Optima vs Arctic Melbourne

Summary

Arctic Melbourne are specialists in hydronic heating and air conditioning installation. They stand apart from the rest of the market by offering a high level of experience in air conditioning design, specifically custom designs. Their team has 20 years of combined industry experience where Optima have 30 years.

While not performing as strongly on price Arctic Melbourne offer installation, maintenance and repair of most types of air conditioning systems as well as an impressive 24/7 call out repair service and a 10 year installation warranty.

Optima currently provide the best value for customers, specialising in Daikin units. They have a comprehensive range of products and services, competitive prices, and many years of knowledge and experience.

Each team are helpful and utilise their strong knowledge of the industry to assist their customers in choosing the right system for their space at the right price.

Price

Our review team found that both Optima and Arctic Melbourne have competitive price ranges. Although they are not the cheapest in the market, Arctic Melbourne’s rates are generally average compared to standard market prices. This is why Artic Melbourne received a solid 3.5 out of 5 stars in terms of their pricing. They are also open to discussing finance options and accessing promotions, whereas Optima do not.

When compared to the other Melbourne air conditioning installation companies, Optima’s prices are very competitive. In comparison to our top five ranked air conditioning installation companies in Melbourne, Optima tied with one other provider for most cost effective overall, giving them a perfect rating of 5 out of 5. They do not; however, offer a price match guarantee.

Arctic Melbourne is quite flexible in considering customer needs and where they can save them money. While they don’t give volume discounts outright for multiple units they do recommend installing all units at the same time to save on a call out fee. They are also willing to negotiate a lower rate if the installation turns out to be easy and takes less time than expected.

Both Arctic Melbourne and Optima offer a free onsite quote, with each attempting to ensure these quotes are as cost effective as they can from the outset. The Arctic Melbourne sales team don’t have an established finance option, but they can attempt to set up a personal financial arrangement with management, which could involve their fee being paid in instalments over time. However, this would only be approved from time to time on an exceptions basis.

Customer Service

Arctic Melbourne was scored with an average level of customer service, based on slower responses to customer service. They were helpful to our review team and willing to provide genuine responses to questions, with team members coming across as very friendly. However there were no follow up calls, emails or probing question during the phone conversation. By phone Arctic Melbourne scored 6.5 out of 10 for customer service and 5 out of 10 for email. These are at the lower end of the scale when compared to other Melbourne-based air conditioning installation companies in our top 5. These two scores ranked Arctic Melbourne in a lower position for customer service in both email and phone categories.

Optima, comparatively, ranked very highly when it comes to customer service. For their customer service by phone, they ranked an impressive 8 out of 10, which was the highest score of any Melbourne-based air con installation company. In terms of email their score of 9 out of 10 for customer service was equally as impressive, and the equal highest score for customer service in the Melbourne market.

Despite not scoring as highly, Arctic Melbourne make an effort to build good rapport with their customers in many ways including making knowledgeable, friendly team members accessible on the phone, answering technical questions, offering general industry and company polices. They discuss customer needs and air conditioning options but prefer to discuss quote details and specific costs only after an onsite assessment.
Unfortunately while they were quick to acknowledge an initial email enquiry, responding within 6 hours of receiving the request, their response rate in providing customers with a quote was very slow, with the process on average taking more than 4 days. These rates marked them as one of the slower companies in relation to response speed.

Optima respond very quickly to email queries, tying for fastest response to an initial email request. They offer a good product range and are happy to install most brands of air conditioning unit, based on your specific needs and preferences. They recommend Daikin units as they are Australian (making it easier to repair units and find parts) and they find Daikin’s products to be reliable, sturdy and durable.

Expertise

Both Optima and Arctic Melbourne are highly experienced Melbourne-based air conditioning installation companies; with Optima operating for 30 years and Arctic Melbourne running for 20. They each display strong technical expertise, which becomes evident in the products they use and, for Arctic Melbourne, their specialised custom air conditioning design.

Of the two, Arctic Melbourne was found to offer an impressive 10 year installation service warranty, conditional on the fact that the air conditioner is serviced yearly within that time frame. Optima’s service warranty is a strong 6 years.

Despite Arctic Melbourne receiving lower scores for slow customer response, they provide a great 24/7 repair call out service. They have also been consistently rated and recommended highly by their customers on review sites.
While both companies are comfortable installing air conditioners for all different types of buildings, including commercial, residential and apartments, Optima may, on occasion, decide not to install air con in an apartment building. This might occur if a building already has a relationship with another installation company.
Both companies have the industry standard ARC tick of approval.

While Optima were given a holistic rating of 4.5 stars out of 5, and were ranked the best value Melbourne-based air conditioning installation company, Arctic Melbourne received a good overall rating of 3.5 out of five. Either would be a good choice for installation depending on your expectations in terms of efficiently timed responses, with Arctic Melbourne’s 24 hour repair service being a great option should anything go wrong.