Thats not true. If you beat someone in the arena you get the rewards no matter what vip level they are. If you are under vip3 level you have to manually claim them, if you are over vip3 level your computer has to be signed into game to receive rewards. Gems are the only item you only get half of no matter the vip level.
It does not sound like the original poster is talking about taking gems but collecting his own gem rewards though.