Demolition time...

So it begins. The demolition guys used this weeks to start removing the asbestos boards from the house. It is mainly around the eaves and the verandah. Before the demolition was able to begin, power had to be abolished from the property. I can tell you, there was a big drama dealing with the people who organised this. So here in Queensland, the power network is owned by Energex. They are the actual party that do the work, but since they don't deal with the public, the home owners have to deal with a power retailer. So since our power account has been with Origin Energy, we decided to deal with them for this work. The proper process is to open an account with a retailers, the retailer initiates the work order on Energex to abolish the power. Once I was told this I began the process. I opened an account, from here I had to give them my meter number and property address. From here they told me it would take upto 20 working days to complete the work. The lady on the phone said she will email a form that I would have to fill and submit. The email came through with an attachment that did not work. So I looked to see if I could find the same form online and submit it myself. I replied to the email filled in with all the details required. The next day a lady called me up to confirm that the work needed to be performed, she took down my details and the same information I had submitted via email the day before. This is where I thought the works were in the pipeline and didn't think nothing of it.

After several weeks, the wife decided to call Origin up to see how the application was coming along. After being on hold for more than an hour, she was told that the application had not been lodged. I gave them the name of the consultant I dealt with in the initial consultation. Then explained I received a follow up call, confirming the details. Typical... they said they had no record of the application. Lucky for me the email trail assisted in getting down the problem. If ever there were an incompetent bunch of people, then the people working at Origin would have to fit the description. After hours of waiting on hold and followup calls, tempers were flaring. We finally got a hold of their manager and started to give names. After all the discussion we had our application escalated and was told it would take upto 5 business days. Finally... we were on the right track. If I were to give any advice, don't deal with Origin energy. This retailer has been a nightmare from the start and unfortunately it hasn't been the first time poor service has been given, always leave a paper trail, so in the end you have someone to blame.

So next week they will bring in the excavators to knock down the house and rip up the foundations. Once this is done, it might give us a better indication of the slope we are dealing with. Tomorrow, we sit down with a consultant and talk about colours and other selections for the house build.