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A checklist for reviewing a service contract before it renews

Educational only, not legal advice. Your contract's exact wording decides your real deadline.

The renewal date on a clinic equipment contract is a poor day for a first reading. If the agreement auto-renews, the decision had to be made earlier, on or before the notice-by date. This checklist is the work to finish before that earlier day. It matches the fields Duespan stores and the columns on the free spreadsheet. It does not score your vendor, and it does not tell you to sign or to walk away.

1. Get the signed agreement, not the brochure

Use the signed copy, including amendments and the current price letter. A sales one-pager often omits the notice clause. If you only have a scan of the first page, ask the vendor or your files for the term section before you calculate anything. Write the vendor's name as it appears on the invoice so the list matches accounts payable.

Note whether the service company made the device or is another company. That distinction does not decide quality. It does explain why two quotes can both be "full service" and still exclude different parts.

2. Write the dates before you debate coverage

Record the contract start, the renewal or end date, and whether it auto-renews. If it auto-renews, record the notice period as whole days. Use the calculator or the app to subtract that period from the renewal date. Check the result against a paper calendar once. For a March 1, 2027 renewal and 90 days' notice, the notice-by date is December 1, 2026. Your numbers will differ. The rule will not: calendar days, renewal minus notice period.

Record the warranty end separately if a warranty is still in force or has a date you might confuse with the contract. Record the last preventive maintenance and the interval in months if you want a next-due date. The app adds calendar months and uses the last day of the month when the day does not exist. January 31 plus one month is February 28, or February 29 in a leap year.

Record how notice must be sent. Email, a letter, certified mail, and a named address are not interchangeable if the contract picks one. The checklist is not finished when the date is known. It is finished when you also know the method.

3. Walk the coverage lines

For the agreement you have now, and for any quote you might sign instead, write a yes, a no, or a short phrase for each line. Leave a line blank rather than guess.

• Parts, and any parts named as excluded, such as optics, probes, or glassware.
• Labor.
• Travel, including whether each visit is billed.
• Preventive maintenance visits per year, and whether they are required to keep other coverage.
• On-site response time, in the unit the quote uses, such as hours.
• Uptime guarantee, if a number is printed. Do not invent a percent the quote does not state.
• Loaner device.
• Consumables and handpieces.
• Software updates.

A gap is a line you would pay for separately or go without. Highlighting it is the point of the comparison. The made-up table on the Duespan homepage is only an illustration. It is not a real quote and it shows no prices. Put your prices in the annual-price field from the quote in your hand.

4. Decide who has to agree, and by when

Name the person who can approve a renewal or a notice not to renew. That may be the practice manager, a physician owner, or a manager at another location. Give them the notice-by date, not only the renewal date. If the notice-by date is a weekend, tell them the app will flag that and that sending on a weekday before it is the cautious reading unless the contract says otherwise.

If you need a second quote, ask for it early enough that it can arrive before the notice-by date. A quote that arrives the week after the notice-by date cannot be used to keep your option open, unless the contract gives you that option in writing. Do not assume a friendly account manager can waive the clause. Ask them to confirm any waiver in writing.

5. Write down the choice

Three outcomes cover the ordinary case. You let the term renew. You ask to change price or coverage and you still have time to send notice if the talk fails. Or you send notice that you will not renew, by the method the contract names, and you keep a copy. The cancel-or-renegotiate guide describes that sequence as general information. It is not a script for your agreement.

After the choice, put the dates on a calendar. Download the .ics file from the calculator for one contract, or from the app for the clinic's list. The file is the reminder. Duespan does not send email reminders. There is no paid plan and no card.

Store equipment and contract details only. Do not put patient information in the location name, the device name, or the notes.

Questions managers ask

When should this checklist be finished?

Before the notice-by date, not on the renewal date. The notice-by date is the renewal date minus the notice period. If you finish the review after that day, the option to send notice may already be gone.

What if two quotes use different words for the same coverage?

Line them up on the same items: parts, labor, travel, PM visits, response time, uptime, loaner, consumables, and software updates. A line that one quote includes and the other bills later is a gap to write down.

Does the app compare two quotes side by side?

Not in the app. The homepage shows a made-up example, and the spreadsheet has the columns. You type your own quotes. The app stores one contract on each device and the dates that come from it.

More guides

• How auto-renewal notice periods work
• Warranty vs. service contract
• Cancel or renegotiate a maintenance agreement
• Free service-contract tracking template