We all like winning contests and
prizes, don’t we? I am sure everyone does; we are human after all. But what I
learnt after allegedly winning a certain
supposed contest in the past month makes me wish that I don’t ever win any in
the imminent future. For the sake of clarity at the onset I would like to
mention that writing is a passion for me. I write for it helps me make sense of
life and it also in a sense completes me. It would truly be an understatement
if I were to simply say that I love to write. Therefore winning a contest or a
phone or an iPad isn’t really the
driving force behind my posts or my blog. My prerogative is to write and the
rest is insignificant.
What comes to your mind when you
read about a contest in any blogging website? Of the top of my head would be
that it is genuine and that those sponsoring the competition are authentic too.
Of-course, another added point would be that the prizes for the same are
actually prizes and not something
that a winner would have to pay for. So that out of the way, we would expect
that the site hosting the contest would also be equally responsible up to the
point that the prizes reach the winners and participants. But it seems that it
is not always that simple and the waters are murkier than we’d ever be able to
guess!
I am sure I speak for the entire
fraternity of serious bloggers when I say that we do not like to be taken for a
ride. And we certainly don’t like to be cheated and misused whatever the
format! So my sole aim to write this post is to put across that very fact that
we are not people who would take nonsense lying down. We have a voice and that
like it or not, help certain websites earn their living! And if they thrive out
of us bloggers writing and actively
taking part in events, contests and reviews organised by them, then we deserve
to be respected!
What would you think of the
authenticity of a website that holds a contest and later shirks off all
responsibility when the sponsor comes up with new and ludicrous rules while supposedly dispatching prizes to
participants? Not too highly I am sure!
So this is what happened, I
unfortunately won an iPad in a
contest which was sponsored by a brand for men's safety razors and hosted by a website for bloggers. After a couple of days from the
announcement of results, I received an email from a company which was looking
after the dispatch of prizes from the sponsor’s end stating that I had to pay
up 7.5k as tax for the prize that I had won. When I enquired as to what the
taxes were about I was always given different replies. First I was told that it
was gift tax which was applicable as per GOI rules. After that I was told that
since it was a promotional campaign the rule is applicable for any product with
an MRP of Rs 20,000 & above. Further down the line I was told that I had to
pay 30% tax for anything above Rs 10000 worth including iPad. Ofcourse at times I was told it was gift tax and at times I
was asked not to confuse it with gift tax! If such a tax exists then there has
to be a link in the public domain. When I asked for a link to the tax rule
based on which they were levying the amount, they couldn’t provide me one. I
know what the Gift Tax says but it certainly doesn’t conform to what the
sponsors claimed. So that was the first time I felt something was wrong as they
kept wavering on figures and facts.
Ofcourse as the next logical step,
I approached the host website and on
the first two occasions they promised to find out what it was all about and
they even assured me that they wouldn’t let anybody dupe bloggers. It seemed
like the terms and conditions weren’t decided prior to the contest and the
sponsor was taking decisions without informing the site that hosted their
contest in the first place. I thought here is a website which is still taking
the onus to find out about the contest that they so proudly hosted. But that
was also proved a fallacy when they came back saying that I could go ahead and
do an independent inquiry. So that was not a matter that they would further
look into?
First of all it was a contest and
not a promotion and it wasn’t mentioned even in fine print (atleast at that
time) that prizes would be subject to taxes. Second there is something fishy
when the percentage and the amount taxable keep changing with every passing
day. Thirdly when a website hosts such contests, they need to be accountable throughout
and not put the onus on the third party. Also, this wasn’t the first time that
I had won something along the lines of an iPad
in a blogging contest. Infact, around the same time I had won a tab of
approximately the same amount in a contest hosted by another reputed website
and money was not extorted in the name of tax from me by them. So if there was
any such tax on contests then shouldn’t the same amount have been asked from me
by them too?
I don’t know what to make of it
except feel that I have been part of a big con! I would have even accepted that
happily if it was by someone like Neal Caffery but when from websites and
companies such as these it is certainly repulsive! It’s about principle. The
one hosting and the one sponsoring should not behave in a manner that they are
doing some sort of service to the bloggers out there. They need to be honest.
Why hold contests and make claims about giving away things which you have no
intention of giving? Bloggers would write and take part in contests even if
there are no prizes, atleast the serious ones would, and you would still be
able to make your living! So why stoop to such lows?
So I really wish I was spared from
this whole sham! But since I wasn't, here I am writing a post just to let
everyone out there know that such things do happen! As I write this with an iPad and a Samsung Tab next to me, I wish that I hadn’t ever won this
ludicrous imaginary prize!