Optima vs Dale Air

Summary

Optima and Dale Air are air conditioning installation companies based in Melbourne, with 20+ years of experience between them, offering competitive pricing, great customer service and the market average 6 year installation warranty.

Dale Air advertise all current promotions and specials on their products not just through their sales team but also on their website. They offer a formal financing option on all their air conditioning brands, which not many other Melbourne air conditioning installation companies do. Conveniently they also operate 6 days per week.

Both Optima and Dale Air receive consistently positive customer satisfaction online reviews and deliver great customer service standards. While Optima are usually hard to beat on price, Dale Air ‘s service matches them, with each company receiving a perfect score of 5 out of 5 for pricing.

Price

The review of Dale Air found this Melbourne-based air conditioning installation company to be very competitive on price. In fact, in this area they met Optima’s perfect score of 5 out of 5 for pricing. Both companies offer competitive rates on the installation of air conditioning units, which are generally lower than the average Melbourne market prices.

Dale Air credits themselves with knowing all the air conditioning deals on offer. They use this knowledge to get the best deal for their customers, to the extent that customers can visit a specific web page dedicated to current specials and promotions.

While Optima do not offer price matching Dale Air do on competitor quotes for identical products. They also pass on any manufacturer discounts they receive from bulk orders to their customers. Dale Air appears to be highly invested in accessing the best deal for their customers, aiming to give satisfaction and value for money.

As mentioned, Optima’s prices are also very competitive, and generally lower than or equal to other providers. While Optima do not offer a price match guarantee, they prefer to give a realistic and competitive quote from the beginning, to avoid “hidden” costs. Furthermore we found that Optima are considered and consistent in their quotes.

Like Optima, Dale Air does not give volume discounts for multiple units. However when discussing multiple units and discounts, the Dale Air technician advised our reviewer of other ways they could provide a more cost-effective solution when customers need more than one unit. This could save customers money on their overall costs and is a great initiative.

Dale Air and Optima are considered above average for cost-effectiveness. Compared to other air conditioning installation Melbourne companies, each know their products and systems, offering fair pricing without needing to price-match or resort to dramatic seasonal discounts.

Customer Service

Both companies supply free, onsite quotes, which they seem more than happy to complete. Dale Air’s team while very helpful and knowledgeable could only give a basic quote, subject to change based on site inspection. This commitment to accuracy is in keeping with their interest in customer satisfaction and being genuine in their quoting system. They provide a guarantee that customers can expect their quote within 24 hours or the next business day. For customer service via email they received 6.5 out of 10 to Optima’s exceptional 9 out of 10. Optima’s score reflects their speed at providing a quote in under 6 hours.

Whilst Dale Air do have a website guarantee, quote delivery within 24 hours was not the experience of our Dale Air review team. Their slower response to email inquires may be attributed to factors outside of their control during that time period. Our review team recommends following up an online inquiry by telephone if contact has not been made within 24 hours or the next business day as listed on the Dale Air website.

Dale Air has an established formal financing option for their customers, with a leading third party lending company, GE Finance. Optima do not provide this option or weekend availability where Dale Air is available during some weekend hours.

By phone Optima ranked an impressive 8 out of 10, which was the highest score of any Melbourne-based air con installation company. Dale Air, thanks to their commitment to their customers, was only one point behind on 7 out of 10. Both companies came across as caring about their customers and providing the best options available, with Optima specialising in Dakin units as they believe them to be the best value and easy to obtain parts if anything goes wrong.

Expertise

To surmise, our Dale Air review team rated them highly on their level of service, as they are particularly attentive to their customers. With 20 years’ experience their team members seemed very knowledgeable with a comprehensive understanding of the air conditioning industry as well as experience. Optima also have extensive technical knowledge, spanning 30 years.

Both companies help to find customer solutions that deliver great value. Each have a 6 year installation warranty, an ARC tick of approval and are comfortable installing air conditioners for all different types of buildings, including commercial, residential and apartments. We did note that on occasion Optima might decline installation of air con in an apartment building. This occurs if a building already has a relationship with another company who are familiar with the requirements of that particular building.

With an overall score of 4.5 out of 5 for Optima and 3.5 out of 5 for Dale Air, either of these companies are strong choices with great customer service and excellent value. If you need weekend work done though Dale Air are the only one of the two that offers a weekend service.