“Just heartbreaking”: Woman’s dream win turned nightmare
Amelia Conway has opened up about her heartbreak after her dream car was snatched away from her in the middle of the night.
The 22-year-old from Victoria received the $100,000 4WD when she was named the winner of a Hello Lifestyle Australia online charity raffle.
Amelia had purchased $120 worth of tickets in the draw, and was delighted when she was announced as the proud new owner of the modified Widebody Y62 Nissan Patrol. Supposedly, all associated on-road costs were also included in her prize.
Amelia lives in Colac, Victoria, and had to be flown to Queensland by Hello Lifestyle Australia to claim her vehicle. Flights weren’t in order for the return trip, with the excited pair driving Amelia’s new car all the way back home to Victoria.
However, Amelia’s good time was destined to come to an abrupt end.
Upon trying to transfer the car into her name, and to register it in her home state as necessary, she discovered that the vehicle was still under finance.
It had been one of Amelia’s friends who suggested that she look into the “too good to be true” win, and do a Personal Property Securities Register check.
“I thought maybe they had paid it out,” Amelia said of learning the vehicle had money owing, “and it's taken a little while to clear, but that wasn't the case.”
February 1 marked the beginning of Amelia’s nightmare, with someone showing up at her home to repossess the car.
“Randomly, without me knowing anything, at 8pm last night a guy showed up to repossess the car,” Amelia said of the incident in a Facebook post.
In the time to follow, Amelia attempted to get in touch with Hello Lifestyle Australia to find out more about what was going on with the vehicle’s transfer, and to get clarification on the payment of all on-road costs. But those attempts were met with silence for the unfortunate 22 year old.
Victoria Police also confirmed that they are investigating Amelia’s case, but faced a difficult time ahead, with Hello Lifestyle Australia’s website and social media accounts having been shut down.
“The patrol is gone and I am trying to gather information through other people that have won anything through Hello Lifestyle Australia to take it a lot further,” she said of her ordeal, adding, “it’s not fair on myself or anyone else that has won anything through this company. It’s just heartbreaking.”
However, in a delightful twist to Amelia’s tale, Car Hub Australia took it upon themselves to get involved and to “right others’ wrong”. After searching the country high and low for a new Nissan Patrol - a vehicle in high demand with waiting lists measuring in months - before finally locating one on the New South Wales south coast.
The team then made their way from Western Australia to Wollongong, before driving the car all the way to Amelia at home in Victoria. And all the company had to say of their good deed was that they “know there’s a lot of companies out there that don’t do the right thing.
“We hold ourselves to a higher standard.”
Despite the eventual happy ending to Amelia’s woes, it appears that she was not the first victim of Hello Lifestyle Australia’s “raffles”.
Aaron Edmundson, a father from Perth, claims that he had to spend over $7,000 on a car that he also “won” from them. While the company apparently claimed that they would cover all related costs, this wasn’t the case, with Aaron eventually selling the car.
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