LoveIOM Gift Card

[Two-lane]

16 hours ago, Two-lane said:

So the shop will give me £62.50 of goods for a cost to me of £40.

Well, not quite, because for the £12.50 they will credit the card with £3.13, and for the expenditure of £3.13 they will credit £0.78 etc.

So it is actually about £66.50 for a cost of £40. No doubt I am wrong. I usually am.

[Roger Mexico]

14 minutes ago, Non-Believer said:

16 hours ago, Two-lane said:

So the shop will give me £62.50 of goods for a cost to me of £40.

Has anybody told the shops this....? 😂

Presumably yes because it's at a cost to the card buyer of £40 and a cost to the taxpayer of £22.50.  And takings for the shop of £62.50.  So they'll be happy

[Two-lane]

8 minutes ago, Roger Mexico said:

and a cost to the taxpayer of £22.50.

You are perhaps not taking into account that "every pound spent with a local business equates to £1.83 for the local economy,"

[2112]

On the NPM today the announcement that the LoveIOM gift cards are being scrapped. Another IOMG screwup costing the taxpayers and not exactly helping the hospitality industry. 

[english zloty]

https://www.manxradio.com/news/isle-of-man-news/divisive-loveiom-gift-cards-being-scrapped/

Good news not to keep going, but wtaf about it being touted as a success. They are deluded.

 

[newaccount]

Old news.

 

If hospitality want the public to get discounts they'd do offers directly to customers 

Edited July 27, 2023 by newaccount

[Twitch]

1 hour ago, english zloty said:

https://www.manxradio.com/news/isle-of-man-news/divisive-loveiom-gift-cards-being-scrapped/

Good news not to keep going, but wtaf about it being touted as a success. They are deluded.

 

I'll be interested to see how Gef report this.

[Roger Mexico]

In some ways the LoveIOM card was the perfect DfE scheme and an accurate symbol of the Quayle/Cannan years:  

• There were large and unexplained set-up costs to produce what was a pretty standard product.  What was spent on the initiative, includes front-loaded costs of £200,000 to build the platform itself (from a Tynwald answer quoted earlier in the thread)
• It was set up without any consultation with the hospitality businesses who were supposed to benefit from it and they pointed out the flaws in the scheme.  It then had to be paused because few signed up to it, but they then decided to go ahead anyway because the IOMG never admits it was wrong.
• It was mainly used and marketed to finance companies to subsidise the Christmas presents to their staff, so effectively giving money to well-off 
• It was supposed to be a Covid recovery scheme, but by the time it was up and running, the need for such had passed.  Most of the customer spending on the scheme seems to have happened in the last year.
• The scheme is closing July 2024, but is not clear what happens to any unspent balances on the cards at that stage.  The money seems to go into a mysterious private company, IOM Gift Card Limited and it's not clear who will get what remains.

I know I keep saying it, but this government and its predecessor seem to have little idea except (a) give money to your mates and (b) hope something good happens.  Which it may for the mates, but not for the rest of us.

[Roger Mexico]

3 hours ago, Twitch said:

I'll be interested to see how Gef report this.

Of course Kate Hegarty sold Gef and all who sail in it to Tindle[1] around the end of May 2022 and she was supposed to have joined them as 'Development Director' then, though that doesn't seem to have lasted long and she's now Head of Marketing, International Business at Manx Telecom.

 

[1]  I going to say IOM Newspapers, but they seem to have rebranded themselves since as Media Isle of Man last November.

[Twitch]

1 hour ago, Roger Mexico said:

Of course Kate Hegarty sold Gef and all who sail in it to Tindle[1] around the end of May 2022 and she was supposed to have joined them as 'Development Director' then, though that doesn't seem to have lasted long and she's now Head of Marketing, International Business at Manx Telecom.

 

[1]  I going to say IOM Newspapers, but they seem to have rebranded themselves since as Media Isle of Man last November.

Gef not reporting anything...perhaps their team of crack team of journalists are all on holiday..

[newaccount]

Found one of these cards. Tried to check the balance. Following instructions on website to scan the QR code and it doesn't display the card on the manage card page.

[toonjamie]

50 minutes ago, newaccount said:

Found one of these cards. Tried to check the balance. Following instructions on website to scan the QR code and it doesn't display the card on the manage card page.

I've had one 'pinned' on my noticeboard for months, just done 'manage card' as above, certain there's some credit on it. Not recognised.

[Annoymouse]

Just checked mine after reading the above and it’s still showing the remaining balance as it should be.

[2112]

On 8/23/2023 at 6:09 PM, newaccount said:

Found one of these cards. Tried to check the balance. Following instructions on website to scan the QR code and it doesn't display the card on the manage card page.

Sadly sounds like something not fit for purpose, not thought out - great in principle, but poor executed. World Leading IOM technology, sponsored by the GMT. 

[Gladys]

On 8/23/2023 at 6:09 PM, newaccount said:

Found one of these cards. Tried to check the balance. Following instructions on website to scan the QR code and it doesn't display the card on the manage card page.

By 'found' was it yours in the first place?  Not accusing you of anything, but if it has been lost, the balance may have been wiped and put on another card.