Thank you.
So an update on this for you people unfortunate enough to have bought anything from this trash of a company.
After saying they will give me a refund when my turn came to ship the product, they are now REFUSING to refund my order.
Hello xxxxx,
Since your pre-order has reached the shipping queue, we can ship your
phone now, we are happy to provide you with the latest software as well,
which greatly improves the life and capabilities of the Librem 5. All
you have to do is to confirm your address.
We do not offer refunds as the original purchase funded R&D into PureOS
and is built into the phone offering.
Let me know if you have questions.
Kind regards,
JoĂŁo Azevedo
I hope anyone thinking of purchasing anything from this company takes the time to do some research so they know to avoid.
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Interesting. Can you provide the exact date you ordered your phone?
november 2019
Whatâs funny is they literally admitted to using my payment for a specific product and said they spent it on something else and are now refusing to refund me after making me wait almost 3 years.
I may just call a lawyer because now this is quite obviously looking like some sort of variation of a ponzi scheme.
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Thanks. This means your order got delayed multiple times by Purism, which means youâre entitled to a prompt (seven working day) refund according to the FTC. And even by Purismâs own policy youâre entitled to a refund, as their refund policy said this in Nov 19:
If, for any reason, you want to cancel your order before it was shipped, we will issue a full refund.
Source
Maybe start by confronting them with that information and insist on your refund and see how theyâll react.
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yeah it doesnât matter. They donât care. They just straight up lied to me and said that the return policy stated on their website was for âordersâ but my order was a âpre-orderâ and was subject to crowdfunding policies.
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I think that given the long shipping delays, that it is reasonable for Purism to require an address verification before they will ship the phone.
But not giving refunds on non-delivered credit card orders after the elapsed time prescribed by law has passed, puts Purism on the dark side from a legal perspective.
Based on how badly Purism violated our trust this time, I will likely be someone who objects the next time Purism tries to raise money via a new campaign. A third party Trustee needs to control the funds and issue refunds based on the law and the advertising promises. The way to prevent future abuses is to stop the same mistakes from being made again before the campaign reaches its financial goal pre-launch. Complaints to Attorneys General and possibly, private lawsuits can stop questionable fund raising practices before the abuse starts. The financial abuses that took place this time are ample evidence to prove the need for better financial oversight in the future.
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Nah. Purism has made it clear (as at one point in time after the Librem 5 experience) that there wonât be a next time in terms of pre-order crowd-funding the development of a product. Instead, they will raise the funds on the debt market (if required), develop the product, announce the product, sell the product (i.e. the more traditional approach) - thereby avoiding all the negative issues with lengthy visible product development delay and also therefore purchasers changing their mind and requesting a refund.
That is what they appear to have done with the Librem 11 tablet and the Librem 16 laptop.
And I guess thatâs better for both sides.
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That is a big step forward. The problem with pre-orders is that there is not much of a contract and no way to enforce a contract. But if Purism incurs debt, then not paying the debt (conventional loans) as agreed has real life consequences. Crowd funding has its place. But even in crowd funding, there are supposed to be agreements that get kept. Fortunately, it appears that Purism might be moving past this phase as they are about to hit shipping parity.
hmm no it seems at this point there are multiple people not receiving any refunds at all, myself included. No feedback from the company, no response to emails, nothing. Doesnât look good for anyone trying to get a refund.
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That depends. I saw the post a while back about no longer crowd funding development of new products. That doesnât preclude pre-ordering of products directly from Purism which they also appear to not be honoring refund requests for and have nothing to do with any crowdfunding campaign.
I think something like this for all orders would go a long way toward re-building confidence in that regard, though I wouldnât say rebuilding trust, as I donât see needing a third party to keep you honest as a sign of improved trustworthiness.
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The paragraph I wrote above is just my interpretation of Purismâs actual post but it seemed as if the intention is to avoid pre-ordering. If they offer to sell a product, it has been developed and manufactured and is âin stockâ. Shipment is within 10 business days. No grumpy customers.
Of course it is always possible that stock is exhausted and later orders get left unfulfilled, and we then get into unspecified delays to fulfill, but that wouldnât be âpre-orderingâ in my interpretation.
I guess the only real test of it will be when the e.g. Librem 11 tablet becomes available for sale. Will it be offered for sale before there is stock and before the lead time is 10 business days? We just have to wait and see.
I have suggested before that a compromise between pre-ordering and straight up available for sale is ⌠a request for expressions of interest that reserves a place in the queue but either costs $0 or costs only a nominal amount.
I realized as time passed after my pre-order, that getting a refund from my credit card company, especially after a few years, probably wouldnât be possible. But now with Purism not taking pre-orders, the boundaries are simple. Call your credit card company to find out what their rules are. Ask your credit card company (not Purism) for your refund after their required time passes and your product has not yet arrived. Why even bother to notify Purism in that case? They will figure it out when their merchant account with Visa/Mastercard goes negative and their bank demands immediate repayment. If Purism doesnât pay immediately in that case, then they lose their capability to accept credit cards. That would be with Visa/Mastercard international. Switching banks wouldnât help them to get a merchant account again. Too many people waited too long for that to work with Librem 5 pre-orders. But the Secret Service tends to investigate when merchant accounts get abused by the merchant and their accounts go negative.
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Yeah nah.
Wouldnât it be netted off? So, sure, it could be negative if they havenât sold anything but thatâs not very likely.
Itâs more likely that they have sold things and withdrawn funds from the merchant account (so the refund results in negative balance.)
Exactly, if they are so hand to mouth cash poor that they canât give refunds, theyâre probably nearly cleaning out their account daily, just to stay afloat. Subtract a few dozen unplanned refunds per day on top of that and the account goes negative pretty quickly.
Itâs been a couple months since I requested my refund. No update, no response to my email other than âWeâll look in to itâ. on to the FIFTH year of waiting for either my phone, or now, my refund.