TORONTO -- Ontario's private toll highway north of Toronto has been recognized for improved customer service, having been awarded with the "First Call Resolution Improvement Merit Award" for all of North America by Service Quality Measurement Group Inc. (SQM Group).

SQM Group is recognized as an authority for the contact centre industry in the areas of measuring, management and performance.

Other SQM award winners include Purolator Courier, Canadian Tire and TD Canada Trust.

"Customer service is a top priority," said Mike Miller, 407 ETR's chief customer operations officer. "Years ago, we identified and addressed challenges head-on. We hired additional staff and improved our operations and have made great progress ever since."

The company's customer service has been much maligned in recent years.

Earlier this year, 407 ETR ended an ongoing legal battle with the province by agreeing to hire an ombudsman to better deal with highway users' complaints as well as broker resolutions in payment disputes between the company and customers. The company also said it would publish a dispute resolution process and a repayment plan for users with outstanding toll bills.

In return the Liberal government dismissed its pending appeals against the highway company and abide by all court and arbitration decisions. Almost all those decisions ruled that the highway company had a right to set its own toll rates.