hmm sorry to hear that @StaffanMelin, sounds like that’s the exact same thing that happened to me. The customer experience so far has been less than desirable, eventually my patience ran out, so I opted to withdraw my refund request, and asked to have the phone shipped instead.
If you don’t want to receive it, looks like there’s no other option than to wait for the refund, or take the store credit instead.
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You can receive it and then try to sell it. Given the gap between the early backer price and the current price, it may even be possible to make a profit. 
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Wouldn’t it be faster and safer to just sell the customer account with the order?
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That’s an option too.
Is Purism still supporting that, given that parity has been reached? (There’s no harm in asking Purism if that’s what the poster is considering doing.)
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Thank you to all that have replied!
I am so disappointed by Purism’s refusal to answer my attempts at communication. I need my money, as my economic situation has deteriorated since ordering the L5. I thought that this was what a refund was about. Things can change. And I do understand that things can change for Purism too. But at least tell me so.
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Hello!
I’m new to the forums but like flman86 I have been trying to receive a refund for my 2019 preorder (order # 4184840173) request since April 2023. I’ve been in contact with João Azevedo from the beginning and he has consistently told me that refunds are not being issued at this time. @JCS is there a way you can help me like you have helped @flman86? I have all the email correspondence since starting the refund process if that helps.
Thanks
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Preorder of what hardware?
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This is not truly a case of “I never received a refund for my 2019 pre-order” since you did receive the device but, yes; you do have an outstanding refund. I see from the support ticket that you:
- ordered the L5 in 2019-01
- received the L5 2023-03-27
- returned the L5 approx 2023-04-23 citing performance concerns vs device cost
- are entitled to a full refund minus a 10% restocking fee as per Purism’s RMA policy (device received in good condition with no noticeable defects)
As I informed flman86 above, I can work with support and finance to ensure you receive a refund, but do not have the resources at my disposal at this time to guarantee a disbursement date. I understand that this answer is not very reassuring, but do know that we see you, truly understand your frustration, and are working to settle refund resolutions as quickly as we can.
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Yes, you are correct; I did receive the phone and returned it after concluding it wasn’t the value proposition I was expecting.
Also, thank you so much for this response. I had been sending emails asking for updates but was not getting any responses, so just having someone acknowledge me feels good.
I understand you cannot guarantee a disbursement date but consider this progress in the right direction. What would you recommend my course of action be now? I’ll obviously check in on this thread periodically, but beyond that, what are your suggestions?
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Try to sell the device on the open market?
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Sure, it takes about 10 months to sell with the Asia modem, based on this recently closed thread:
Just remember to follow the marketplace best practices:
Best for @zenodrake to mention whether it’s the North America, Europe or Asia modem. The first two are probably going to shift more quickly (based on anecdotal observation of this forum, not that this forum is the only way of selling a Librem 5).
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My answer is likely not satisfactory and is never the one I want to give, but I’d recommend you give it some time. I cannot go into detail as it involves company financials, but there are several core infrastructure debts which are nearly paid off, which will alleviate a significant amount of weekly overhead costs, allowing Purism more financial bandwidth to provide timely refund requests and order fulfillment.
I know it’s neither your fault nor your responsibility to be so patient regarding your refund, but this is the state of affairs. We’re implementing numerous policies and improvements to ensure that this difficult situation does not repeat in the future.
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You took my money for a phone.
You never delivered a product.
You refuse to refund.
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Hi Purism,
I bought like $5000 of Purism products last year that were delivered in working order. Ordered >$2000 of undelivered products in 2024 that are still being processed. Please use some of this $7000 to get this person a refund, or else ban them from forum if they are not real customer.
Ok thanks, bye.
Sent from my Liberty Phone
[Edit: This post moved around the forum a bit and was originally the first reply to some complaint thread by some other user. I think I meant it more as a rhetorical to try to resolve the situation than something that needs to be directed at any one individual’s post, so it probably still makes sense in the context of where it was moved to, but I added this note in case the above does not make sense directly.]
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Purism unilaterally and retroactively backed out of their promises of refunds more than five years ago (not good). So Purism hasn’t been making five years of promises. They broke their promise to you five years or so ago. Now, apparently, they’re stringing you along, waiting for you to cave on your expectation of getting a refund and accept their products instead of giving you the refund that they have told you that they do not intend to give to you, starting when they told you that five years ago.
It’s probably time for you to quit wining. You’ve been lied to, screwed over, cheated, whatever you choose to call it. You could just accept the product and upload a video here of you smashing it to pieces after it arrives, if that makes you feel better. But in any event, it’s time to quit wining about this, mostly because it doesn’t do any good for anyone.
Personally, when I show my Librem 5 to friends and family, I warn them that Purism does not ever issue cash refunds. So they should be sure of what they want before they place their order.
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Why is the OP hidden?
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The original post contained two screenshots concerning details about their communications with Purism support and Librem 5 pre-order. One of the screenshots was an email from a few days ago of Purism support offering to ship the Librem 5 within several business days, or to receive store credit equivalent to the amount paid during the pre-order, plus 20% gratitude. The other screenshot was the customer replying to their auto-generated Librem 5 pre-order email on May 6th, 2020 to cancel their Librem 5 pre-order.
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I respectfully disagree. If an organization keeps doing the wrong thing, then imposing social pressure is one of the healthier, constructive methods to make the people behind that org reconsider their behavior, I think.
Calling out shitty or borderline fraudulent behavior of an institution shouldn’t be frowned upon or discouraged, provided that it stays within the rules and netiquette of this forum and doesn’t compromise anyone’s safety.
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