MLIB Prize Money

[Gsimz]

Hey everyone,

We would just like to restate how great of a time we had at MLIB in Boston this past March. The committee was very caring and thoughtful to our needs and we as a team had a great experience.


With that said, our only problem has been that we as a team have not received the prize money that was promised, and this bothers me the most because it has been over two months since the competition has passed. We are also aware that the other winning teams haven’t received their money.


Many attempts have been made in trying to contact members of the committee through texts, phone calls, emails, and facebook messages, and we are always told “next week it’ll happen,” or “there are some issues with the school, but you’ll receive your money soon,” but this “soon” and “next week” haven’t happened.


We just wanted to voice our concern and hope that something will be resolved as soon as possible.


-Furteelay

 

[faizan]

Two months is not that long. Schools typically take a while to process checks.

 

[sumeetj]

If they have to get money approved and reimbursed to them by nu, then it could take a while. I'm sure armaans got youu

 

[smehta313]

Two months is not that long. Schools typically take a while to process checks.

The main issue for us is not how long it is taking, but instead the fact that we (Furteelay) are being told we will be receiving our money within a couple weeks for the last two months.

I'm sure armaans got youu

We're sure he does, but it would be nice to hear a response from him if that's the case.

 

[pushpit]

It's understandable if there is some issue and the organizers need some time, but it is completely different story if the committee keeps giving us false information.


MLIB was a great competition and we had a lot of fun, We would certainly like to see the competition continue in the future. In order to keep their credibility, it would be in the best interest of the MLIB committee to come forward with some sort of honest explanation about what is causing the delay and when the placing teams can expect their prize money.


I also want to point out that I spoke to Armaan Gupta several times in the weeks leading up the competition, I never had a problem reaching him, but since the competition I have personally tried to contact him numerous times and have not received a single text or call back. I have literally tried at least 20 times to reach him but I haven't heard anything at all from him. I hate to single anyone out but I think being the main organizer for a competition comes with certain responsibilities, both before and after the comp.



Hope to hear from the committee soon,
Virginia Tech Bhangra

 

[sartajjudge]

Interesting. I was under the impression that placing teams are given their placing prize money before leaving home the weekend of the competition.

 

[nmehta]

I also had tried to contact Armaan with no response at all, and after the competition even contacted our team liaison for some feedback on the prize money situation and the answers were always vague. The MLIB committee did an excellent job to put together a great competition. It's just unfortunate that contact after the competition has been completely cut off when the placing teams are just looking for sound explanations in order to be able to budget for the upcoming season using the money that is supposed to come from the competition. We have also had steady contact with Furteelay and UVA and the case has been the same for all teams including ours. Hopefully this gets squared away soon and we hear something from the committee!

 

[mrchicity]

Interesting. I was under the impression that placing teams are given their placing prize money before leaving home the weekend of the competition.

Hahaha nope, it always takes forever to get prize money. I'm pretty sure that we (uva) didn't get our prize money from bib 3 or blowout until late in the summer, and those are both very well organized comps.

 

[Basim]

I also want to point out that I spoke to Armaan Gupta several times in the weeks leading up the competition, I never had a problem reaching him, but since the competition I have personally tried to contact him numerous times and have not received a single text or call back. I have literally tried at least 20 times to reach him but I haven't heard anything at all from him. I hate to single anyone out but I think being the main organizer for a competition comes with certain responsibilities, both before and after the comp.

Based on personal experience dealing with Armaan Gupta (Folk Entertainment), he's not really a guy you can trust. No offense to those of you who are his friend; I'm sure he's a nice guy - just doesn't have the responsibility to back it up.


My story:


I was involved with establishing a new Bhangra team that was mainly going to perform at non-profit events & possibly some local gigs/competitions in the Fall of 2009. We wanted to get our mix put together and wanted it to sound good, so over the summer I was trying to reach out to a few quality mixers that I knew of who could help. It was toward the end of June, I contacted Armaan about seeing if he would help us out. He said it wouldn't be a problem and he would love to help a new team out. I told him that we could even pay him (that wasn't an issue), especially after we got our routine down and could start performing at a few gigs. Money wasn't an issue for him and reassured me of that several times. I also mentioned that the mix didn't need to be "super duper professional" because we aren't some big team who had plans to compete nationally.


In early July, I meet with my captain and put together a list of all songs we would be using (and timings for the segments). We left the transition work to be done by the mixer (Armaan). I sent mp3's of all the songs we were going to use and our timings. When we last spoke Armaan said, not to worry about the mix - we, as a team, could focus on other things such figuring out choreography/formations/etc.. I told him that he could take his time, because our team wasn't going to be ready to get back together until the end of August/early Sept.


So then August came around and I asked Armaan toward the middle of August how the progress was going on the mix. He responded a few days later by saying "the mix is almost done" and that he just needed clarification on a few things. I meet up with my captain and went over some of those details and responded to his e-mail promptly.


Then towards the end of August I e-mailed him asking when he expects our mix to be ready because we'll be starting the Fall semester soon and want to get on teaching people with the mix right away. Armaan responded that he apologies for the delay and that the mix should be "in my hand" by the end of that weekend. At this point, I felt relieved thinking we had everything set perfectly for the semester. Considering one of my duties was to get the mix done over the summer (before the team got back together), I followed up with Armaan to see where our mix was at after I didn't hear from him that weekend. I continued to try to reach Armaan for the entire month of August - via e-mail, AIM, called his cell & left voicemails, and sent him messages on BTF. He wouldn't respond back.


Finally I decided to reach out to his partner at Folk Entertainment, Karan Shah, who apologized on behalf of Armaan (and Folk Entertainment). He started to work on our mix, but since the mix wasn't complete by the end of August, my captain reached out to Iqwak Bhurji (from Klasikhz) who finished our mix in less than a month. To this date, I have yet to hear back from Armaan apologizing for what happened or anything the situation.


TL;DR: Armaan Gupta (from Folk Entertainment) is not a guy I would trust with anything of high importance. I know he checks BTF often ( http://bhangrateamsforum.com/discuss/profile/?u=1144 ), so I hope he responds to this thread. Wish VT Bhangra the best of luck with their prize money situation!


~ Basim


P.S. - Sorry I didn't bother to proofread any of this. lol.

 

[smehta313]

Based on personal experience dealing with Armaan Gupta (Folk Entertainment), he's not really a guy you can trust. No offense to those of you who are his friend; I'm sure he's a nice guy - just doesn't have the responsibility to back it up.

TL;DR: Armaan Gupta (from Folk Entertainment) is not a guy I would trust with anything of high importance. I know he checks BTF often ( http://bhangrateamsforum.com/discuss/profile/?u=1144 ), so I hope he responds to this thread. Wish VT Bhangra the best of luck with their prize money situation!


~ Basim

Says he was active quite recently, it would be nice to receive a response from the committee organizer himself.
Sounds like a new version of Anil Prasad.

 

[sdadoo15]

Sounds like a new version of Anil Prasad.

i wouldn't say its that bad haha

 

[akaashyadav]

To all the teams that competed and placed at MLIB 2012:

We truly apologize for the delay of the prize money. We, as a committee, have been trying to extract the money we promised you from the school but the process has been more difficult that originally thought. The reason we have been saying that you would receive the money within a certain window of time is because that is what we are told and we're simply relaying the message. We've all been hounding the school for the money to be processed so it can go out to all you. Northeastern University continues to delay giving us the money to give to you, so we try to let you all know whenever there is a development. We continue to give you the time frames given to us because we'd rather keep in you in the loop because not doing so would create a disconnect and would raise even more questions. This is a high priority for us so please bear with us, we're just as frustrated as you all...believe me.
As for the irrelevant personal attacks on Armaan, this was a committee effort and I am speaking for the committee as a whole. The purpose of this thread was to address the concern of prize money, let's try to keep it focused on that.

-MLIB Committee

 

[pushpit]

Thanks a lot akaashyadav and MLIB Committee for your response. This is exactly what the teams needed, some clear communication. Like I said, the problem really is not the fact that we haven't received the prize money yet, more so the lack of communication. It is completely understandable for these kind of things to take time. However, I would like to ask for someone from the committee to contact a captain from each of the teams for continued communication. I know none of the captains of the placing teams wanted to create a public thread, we contemplated it for some time and delayed it as much as we could, if communication was kept constant, I can guarantee that this thread would not exist right now. The point I want to make is, in the future, questions or problems that arise can easily be solved by a phone call/email. We would not create a public thread if we didn't need to. Please make sure you contact the captains of each team so the issues can be resolved in a private manner in the future. If we don't hear from anyone, and we have a question in the near future and no one seems to be responding, collectively bringing the issue to a public light may be our only resolution.


Also just want to add, the purpose of this thread was to address the concern of the prize money AND the lack of communication, of which, the main organizer, Armaan, certainly shares at least a portion of the responsibility.

Sounds like a new version of Anil Prasad.

i wouldn't say its that bad haha

I tried very hard not to bring that name up haha, but certainly not that bad.

 

[VirD]

LOL suckers

 

[Shawn13]

LOL suckers

LOL, true. Just wait it out bro !

 

[smehta313]

LOL suckers

LOL, true. Just wait it out bro !

good call.
bump.

 

[Jacquizz Rogers]

Hey everyone,

We would just like to restate how great of a time we had at MLIB in Boston this past March. The committee was very caring and thoughtful to our needs and we as a team had a great experience.


With that said, our only problem has been that we as a team have not received the prize money that was promised, and this bothers me the most because it has been over two months since the competition has passed. We are also aware that the other winning teams haven’t received their money.


Many attempts have been made in trying to contact members of the committee through texts, phone calls, emails, and facebook messages, and we are always told “next week it’ll happen,” or “there are some issues with the school, but you’ll receive your money soon,” but this “soon” and “next week” haven’t happened.


We just wanted to voice our concern and hope that something will be resolved as soon as possible.


-Furteelay

you guys get your money yet?

 

[Pswaich]

Hey everyone,

We would just like to restate how great of a time we had at MLIB in Boston this past March. The committee was very caring and thoughtful to our needs and we as a team had a great experience.


With that said, our only problem has been that we as a team have not received the prize money that was promised, and this bothers me the most because it has been over two months since the competition has passed. We are also aware that the other winning teams haven’t received their money.


Many attempts have been made in trying to contact members of the committee through texts, phone calls, emails, and facebook messages, and we are always told “next week it’ll happen,” or “there are some issues with the school, but you’ll receive your money soon,” but this “soon” and “next week” haven’t happened.


We just wanted to voice our concern and hope that something will be resolved as soon as possible.


-Furteelay

you guys get your money yet?

Nope

 

[Ashveer]

Its highly unlikely that a university reimbursement process would be delayed into a new academic year. Not impossible, but given that this semester/quarter is wrapping up...

 

[Aditya]

This is getting a little ridiculous, we've made multiple attempts to contact Armaan and other members of the MLIB committee and haven't gotten anything in response. It's been nearly 8 months since this competition and nearly 6 months since we heard anything from anyone on the committee. I think Furteelay, VT and UVA deserve explanations as to why over $2000 in prize money haven't been paid out yet.