Purchase agreement closing date

What takes precedence for closing date--the purchase agreement or the escrow instructions?

I am a seller in CA. The escrow instructions were written up with the incorrect closing date of 2/15/02. This date should have bee 2/27 which is 90 days (per purchase agreement) after open of escrow on 11/29/01 which was the date buyer signed acceptance (initial offer was on 11/22). 90 days prior to the incorrect close date would have been 11/17 before the house was even listed for sale on 11/20.

On Jan. 17, I hand-delivered escrow my signed version of the escrow instructions with the correct closing date hand written in, but I never followed up on whether or not escrow officer incorporated my intended changes or informed the buyers of the correct date. Escrow instructions include the statements "CLOSE OF ESCROW WILL BE ON OR BEFORE: Feb 15, 2002" (this is where I wrote in the correct date before signing); CONTINGENCY DATES: For the purposes of this escrow, the acceptance date of the 'Purchase Agreement' dated Nov 22, 2001 is Nov 29, 2001";"These instructions are not intended to supersed the Real Estate Contract, unless specifically stated"; and "Your duties as Escrow Holder are as set forth in Paragraph 28 of the Agreement" which states "To the extent the general provisions are inconsistent or conflict with this Agreement, the general provisions will control as to the duties and obligations of Escrow Holder only."

The buyer is threatening legal action if we do not close on the erroneous early date. They do not dispute that they agreed to a 90 day escrow. It seems that we should not be obligated to close early since they agreed to 90 days from Nov. 29. What would you suggest?

[HomeGuru]

The purchase agreement is the correct document to follow. Escrow should already know this. The escrow agreement is not a contract between the selling and buying parties.