Verizon Promotes 1-800-THE-INFO

Verizon surprised six lucky callers in November of 2008 with the “Rock My Room” promotional contest for its 1-800-THE-INFO service. Randomly selected callers to the service were awarded prizes ranging from a complete sound and entertainment system to American Express Gift Cards.

I-800-THE-INFO is an information service very much like directory assistance, only better. For one thing, it’s free. There are no charges for using the service no matter how often you use it.

Additionally, callers can make information requests by type of business they are looking for. Going one step further, callers can request information based on the geographical location, intersection, landmark or neighborhood they are near.

This service is a free service that only requires users to listen to a brief advertisement before requesting information. The advertisements pay for the service, not the end users as is true with basic directory assistance. The service is automated but is backed up by live operators if the computer is not able to determine what they need.

Unlike directory assistance which looks up phone numbers for both businesses and residents, this information service only searches for business. For residential listings callers will still need to call 411.

Contest Winners

And the winners of the 1-800-THE-INFO contest were as follows:

• Grand Prize - iPod Touch w/Bose SoundDock Digital Music System, 32-inch flat screen TV, laptop computer and a $500 American Express gift card
  C. Yost - Eau Claire, Pa.
• 1st prize - $500 Target gift card
  S. Peoples- State University, Ark.
• 2nd place - $250 Target gift card
  M. Hunter, Wesley Chapel, Fla.
• 3rd place - iHome clock radio for iPod
  R. Vissal, Passaic, N.J.
• 4th place - $75 gift certificate to iTunes
  T. Gambrill, Rockville, Md.
• 5th place - $50 American Express gift card
  A. Perkins, New Carrollton, Md.

Cell phone users who are disgruntled with being charged for requesting phone numbers through directory assistance should add 1-800-THE-INFO to their contact list for finding business numbers on the go.