Consumer perception towards alter native bill paying points: The case of KPLC easy pay

Abstract

The quality of Customer service has been found to be a critical differentiating factor for service companies. Customers are becoming more sophisticated in their requirements and are increasingly demanding higher standards of services. Many major service companies have woken up to the need for improving customer services in order to compete in today's highly competitive service environment The objectives of this study were to investigate the Consumers expectations and perceptions of service quality offered by KPLC Easy pay. In order to achieve these objectives a sample of 100 Kenya power and lighting customers were picked randomly at the various pay points and administered with questionnaires. Data was analysed by determining frequency distributions, Percentages, mean scores and standard deviation. The findings indicate that the expected service quality on all the five dimensions used in the study, is relatively high with a general agreement on their importance across the respondents. The perceived service quality is lower than expected service resulting in a relatively high service gap of about 12 percent (12%).Based on this study it is recommended that there is need for companies and more so service providers, to study consumer perceptions along the main service quality dimensions. With such understanding, companies stand to gain from increased sales, higher profits, excellent and free advertising through word of mouth as happy customers speak good of the Company. It is also suggested that future studies could be undertaken country wide in order to find out whether there is a significant difference between consumers' expectations and perceptions in rural and urban areas.