Scheduled visits by date, not by "need"
A serious contract states the number of visits and their approximate dates: quarterly or semi-annual. In practice, "as needed" means: when you call in after you've already discovered the fault.
The difference is fundamental. Preventive maintenance catches the full disk before recording stops — not after you need the footage and can't find it.
What gets checked on every visit?
It must be stated explicitly: cleaning the lenses, checking coverage angles, testing night vision, checking disk health, confirming the actual retention period, and reviewing the error log.
The most important of these is the retention period: a system that is running and recording may have quietly dropped from 30 days of retention down to 7 without anyone noticing.
Documentation is the difference
Require that every visit be documented with before-and-after photos, and with a report that reaches you — not one that stays with the technician.
Without documentation you can't prove maintenance was actually done — not to yourself, and not to a regulator asking to see the maintenance record.
Response time and exclusions
Set a written response time for critical faults, and distinguish those from ordinary requests.
And read the exclusions carefully: what is excluded from the warranty? Who bears the cost of parts? What if the fault is caused by a power or network outage? Ambiguity here is always interpreted against you.
Practical takeaways
- Ask for the number of visits and their dates in writing
- Require the actual retention period to be checked on every visit
- Require photo documentation and a report that reaches the owner
- Set a response time for critical faults
- Read the exclusions clause and the cost of parts
