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Bulk TV purchase for PA Nursing Home

I work for a non-profit Long-term Care Facility in NE PA ... through a GoFundMe campaign we have raised enough funds to purchase a large number of LED TVs.  We are looking for slim bezel, 24" diagonal due to space limitations.

I am having trouble finding a retailer that has available the number of TVs we need and/or getting a price break on a purchase of this size.  We have @ $8500 to spend and are tax exempt so the whole amount would go toward the TV purchase.  We are hoping to get 70 to 80 TVs for the money.

If any AudiogoNers are dealers and can get us a bulk price OR if you have any suggestions, please let me know!  I had reached out to my local Walmart and BestBuy but neither were of much assistance.  I also contacted Walmart Online by phone and they were also of little help.

You can reach out to me direct at jrinker@pvmnh.com or post in this forum ... also feel free to visit our website PVMNH.com for information about our facility.

Thanks and Happy New Year!!

Jeff Rinker
PVM Resident Accounts
jrinkerptdnet
10 responses Add your response
whart's avatar
whart
3,037 posts
 
I think most large consumer electronics companies have institutional sales departments for this kind of purchase. You don't need a middleman, except for an installer. 
czarivey
5,946 posts
 
alibaba.com...
Find reputable dealer there and most-likely one will apply maximum effort to get you the desirable bundle for low price. I found myself lots of people willing to help and offer vs. Walmart. I was always excited when visiting BestBuy and always found them very helpful, but no wonder if their level of service had been changed to unacceptable after large years of success. Not sure of their level of service that might be still good since last time I visited, but prices aren't sweet there for sure.
 

jrinkerptdnet OP
430 posts
 
Customer service seems a "thing of the past" ... we have a couple small appliance dealers locally who advertise TV sales but when I contacted them they told me they buy their TVs from the Internet or eBay to sell!  Obviously they were no help either!!

I actually looked at a couple manufacturers websites prior to posting looking for a "institutional sales" link or contact but found none.

The search will continue though!!
dweller's avatar
dweller
3,781 posts
 
Please buy quality. My Father's last days were spent in a skilled nursing facility (sniff) whose personal TV monitors were the most vile crap -almost unwatchable...
jrinkerptdnet OP
430 posts
 
MOST of the current crop of LED TVs seem to have decent pics, even "off brands" like Element, Sceptre, etc can be set-up with very good picture quality ... sound quality seems more varied with these lower priced brands.  Also not sure of the reliability of these brands.  It seems like large manufacturers such as Samsung, LG and Sony are making very few smaller screen size TVs with 32" being the traditional starting point.

Some of the TVs we are replacing are of the CRT variety and a few are 13" to 15"
paladin's avatar
paladin
227 posts
 
I would consider contacting Samsung, LG or Sharp directly - They make a fine quality 24" 720p unit.
I got one for free from Sprint just before Christmas when I upgraded to a G4 phone & have seen retailers selling them for under $150.
I would think that you can probably get them for around $100 per in bulk.
theo's avatar
theo
2,684 posts
 
I agree with Paladin, contact the distributor for any of the major brands and see if they can cut you a deal. It may take time to fill the order but they would most likely either direct you to work through a dealer in your area and work with that dealer in the arrangements. Or you could call Crutchfeild, B&H photo or similar. They would have the ability to make a deal with the distributor. This can't be a rare occasion to either the distributor or larger dealer. New motels etc are going up all the time. They would probably work out something special on a production run of limited features to get the cost down. It may take months to fill the order in that quantity and shipping from overseas but I think that will be the only way to maximize your investment return. 
palasr
526 posts
 
I work at a large engineering university in NY, and one of our main suppliers is Gov Connection (aka PC Connection), as well as B&H.  Both have the ability to purchase in bulk, offer decent discounts, and work directly with manufacturers.  My one piece of advice is to avoid purchasing an LG display - they have by far the worst failure rate among all the flat-panel manufacturers, and the worst longevity (we use them for digital signage, classroom displays, etc where they are operating at least 18 hours every day). Stick with Sharp, Samsung, or Sony.
jrinkerptdnet OP
430 posts
 
Thanks for all the responses ... I will try the manufacturers and BH Photo and see how it goes!
213runnin
914 posts
 
I've got a Samsung 24' LED, a good quality picture that I got at Costco for under 150, I believe.
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