It doesn’t sound true to me. It’s possible that anybody who asked for a refund (for a laptop or phone) after a certain date (? 2019 ?) is still waiting for a refund. Evidence suggests that Purism isn’t providing refunds even when they have reached their spot in the queue. My guess, though, is that we’re talking fewer than 100 requested refunds (I would seriously doubt if it’s more than 500) and they are intending to ignore the requests until they have cash on hand (having already spent the money provided by the clients).
There is a separate thread in this forum that is trying to track how long of a wait it is to get a refund. Estimate your Librem 5 refund 💸 . If you see others, direct them to that thread. Information is power and that thread will give you all more information about the size of the issue. You’ll note that some have gotten refunds and they list what actions they have take (whether 2 [Demand Letter], 3 [FTC], or 4 [AG].
In terms of what you can do:
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If you live in California, you can take them to small claims court. You can’t bring a lawyer. But simply a printout of their refund policy with documentation that they aren’t following it should be sufficient.
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If you have access to a lawyer or, for example, if you’re a college student, the ombudsman office (generally a free service for students). I have heard anecdotally (maybe about 2 years ago on reddit or on these forums) that the threat of a lawsuit has worked. And, if it doesn’t, the lawyer/ombudsman can advise you as to the pros and cons of filing a suit.
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In either case, you could file a complaint with the FTC. Many people can file for Purism violating the Mail Order Rule (the number of complaints against a specific seller matters — it’s very expensive to Purism if the FTC decides to take up a case). The FTC also handles issues of no refunds for defective products.
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If you are a US citizen you could file a complaint with the CA attorney general or your state’s attorney general.
In both of these last two cases you need to be clear about the issue. You should look up and provide Purism’s corporate ID and details (the CA Secretary of State has a free online lookup). [ https://bizfileonline.sos.ca.gov/search/business and search on “Purism SPC” ].
Make noise here and on reddit. There are people here even on this thread who don’t like this complaining because they would rather just have everyone like Purism — they seem to want to ignore that customers are having these issues. Your noise/warnings here might help others understand that they should not assume that the refund policy will be honored.