I tweeted a few months ago that we were thinking about buying a new fancy TV. You know, instead of buying a convertor box, since the digital transition is coming up. Jason recommended Second Act in Edina, pointing out that they do refurbished electronics.
Cool Thing #1: Jason is someone I know and trust. Cool Thing #2: When he replied, he actually linked me to Second Act’s Twitter page (@secondact).
I scanned their recent tweets and noted that they were frequently tweeting about their Deals of the Day and other specials and also their office fantasy sports leagues (they run baseball and football fantasy leagues with – surprise – fancy TVs for prizes). I clicked through to their website and found not only unbelievable prices, but the Email, RSS and more page, the Green Electronics page, and the Pics & Video page. Second Act could be a social media case study.
So I already had a warm fuzzy over Second Act because this is the kind of thing that speaks to me.
My girlfriend’s dad had already done all this research. He pored over the Consumer Reports story on LCD and plasma TVs and gave us copy. We knew what brands we wanted to choose from. He made sure to point out that buying a refurbished tv is often a better bet than buying new because the refurbishing/re-inspection process is so much more rigorous than the initial quality assurance. This reduces the need for an extended warranty (Consumer Reports said they have four years of returned product data showing about a 3% rate of return for Samsungs, Panasonics, and Sonys). Second Act sells extended in-home warranties provided by a 3rd party service ($130 for 3 years, $150 for 5 years, from Consumer Priority Service).
Second Act told everybody this same thing on WCCO a year ago.
Second Act’s stock changes rapidly and I got the sense that their website keeps up so that it pretty accurately reflects what they have on hand at all times. If you see something you want, especially if it’s the Deal of the Day or a specific model you’ve been looking for, you best be ready to buy it on the spot. At the same time, there’s always more coming in. Check back the next day or in a week if what you’re looking for is not there. I checked on a weekly basis to see what they had and about how much it would cost. It gave me confidence that I could probably find what I want at any time and a good sense of how much I could expect to pay for it.
In an awesome coincidence, the TV we had eyeballed the day prior was the Deal of the Day on the day we went to buy it. We were prepared to pay $750 and got it for $500.
Second Act is chiefly an online operation, but we decided to go over to their office to make a purchase. When we walked in, we saw Stuart playing pool. Todd popped his head up and greeted us. We told him we knew we wanted a 40″(-ish) 720p LCD TV, and that we had a couple of brands in mind. Todd immediately pulled up the company website. I hadn’t shopped for a TV like this at a retail store, so I was hoping to at least get a sense of whether the size I thought I wanted was appropriate by standing next to one. Didn’t happen. If you go to their warehouse, you won’t see any stock on display, and they will check the website just the same as you would do at home. If you need to stand next to a tv to judge the size, take a field trip to Best Buy first.
At this point, my gf got completely distracted by Matt‘s dog, Greta.
After a few minutes of doggie time, we checked out, drove around to the dock door, loaded our tv into the back seat (it had to come out of the box; we couldn’t fit the box into the car), and took it home.
Second Act does sell other miscellaneous things like cables, wall mounts, speakers, etc. If you already know what you need and you’re going to actually go into their office to make your purchase, you better know to ask about these things. I ended up making a separate trip to the Apple Store and to Best Buy for a couple of cables and an antenna, which was fine. I didn’t have any idea what I’d need until I got the tv home and looked at all the colored holes in the back of it; I couldn’t have figured it out just from reading a list of inputs and outputs off a spec sheet. But that’s just me.
Another perk is that they offer Local Area Pickup in various places around the country for a $95 charge (vs $150 for shipping or $275 for “white glove” service), but if you order online and designate their Edina HQ as your pickup location, it’s free.
I am extremely pleased with…
- …the product Second Act offers. There’s not much risk in buying a refurbished television. Getting one at less than half of retail price is crazy awesome.
- …the super customer service I received. Everyone in the office was very friendly. I felt very comfortable.
- …the usability of their website (as far as I could tell having not actually completed a purchase online).
- …Second Act’s social media presence. Their presence on Twitter turned into a purchase from me. See? It’s working! Small businesses, take note.
I absolutely, highly recommend Second Act for all your LCD and plasma TV needs.
7 Comments
Excellent write up, makes me wish I would have heard of this place when I bought my tv last year.
I just heard they’re going out of business – noooooo!
Where’d you hear that?!
I mean, I’m sure the economy has some effect on people’s willingness to spend on big ticket items, but I was sure with the digital transition coming up that so many people would just go ahead and upgrade TVs.
I heard from a friend who’s a family friend of Matt’s. Hopefully my information is false.
That sounds reliable. Hope not, though. :( Glad I got a chance to meet Greta.
I think they are going out of business. I am actually quite upset because they sent me the wrong tv, and now their phone number is disconnected. My TV needs to be replaced with the correct model. Could anyone help me out with this.
Stephen – I don’t know about if they’ve went out of business or not, but if they sent you the wrong product and you put the payment on a Credit Card you have protections.
If you can’t reach Second Act you may want to contact your CC company.