OLG’s Amazing Customer Service

Today I would like to commend Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) on its amazing display of customer service by tracking down the winner of its $50 million Lotto Max prize that went unclaimed since November 2012. On Tuesday OLG’s President and CEO Rod Phillips and director of investigations Mike Hamel, introduce Kathryn Jones of Hamilton as the winner.

OLG’s level of customer service in this case is truly remarkable given the fact that the winner was not even aware she had won the Lotto Max prize. To put the OLG efforts in context we have to understand that Kathryn Jones lost her ticket and never even check to see whether the numbers she purchased were the winning ones.

According to reports in the media it took OLG outstanding use of good detective techniques to solve the mystery and identify Kathryn Jones as winner. Some of the techniques used by the OLG to identify Kathryn Jones are typically used by banks and other financial institutions to identify suspicious transactions, fraud or trace the proceeds of crime. In this case the OLG used some key pieces of information to identify Kathryn Jones as the winner. First the OLG knew that the winning ticket was sold at a Shopper’s Drug Mart in Cambridge, Ontario and when the winning ticket had been purchased. It was a process of elimination. The OLG said it 435 people made inquiries about the money.

OLG was able to determine that the purchase was part of the $16 transaction and that the method of payment was credit card. They knew the date and may be even the precise time of the purchase. In addition, they were able to secure CTV video footage to identify the purchaser. It should be noted that if cash was used it would have been slightly more difficult for the OLG to narrow down identity of the 

purchaser.

Today we let us applaud the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) for their outstanding customer service and also congratulate Kathryn Jones. This is the first time that the OLG has approached the winner of a lottery prize instead of the other way around. Amazing customer service starts with surprising customers with the best customer service they have ever gotten. Kathryn Jones captures it best when she said at a news conference hosted by the OLG “As you can imagine, it's been a weird and wonderful journey. To lose a ticket and then have OLG find me and take the initiative to contact me is pretty incredible.”

Mark McKenzie is a leading Subject Matter Expert in financial services regulation and supervision as well as a professional motivational speaker, corporate trainer and youth mentor.  He can be contacted by email mastbmckenzie@gmail.com or by telephone 647-406-4622. Read my blog http://mastbmckenzie.blogspot.ca/ and always write me a comment and share. Follow me on Twitter @mackynacky. Connect with me on www.youtube.com, Google+, Facebook and Linkedin.