part of their 'job'. But what's done is done, and hopefully it will be an easy fix, and thankfully we won't have to pay for it.

All in all, the re-inspection went really well, and we hoped we were all set for settlement on the 11th. Having had confirmation from 'the bank' that they had received the fax on Monday, all that was missing was the Certificate of Occupancy.

Around Midday that afternoon, I had a call from Henley to say the certificate had just been received and it was being forwarded on to me, and onto 'the bank'. Fantastic!! The keys are sure to be ours the following Friday!!.....maybe....

....I'd just come home at 4pm after picking up the kids in the pouring rain when I received a frantic call from Hubby to say 'the bank' has not received our final invoice. WHAT??? It was discussed over the phone on Monday, they had received it alright! Absolutely reeling at this stage, I had to drive out to Henley's Head Office with our copy of the fax (proving it had been received) and give it to our financial person who has dealt with all our loan documents throughout the process. She knows the strings to pull to get things done, as she has had to hurry them up with previous stage payments when 'the bank' failed to release the money in 14 days.

Again, I am absolutely furious at been given the run around. Basically, they have wasted 5 of the 10 days they claim it takes to conduct a property valuation and release the funds. They had better get a move on, because WE WILL settle this Friday, having picked up the cheque from 'the bank' on Thursday afternoon.

I would much rather be sipping Bolly on Friday knowing the 23 month ordeal is over, than ringing around all the things I have organised to happen the following week because the bank has completely stuffed up AGAIN....

Not Happy Jan.