AC maintenance contracts — how do you tell what's actually covered before you sign?

Great question, because the pricing gap is almost always a *coverage* gap, not a rip-off.

The line to remember: the word "comprehensive" on an AMC means nothing until you read the exclusions. Almost every contract includes scheduled cleaning and inspection — the cheap and the expensive ones both do that. What separates them is whether parts, refrigerant (gas) and major repairs are included or billed on top. So compare the EXCLUSIONS, not the headline price.

Here's what to actually pin down before signing: - Number and scope of visits. Two proper services a year (coil clean, drain flush, gas-pressure and electrical check) is the useful baseline. "Up to 4 visits" that are just filter-and-glance is worth less than two thorough ones. - What's included vs extra. "Non-comprehensive" usually = labour and cleaning included, but you pay for parts and gas. "Comprehensive" *should* include parts/gas up to a limit — check the limit and the exclusions (compressors are often excluded even on comprehensive). - Breakdown response time between visits, and whether call-outs are free or chargeable. - Number of units covered — matters a lot for a villa with many units.

My advice: get each provider to put the inclusions and exclusions in writing on the quote, then the "expensive" one often turns out to be the only genuinely comprehensive one. A clearly-scoped AC maintenance plan should spell all this out rather than hide behind "comprehensive." What clauses have caught others out — compressor exclusions?

Villa owner with six units — the "number of units covered" clause is the one that got me. The cheap quote covered "the AC system" which turned out to mean a set number of units, and the rest were chargeable. Read that carefully if you've got more than one or two. Also ask what counts as a "major repair" they'll exclude — for me the whole value of a contract is that it catches problems early, so I wanted cleaning and inspection genuinely thorough, and I didn't mind paying separately for a rare big part.

Neutral tip for comparing: ask all of them the same five questions in writing — visits per year, scope of each visit, parts/gas included or extra (and the limit), call-out response time, units covered. Line the answers up side by side and the real price-per-value becomes obvious. A provider who won't put the inclusions in writing is telling you something. The headline annual number is the least useful figure in the whole comparison.