Service and Maintenance Contract – What Does it Cover and What are the Fees?
C-Lock Inc has an ongoing annual service and maintenance contract fee in order to use our equipment, whether it is the GreenFeed, SmartFeed, or SmartScale. The benefits of the service contract fee are:
Continuous Monitoring of Performance
Our equipment is complicated and produces a lot of data. C-Lock Inc staff is trained to review unit performance and determine whether or not it is functioning correctly and providing accurate data. In the event there is a problem, often the C-Lock Inc identifies the problem much faster than the end user and is able to recommend corrective action before compromising experimental results. Real time monitoring by our staff better ensures that all experiments will successfully produce useful data.
Data Review and Quality Control
Trained C-Lock Inc staff will review data and experimental results to ensure the results are representative and accurate. Our quality control process is completed with a common set of standards and expectations ensuring that all data produced by our equipment is up to specifications. This allows data from our equipment to be directly compared with other results on a global scale with a high level of confidence that the results are accurate and cross comparable. The results from your machine will be able to withstand scientific scrutiny regardless of the user’s experience level or technical knowledge with our equipment. Even advanced users benefit, because all users are producing accurate results through the verification process, it increases the scientific validity of the results for all users.
Friendly and Fast Service
The service contract allows for friendly email and/or telephone technical support. Users are free to call or email and will receive a prompt, thorough, and friendly answer to any technical question.
Replacement Parts and Service
Parts that are broken or malfunction in the normal operation of our equipment are quickly shipped at no added expense to the client. All of our equipment is designed with parts that are easily serviced and replicable by almost any person. Instructions are also provided to allow the user to quickly replace the part. C-lock staff is available to remotely help with the replacement process and help get the equipment operating again quickly.
Software Updates
C-Lock Inc is continuously updating our software to make our equipment more robust, user friendly, and functional. The service contract fee allows users the most recent software updates.
Data Storage
All data generated by our equipment is stored in a permanent, but secure database. The data is also backed up independently on two other off-site systems so it cannot be lost. The service contract allows us to continue to store and properly maintain ever increasing amounts of data.
Service Contract Fees
Our typical service contract fees are 10% of the equipment price per year and are renewable on an annual basis. We allow lapses in service, meaning if the equipment is not used for a period of time after a year of service is completed, the user does not need to pay the service contract until the equipment is put into use again. We also offer discounts if more than one year is purchased at a given time according the following schedule:
- One or two years: no discount
- Three or four years: 10% discount on the total amount
- Five years or more: 20% discount
Summary
In summary, consider that the ongoing service, monitoring, quality control, technical support, software updates, and data storage costs for technical equipment exist and are real. It is essential that the data that is produced by any end user is accurate and defensible so that all parties globally have confidence that our equipment produces universally comparable results regardless of the experience and technical knowledge of the end user. The service fee is therefore essential to maintaining a high level of results and service.