Enchom's blog

Why is Codechef like this?
By Enchom, history, 6 years ago, In English

Three months ago I got second place in the March Long Challenge on CodeChef. It took quite a lot of my time and falling behind on some uni work to do that, but I thought that if I manage to grab a top2 prize, it'd definitely be worth it. The second place prize for long challenges is $300, so I was quite happy with my achievement.

From there on, trying to actually get the prize has been extremely annoying and so far unsuccessful.

I waited for about 20 days with no news from them at which point I sent an email, but got no response for a week. I asked on here in a blog on what I should do. The only comment advised me to contact them on Facebook and so I did. They said that they will check it out and within a day, on April 4th, I got an email telling me that I've won and asked me for my Paypal info, which I immediately sent .

Of course, no response or prize for another 20 days. I sent a follow-up email on the 23rd of April to ask about it, and received an email on the 25th, assuring me that they're having some technical problems and the prize should be there by a week.

As you can already guess — no sight of the prize in a week. I send a follow-up email on 11th of May — no response whatsoever. Another one on 21st of May — no response as well.

Finally last Thursday (31st of May) I sent them a message on Facebook, as that had worked last time. Alas, no response or prize as of the time I'm writing this.

So I just want to ask if that's just a common practice? It seems ridiculous to me. Nobody forces them to announce cash prizes if they do not intend to give them, and any "technical problems" reasons are just crap. A company cannot successfully send $300 through Paypal for 3 months already? Seriously, they've been having those long challenge rounds for years now, one would really expect the process of sending prizes to be played out enough times not to mess it up.

If it's a common practice for them to act like this, making me feel as if I'm trying to get money from a scammer, they should really be shamed about it.

Finally, I'd love to say that I'm pissed off because of principles and the money does not matter, but that's a lie. I'm a student with high enough tuition and the main reason I spent so much time doing the long challenge round is the cash prize.

UPDATE : I received my prize within a day of this post. This leads me to believe that the main problem is perhaps communication. I am thankful for the quick reaction of the admin and apologise if the post was too harsh.

  • Vote: I like it
  • +346
  • Vote: I do not like it

Comments Comments (24)
| Write comment?
»
6 years ago, # |
← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +36 Vote: I do not like it

I think you get help from PraveenDhinwa. He is an admin at codechef. I am sure he will help you out.

Congratulations, you did very well. :)

→ Reply
»
6 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +51 Vote: I do not like it

hackerrank also uses a similar strategy of delaying prizes, it takes them 3 months just to send a shirt

→ Reply
»
6 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +74 Vote: I do not like it

We are indeed ashamed about this.

We try and send this within a month's time. Being a small team and having a bunch of events during the summer vacation coupled with some issues with our internal accounts team (which were termed as "technical problems"), this happened. Still, this is not an excuse. We will try and ensure that this time is reduced from now on.

And, also that you get your prize at the soonest. Sincerely apologise for all that you had to go through.

→ Reply
  • »
    »
    6 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +64 Vote: I do not like it

    That doesn't justify ignoring his emails and messages though.. just saying.

    → Reply
    • »
      »
      »
      6 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it +1 Vote: I do not like it

      Absolutely! No disagreement there.

      We have not been able to reply to a lot of emails. A few things have broken. We will try and fix that at the soonest.

      → Reply
      • »
        »
        »
        »
        6 years ago, # ^ |
          Vote: I like it +112 Vote: I do not like it

        A few things are always broken in CodeChef.

        → Reply
»
6 years ago, # |
← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +57 Vote: I do not like it

Enchom, I can make contact the admin of CodeChef too, if you need.

Sadly I feel it is a common practice not only of CodeChef. So I represent as not "get a prize" but "acquire a right to get a prize" and decide to wait patiently.

From my experience, most prizes are delivered in 1 year from the contest. Facebook Hacker Cup 2016's prize money is an exception(> 2 years and ongoing).

→ Reply
  • »
    »
    6 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +41 Vote: I do not like it

    Hi uwi, I had personally contacted Enchom via message after seeing his post. Thanks a lot for your coming forward to help Enchom.

    P.S. In general, the average time for distributing cash prizes is at max 21 days (15 days in general). If one doesn't receive the prize within 3 weeks at max, please email at [email protected]. Also, the maximum time in distributing any prizes is 1 months, if you don't receive within a month, please feel free to reach us.

    → Reply
  • »
    »
    6 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +2 Vote: I do not like it

    btw, Facebook did pay for Hackercup 2016 (at least I got the prize few months ago)

    → Reply
    • »
      »
      »
      6 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it +1 Vote: I do not like it

      Yes. I'm in terms now. The cash is not paid yet after sending bank account information.

      → Reply
»
6 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it -68 Vote: I do not like it

Cash prizes in programming contests are never worth the effort and time spent on preparation/actual coding. This is definitely a very bad motivation for programming contests.

The only exception I can think of, were Hackerrank codesprints. During 2015 and 2016 there were quite a lot of those contests and they were paying cash prizes in bitcoin. If you just didn't touch that money (which kind of supports argument from above) and let it sit in your wallet, you could have collected a real fortune in the end of 2017.

→ Reply
  • »
    »
    6 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +5 Vote: I do not like it

    And then if you are autistic like me, you get scammed for 1/2 of them :')

    → Reply
»
6 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +14 Vote: I do not like it

We haven't received the prize from IOPC 2015 (a contest on CodeChef link, their comment) and no Codechef admins replied to our email

→ Reply
  • »
    »
    6 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +1 Vote: I do not like it

    @jcvb: It was an external contest. We don't make the payments of prizes of the external contest. It's done by the organizers' side, in this case, the university IIT Kanpur. However, we take the complaints regarding the nonpayment of the prize money seriously, and will block organizers from hosting contests if they deliberately avoid paying the prizes announced.

    → Reply
»
6 years ago, # |
← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +11 Vote: I do not like it

Still waiting for my T-Shirt from Codechef February Long Challenge 2016.

→ Reply
»
6 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +12 Vote: I do not like it

Still waiting for my T-shirt from November Cook-off 2013. Back in these days everyone in Top 10 got a T-shirt.

anup.kalbalia, any chance to get a T-shirt after 4.5 years?

→ Reply
»
6 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +29 Vote: I do not like it

We have sent you the prize money on 6th of June. Also, sent you an email on the same day. Not sure if the email has reached you. Can you please confirm to us, if you have received it?

→ Reply
  • »
    »
    6 years ago, # ^ |
    ← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +22 Vote: I do not like it

    I did receive the money and the email on 6th of June and I put the update on the bottom of the post. Everything is alright now. Thank you for the quick reaction.

    → Reply
    • »
      »
      »
      6 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it +22 Vote: I do not like it

      Thanks for the update as well as this post. Helps us to be on or toes. We hope this delay is not repeated again.

      → Reply