2008 Woodie Awards
URI says telemarketing calls not likely to end
Robert Preliasco
Issue date: 11/1/07 Section: News
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11/01/07 - Some students moving into the new dormitories at the University of Rhode Island have found that, just like at their parents' homes, they receive telemarketing phone calls. And just like in any other American household, university officials said there seems to be little they can do to prevent the calls.
Each room in Wiley, Eddy and Garrahy halls include a telephone, whereas students in the other buildings have access to a phone jack, but have to provide their own phone.
The phones in the new buildings have numbers beginning with "268," and the older dorms have the prefix "874," which spells "URI."
It is the students in the three new "268" dormitories who receive the majority of telemarketing calls, compared to their peers in other buildings.
One student, Kyle Siner of Wiley Hall, said he has received a few telemarketing calls. He said that one call on behalf of The Providence Journal woke him up in the morning after a night spent staying up late to work on homework.
"I was pretty angry," the junior said. "Even if they had called me at four in the afternoon I still wouldn't have bought their damn paper."
Empereon Marketing, based in Phoenix, Ariz., provides telemarketing services for The Providence Journal.
Empereon's CEO, Travis Bowley, declined to comment beyond saying that his firm provides a livelihood for more than 600 employees. He did not say how Empereon finds the phone numbers of URI students or anyone else, because it is a business secret that he does not want Empereon's competitors to learn.
David Porter, URI's director of networking and telecommunications, said residents in the new building might receive more unwanted calls because they are more likely to have a landline telephone. He said that rooms in the older dormitories have a phone jack but no telephone, which leads many students to stick with their cell phones rather than buy a landline telephone.
Porter said that only 5 percent of students set up their voicemail accounts in the buildings that do not provide phones, which probably means that many students in those buildings do not have landline phones at all.
Each room in Wiley, Eddy and Garrahy halls include a telephone, whereas students in the other buildings have access to a phone jack, but have to provide their own phone.
The phones in the new buildings have numbers beginning with "268," and the older dorms have the prefix "874," which spells "URI."
It is the students in the three new "268" dormitories who receive the majority of telemarketing calls, compared to their peers in other buildings.
One student, Kyle Siner of Wiley Hall, said he has received a few telemarketing calls. He said that one call on behalf of The Providence Journal woke him up in the morning after a night spent staying up late to work on homework.
"I was pretty angry," the junior said. "Even if they had called me at four in the afternoon I still wouldn't have bought their damn paper."
Empereon Marketing, based in Phoenix, Ariz., provides telemarketing services for The Providence Journal.
Empereon's CEO, Travis Bowley, declined to comment beyond saying that his firm provides a livelihood for more than 600 employees. He did not say how Empereon finds the phone numbers of URI students or anyone else, because it is a business secret that he does not want Empereon's competitors to learn.
David Porter, URI's director of networking and telecommunications, said residents in the new building might receive more unwanted calls because they are more likely to have a landline telephone. He said that rooms in the older dormitories have a phone jack but no telephone, which leads many students to stick with their cell phones rather than buy a landline telephone.
Porter said that only 5 percent of students set up their voicemail accounts in the buildings that do not provide phones, which probably means that many students in those buildings do not have landline phones at all.