IWUPC prizes

[Bubbs 0]

Im writing in the forums to ask of anyone else who placed in the IWUPC contest has received their prizes yet?

My dive guide has already gotten his prize months ago, and I have been in contact with the organizers to arrange getting the prize but each time I email them they say they will look into it and I never hear back from them until weeks later after I send another email. Then the process repeats again.

[Scuba_SI 39]

I still have 2 unpaid guides and one unpaid guest. 1st place DSLR.

Evidently they are having 'trouble' sending to North America - and refuse to send to another account suggested by the participants.

[Chris Kroll 0]

Hi Bubbs,
I created a Facebook chat conversation between all of the winners and placeholders that I could find on Facebook back in February. Unfortunately I could not find everybody.
It seemed apparent at this time that the IWUPC organizers were not responding to any of our emails and it looked like none of us were going to get paid.

There are 17 of us in there, still quite a few unpaid and over 500 messages back and forth with alot of information to read if you want to know what has been going on.

Those of us who have been paid have been taxed very highly - up to 45%.

Send me a PM with your Facebook account details and I will add you to the conversation

[Scuba_SI 39]

Also, they have cut taxes and are not forthcoming with proof that we all need to avoid being double taxed.

[dangerzone 1]

Yes, this has gone on for way too long. It would seem that I need to open a new account for them to send my prize money, since they can't seem to get it to either of the US accounts that I have now. Add that to the fact that they don't answer emails for months at a time, and when they do it's from some anonymous gmail or hotmail account, so it all seems a bit shady. And they're hammering foreigners for 40-45% tax. I asked them to transfer my $12,000 prize to Simon's Indonesian bank and they refused. I'm assuming that they're refusing because they could only tax it 15%, as they did with Simon's prize. So it's now mid-April, and I've still not been paid.....

 

Chris

[Bubbs 0]

Wow... what a shame. I didn't know it was this bad. I talked to my guide and apparently he got taxed quite a bit as well. I'll visit the Facebook page and check it out. Is there anything that can be done?

[Chris Kroll 0]

It's a private Facebook chat conversation, just added you to it then.

[JimSwims 31]

Shame that a comp designed to promote diving in a region sours the deal like this.

 

From their Rules and Regulations- "12. Winners will be announced and prizes awarded by the third week of December 2013."

http://www.indonesiaunderwatercontest.com/general_rules_and_regulations

 

Surely they have no legal basis for refusing to pay in full to the account that you designate?!

 

Good luck to everybody still awaiting payment. Hope they settle their debts very soon.

 

Cheers,

Jim.

[Bubbs 0]

Still nothing.

My last contact with any of the "organizers" was on April 8th.
Still lots of others haven't been paid yet either.

Does anyone know anything about hiring a lawyer to deal with this situation? Or are there any other ways around this? I am completely lost when it comes to these type of things...

[dangerzone 1]

So yes, it has been 7 months since the winners were announced and I have yet to be paid for 1st place in DSLR Macro ($12,000 USD.) They could not seem to figure out sending a wire transfer to any of the three banks that I use in the US. I provided the easy alternative to send the money to the resort owner's account, and provided a power of attorney that they requested, and still nothing. On top of that, my dive guide has not been paid either. Following every communication with them by email it would take 3-4 weeks to get a response, and now they just don't respond at all. And it's all being handled by random people with hotmail and gmail addresses, so there's no telling who you're actually speaking with.

 

In addition to that, all of the foreign winners were taxed at a rate of 43% of their total prize, so you know what's going on there.

 

If anyone involved with the competition has a way of contacting these people, it would be greatly appreciated. If they won't respond to me, maybe they will respond to someone else.

 

Thanks,

Chris Jansen

[adamhanlon 0]

Hi all,

 

I am looking at writing an article about the situation regarding prizes from the IWUPC.

 

If you wish to be involved, please send me details of your experiences via email to adam.hanlon@wetpixel.com. In the interests of balance, these can be good or bad experiences!

 

You can be anonymous if required....

 

Many thanks

 

Adam

[JimSwims 31]

Good to see you are looking in to doing an article about the issue of unpaid prizes from IWUPC 2013 Adam. Especially if the organisers intend to run it again.

 

Be interesting to perhaps have some comments from The Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy in whose name the event was attributed to. I also wonder

to if that government department is accountable to a higher government level or if the Indonesian Anti-Corruption Commision(KPK) might be interested in having

a look at the situation? Was the event actually sanctioned and operated by the Ministry or was it simply private individuals (as the "it's all being handled by random

people with hotmail and gmail addresses" suggests).

 

Cheers,

Jim.

[Scuba_SI 39]

One of our Guides is still yet to be paid. About $1600USD. Not really good enough to be waiting this long.

[Scuba_SI 39]

Still no news or replies. Seems this has been swept under the carpet.

[Scuba_SI 39]

Evidently, after much Investigation since seeing one of the organisers at the diveshow in Germany, Paulus was paid back in August 2014 - So please disregard my posts after August 2014. I believe that means all guides are now paid. Hopefully the next iteration of this event will have a more fluid payment system.