What an AMC is actually for
An annual maintenance contract is not an extended warranty. What each one covers, and the questions that separate a real one from a line on an invoice.
Living with it4 min read
An AMC and a warranty get confused constantly, including by people selling them. They are different instruments and they cover different risks.
The difference in one line
A warranty covers the product failing when it should not have. An AMC covers the product being looked after so that it does not.
| Warranty | AMC | |
|---|---|---|
| Covers | A defect | Upkeep and attendance |
| Triggered by | Something breaking | The calendar |
| Typical scope | Parts, and labour to replace them | Visits, checks, priority response |
| Runs out | On a fixed date | On renewal |
A property with a live warranty and no AMC is covered for the lock that fails and uncovered for the forty-nine that are drifting towards it.
What preventive maintenance means on a lock
- Battery condition checked and replaced on a schedule, not on failure.
- The clock checked, because a drifted clock refuses valid cards.
- Mechanical action and alignment, which move as a door and its frame settle.
- The encoder and the desk workflow, which are as likely to be the problem as the door.
Batteries are the instructive one. A lock that is allowed to fail on battery costs a guest standing in a corridor, a night manager's time and a call-out. A lock whose battery is changed on a schedule costs the battery.
Questions that separate a real AMC from a line item
- How many preventive visits a year, and what is done on each?
- What is the response time, and is it different outside the metros?
- Is it a response time or a resolution time? They are not the same promise.
- What is excluded — physical damage, power, consumables, doors?
- What does it cost to renew, and can that be quoted now rather than at renewal?
The third question is the one worth insisting on. 'We will respond in four hours' and 'it will be working in four hours' are both reasonable commitments, but only one of them gets the door open.
Our own AMC terms, coverage and pricing depend on the property and the number of locks, which is why the AMC form asks for both before anybody quotes. There is no single figure that would be true for a four-room guest house and a hundred-and-twenty-room hotel.
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