Systems Age Well When Someone Looks After Them

Aftercare Plan Terms

This is the plain-English version, and it is also the real version. Your written quotation confirms your plan, price, start date, the equipment covered and anything agreed specifically for your system. If this page and your quotation ever disagree, the quotation wins. If you already have a plan with us, the terms of your own agreement continue to apply.

01What a plan is (and is not)

An aftercare plan is a support agreement between you and SMC Custom Installs Ltd. It is not an insurance policy, not a warranty, and not an extension of any manufacturer’s warranty. Nothing is underwritten and there is no claims process. Nothing in these terms affects your statutory rights or any warranty that already applies to your equipment.

02What your plan covers

Your plan covers the equipment and integrations listed in your quotation, at one address. It does not automatically cover every connected device in the property. Your quotation also sets out the scope and on-site allowance of your annual review or maintenance visit, any included reactive visit time, and the attendance charge for additional visits to your property.

03Support hours

• Everyday (routine) support, every plan: Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm, by phone and email. On Call and On Watch add a dedicated WhatsApp support number and engineer video calls.
• Urgent remote support, On Call: Monday to Friday, 9am to 9pm, and Saturday, 9am to 12 noon. Not available on Sundays.
• Urgent remote support, On Watch: seven days a week, 9am to 9pm, including Saturdays and Sundays.
• How to reach us: when your plan starts, we give you the best ways to contact us for routine support and, where your plan includes it, for urgent support outside routine support hours.

Urgent means a significant loss of a core function of your agreed system. New scenes, adding equipment, changes to preferences and general programming improvements are routine requests, handled during routine support hours. All times are UK local time.

04Response targets

On Hand: a response within one working day. On Call: a response the same working day for requests received during routine support hours, and within four hours for urgent requests made outside routine support hours. On Watch: a response within four hours for requests received during routine support hours, and within two hours for urgent requests made outside them. Response times are counted within the support hours that apply to the request. These are targets for our first response, not a promise that a fault will be fixed, or that an engineer will attend, within that time.

05Remote support

On Hand includes initial advice by phone and email and the scheduled remote review; hands-on remote troubleshooting is charged at member rates. On Call and On Watch include up to 30 minutes of engineer time per issue for remote investigation and straightforward fixes. An issue is a single fault or request: follow-up messages and continued work on the same unresolved fault are part of the same issue. If an issue needs more time, we explain the next step and the likely cost, and only continue with your approval.

06Reviews, maintenance and updates

On Hand includes one scheduled remote review of the agreed system each contract year, covering its available status information, software position and any maintenance recommendations. It is not an on-site inspection, a full security audit or an update of every device. On Call and On Watch include one scheduled annual maintenance visit per contract year, which incorporates the annual review, with up to two hours of on-site time from one engineer as the starting allowance. Where our assessment shows that your system reasonably needs a longer annual service, your quotation sets a longer allowance and a correspondingly higher subscription before the plan starts. The visit is planned maintenance of the agreed system, tailored to the equipment covered and the time allowed: typically checking the condition, ventilation and available status information of supported equipment, testing agreed key functions and integrations, reviewing the network and available diagnostic information, checking configuration backups where supported, applying suitable approved routine updates within the maintenance scope, and providing a brief summary of findings and recommendations. Travel for the visit, normal preparation and the summary are included in your subscription. It is not an exhaustive test of every device, a full WiFi survey, a comprehensive security audit or the installation of every available update, and it is not a bank of labour hours for installations, major repairs, new programming or reprogramming. Unexpected remedial work outside the maintenance scope is discussed and priced separately before we proceed.

We review relevant software and security updates and apply approved updates at suitable maintenance windows, taking account of compatibility and the operation of your system: as part of the annual maintenance visit on On Call, and through the year on On Watch. Major software migrations, substantial reprogramming, replacement hardware and separately licensed features are not included and are quoted separately.

07Monitoring (On Watch)

On Watch includes automated monitoring of compatible equipment within the agreed system scope, with alerts reviewed and investigated during plan support hours, and ongoing oversight of the agreed network equipment. Monitoring is automated rather than a person watching your system 24 hours a day. It depends on compatible equipment and a working internet connection, and not every fault can be detected remotely. It is equipment and network monitoring only: it is not an alarm receiving service and we do not watch CCTV footage. Any monitoring hardware your system needs is identified and quoted before the plan starts.

08Engineer visits

On Hand and On Call do not include reactive visits; additional visits are charged as described below, with priority booking on On Call. On Watch includes one additional reactive support visit per contract year, with up to two hours of on-site labour from one engineer, separate from the annual maintenance visit; a longer annual maintenance allowance does not change the reactive visit allowance. Further visits, and time beyond an included allowance, are charged with your agreement, and On Watch members get priority scheduling. Included engineer visits are scheduled during normal working hours, and evening and weekend engineer attendance is not included on any plan.

Travel for the visits included in your plan is built into your quoted subscription, which takes account of your property’s location and the expected return travel time. There is no separate travel charge for those visits to the covered property, and travel time is never deducted from your on-site allowance, which means time at the property. Additional visits carry an attendance charge for your property, recorded in your quotation or confirmed before booking, which covers travel; on-site labour is charged separately at the member rate. The attendance charge does not include any on-site work, we never charge an attendance charge and hourly travel for the same journey, and we confirm the attendance charge and the expected labour cost before you book or authorise a visit. If an included visit runs beyond its on-site allowance, only the additional labour you authorise is charged, with no attendance charge.

09Rates and chargeable work

Work outside your plan’s inclusions is charged at our member rate of £112.50 an hour including VAT, 10% below our standard rate of £125 an hour including VAT. Additional visits also carry the attendance charge described above. We explain the proposed work and confirm the cost before proceeding. The member rate applies to support and maintenance work on your agreed system; new installations, equipment purchases and substantial project work are quoted separately.

10What is not included

• Replacement equipment, parts and consumables such as batteries and projector lamps
• Major upgrades, new installations and substantial programming changes
• Work on equipment outside the scope agreed in your quotation
• Putting right pre-existing problems, or changes made to the system by others
• Restoration after physical, electrical or water damage
• Third-party subscriptions and services, such as your broadband, streaming services and manufacturer platforms

Diagnosing a suspected hardware fault can fall within your included support time, but parts, repairs and further labour are chargeable and quoted first. We can help identify problems involving your broadband or third-party platforms, but we cannot guarantee to restore services outside our control.

11Joining with an existing system

If we did not install your system, we assess it before it joins a plan. Any takeover work, remedial work, monitoring hardware, access setup or initial documentation it needs is identified and quoted before the plan starts.

12Payment

Plans are paid by monthly Direct Debit, or annually in advance by bank transfer, as confirmed in your quotation. The annual amount is the same as twelve monthly payments. Your first payment date is confirmed in your quotation and your plan runs from that date. Paying monthly is a way of spreading the cost; it does not make the plan a monthly contract.

13Renewal and cancellation

Plans renew automatically on the anniversary of your start date. To cancel, tell us in writing at least three months before your renewal date. Email is fine (info@smccustominstalls.co.uk). We will confirm receipt, and your plan simply ends at renewal with nothing further to pay.

SMC Custom Installs Ltd  ·  2 Henry Close, Battlefield Enterprise Park, Shrewsbury SY1 3TJ  ·  01743 234945  ·  Terms last reviewed October 2026