Inverter A/C is a very mature market, the durability of the product also highly dependent on user and their maintenance as well.

if you are not cleaning A/C often with the right way, many thing can fail prematurely, this including using those sketchy A/C service that spray corrosive chemical to your parts for cleaning or claim deep cleaning while they only spray chemical on cooling coil.

Troika. Huge hassle to change the AC though. The AC is now 10 years old +, not sure whether to change completely or to repair. Daikin guys came by yesterday, not able to diagnose the issue, gas pressure is enough, filters washed, indoor and outdoor coils have been chemically cleaned. AC still not cold. Sigh.

Now they just simply say its a compressor issue, sounds to me like they are just guessing what is the issue, while treating the customer as a water fish.

Those a/c guy advise just take it as a pinch of salt lah, I don't think inverter is that fragile personally and it highly depending on the environment where it is being place and its maintenance like u said those good for nothing self proclaim expert spraying corrosive stuff sure can deep clean and even remove important material.

Personally I think if your piping all ready for Inverter just go ahead, but if your existing piping only made for non-inverter, then better to stick to non-inverter otherwise u need to spend a lot to revamp what's concealed in the wall.

Again... i my opinion Inverter is not just for saving, it is the comfort it provides without fluctuating temperature, the savings are just something extra that came along with it.