Purism
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Purism is a free-and-open-source hardware and software company that manufactures Linux-based phones, tablets, and workstations. The company has vowed to only ship free-and-open-source software and firmware with their hardware, and to create devices that respect the user's privacy, security, and freedom. The company maintains a GNU/Linux distribution, PureOS, which works on both laptops and Purism phones.
| Basic information | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2014 |
| Type | Private |
| Industry | Technology |
| Official website | https://puri.sm/ |
Purism 5 Refund Controversy
Purism started taking pre-orders of this phone on 24 August 2017. A customer bought a preorder in 2019, and after 3 years, on 3 August 2022, the customer wrote an email requesting a refund, stating "I would like to request a refund for my order #Purism_xxxx. I no longer wish to receive my Librem 5. Thank you."
Purism responded by saying "Okay, this is a PRE-order from 2019. ETA is Q4 2022/Q1/2023, once we reach it our shipping queue we will contact you. You can then reply with your refund request. Per out policy we can't cancel a pre-order until we reach it in the shipping queue."
This a tactic used by companies in hopes that the customer forgets about the refund request.
In Q2 2023(11 April 2023) The customer emailed Purism and they created a ticket saying "When it is being processed my colleagues from our financial department will contact you to confirm the details"
2 Months later on 14 June 2023, the customer reached out and asked for an update stating, "I requested a refund for my Librem 5 two months ago and it says here that a support ticket was created and I have not received any further correspondence since this email or a refund. I would like and update on the status of my refund"
At least 2 emails were sent asking for an update, with no response from Purism.
On 26 July 2023, Purism responded by saying that "I am sorry, the original policy was 'no refunds'. which is enforced now when we reached shipping parity." and "I'm afraid at the moment we can only offer you to have the phone shipped... Alternatively, we could provide a store credit for the amount you funded the phone with(and add up to 20% of the value), in case you are interested in purchasing something else from our store"
Purism used "weasel words" by saying "You can then reply with your refund REQUEST" and then months later stating "the original police was 'no refunds'", as requests do not have to be granted.
Security Concerns[edit | edit source]
Take down Request[edit | edit source]
A former employee sent an email to Louis Rossmann after Louis released a youtube video documenting the refund controversy and security concerns. Louis declined to remove the video, and created another video responding to the email from the former employee.
References[edit | edit source]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKegmu0V75s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IjUryQOlgk