Life took a terrifying turn for Samantha Durnford and her family last December, thanks to a gang of masked thieves.
The family was fast asleep inside their home in Queensland’s south-east when they woke to the sound of a glass door smashing downstairs at 1.30am.
Samantha Durnford told A Current Affair the break-in left her “terrified”. A Current Affair
Their house has every deterrent possible – security cameras, alarms and deadlocked doors – but that wasn’t enough.
The thieves smashed their way in through a glass door at the rear using a rock and metal pole.
Durnford said the situation happened “pretty quickly”.
“Hubby got up and ran towards the top of the stairs, saw two or three intruders inside the downstairs part of the house,” she said.
Her husband, Cameron, yelled out and thought he had scared them off.
He then heard the garage door opening and went down to investigate.
“[He] was confronted then by six intruders, balaclavas, gloves, fully covered,” Durnford said.
She said the home invasion made her feel “terrified”.
“I still have trouble sleeping,” she said.
The gang stole two vehicles from the Rochedale South home, smashing their way through a security gate to escape, despite a valiant attempt from their neighbour to intervene.
“He came to Cameron’s rescue in his undies with his shovel to try and stop them,” she said.
Three people smashed through a glass door at the Durnford family’s home. A Current Affair
“They hit him with a vehicle out the front, so he went over their bonnet before he entered our premises.
“It’s been one of the worst experiences of my life and I wish this upon nobody.”
The damage bill was large.
The rock used to break in smashed glass everywhere, cracked the stone benchtops and damaged the wooden floors.
Durnford’s home insurer stepped in to sort out the complicated claim fast, but six months later she is still waiting for her car to be repaired.
“The car insurance has been an absolute nightmare,” she said.
“It all sounded promising, you know.
The gang allegedly stole two vehicles, despite an attempt from their neighbour to intervene. A Current Affair
“On the quote, you see repairs, 15 working days.
“I’m thinking I’ll give it Christmas, things close down, maybe get the car back at the end of January, and that just didn’t happen.”
The ads for Oceania Insurance promises “easy, breezy cover” but Durnford claims it has been very far from that, spending endless hours on the phone and watching the 15-day estimated wait time blow out by months.
“It just kept getting extended, extended, extended to the point now where I don’t even know when I’m getting my car back,” she said.
“I’m not sure what is actually wrong with my car, because no one’s willing to openly communicate.”
The last known location of her BMW X4 is a repair shop at Tweed Heads in the NSW Northern Rivers region.
She had been getting alerts on its location from her BMW app.
Durnford spent endless hours on the phone with her insurance company. A Current Affair
The app also notified her about the chassis malfunctioning while the thieves drove it at high speeds after the theft.
Durnford believes the initial assessment underestimated the full extent of internal damage that was caused.
“The vehicle should have been written off,” she said.
“If a car’s taken six months to repair, it should be a write-off.
“BMW could have built me a whole new vehicle in that time.”
According to Durnford, Oceania Insurance was quick to collect its $900 excess fee from her.
She has even had to pay a new higher premium to keep the car insured for the past six months.
Durnford watching CCTV footage on her phone after the break-in. A Current Affair
“The car’s in their care, and I’m paying for them to babysit my car,” she said.
An Oceania Insurance spokesperson said the company was “sorry for the unforeseen delays” and expressed its “deepest sympathies”, blaming the delay on a part that needed to be ordered from Germany.
“This delay is regrettable, but we are committed to completing repairs to the highest standard and to returning the car to the customer in a safe state,” the spokesperson said.
Durnford thinks the situation is “unfair”.
“I’m not a negligent person, my vehicle was secured within my premises in a locked garage with an alarm,” she said.
“The car was stolen, I didn’t crash it myself.
“You think they’d have a little bit more empathy for someone who’s been through what we’ve been through.”
Durnford thinks the situation is “unfair”. A Current Affair
Oceania Insurance has now offered to refund Durnford’s premium and pay her registration while the car’s been awaiting repairs.
Full statement from Oceania Insurance
We are sorry for the unforeseen delays with Ms Durnford’s claim and express our deepest sympathies for the traumatic home invasion she and her family experienced.
In relatively rare cases, repair timeframes can be impacted due to the supply of specific parts in Australia, as was the case for her BMW.
The repair was initially completed in May but a final quality check found a small part required replacement to ensure the car could be returned to the customer in a safe state.
The part was not available in Australia so it was subsequently ordered from Germany and re-fitting booked, adding more time to the claim.
This delay is regrettable but we are committed to completing repairs to the highest standard and to return the car to the customer in a safe state.
Our team has been in regular contact with Ms Durnford throughout the claim and we have reimbursed her excess, registration and premiums during the repair, and offered a hire car.
We are focused on completing all repairs as quickly as possible and to the highest standards with completion set for the end of this month.
Based in New York, Stephen Freeman is a Senior Editor at Trending Insurance News. Previously he has worked for Forbes and The Huffington Post. Steven is a graduate of Risk Management at the University of New York.