This study sought to establish the causes of service breakdown in commercial banks in Kenya 1 lie study entailed a census survey of live commercial banks namely Barclays, Kenya Commercial bank, Standard Chartered. Co-operative and l went further to examine the marketing strategies used by the commercial banks in Kenya in managing service break down. If utilized a descriptive approach employing both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection. The banks targeted in this study were those that have projected themselves as having a special interest in SMI: customers. In this regard, they had established departments with dedicated staff dealing with SMI ‘s. A total of 15 respondents from three major departments of 11, Accounting/finance, and Customer care were interviewed A sell administered open and closed ended questionnaire was utilized in collecting primary data from the field. In addition, in depth interviews and desk research were used for confirmation and verification. Data collected from the field was analysed using descriptive statistics, and information presented in charts, frequency distribution tables and figures. This study found that lack of dear communication with customer., long procedures; intrusive documentation and lack of flexibility are some of the causes resulting in service breakdown. It also established that a number of strategies on how to deal with service break down have been identified, these include; designing services to fit the needs of customers; ensuring that services arc always of high quality without compromise; putting relevant systems in place; having competent employees in place; on time delivery of services and ensuring that services are driven by customers to increase acceptance and satisfaction. It further suggested future researches to be done on other financial institutions in Kenya to establish the strategies that can used to deal with service breakdowns. It also set up a way for future contributions that will enable academicians, managers in private and public sector to better understand and evaluate the challenges posed by service breakdowns and expose them to marketing strategies that can be used to deal with it.

show more