Purism
Contents5
⚠️ Article status notice: This article has been marked as incomplete
This article needs additional work for its sourcing and verifiability to meet the wiki's Content Guidelines and be in line with our Mission Statement for comprehensive coverage of consumer protection issues.
This notice will be removed once sufficient documentation has been added to establish the systemic nature of these issues. Once you believe the article is ready to have its notice removed, please visit the Moderator's noticeboard, or the discord and post to the #appeals channel.
Learn more ▼
This article has been flagged due to verification concerns. While the topic might have merit, the claims presented lack citations that live up to our standards, or rely on sources that are questionable or unverifiable by our standards. Articles must meet the Moderator Guidelines and Mission statement; factual accuracy and systemic relevance are required for inclusion here!
Articles in this wiki are required to:
- Provide verifiable & credible evidence to substantiate claims.
- Avoid relying on anecdotal, unsourced, or suspicious citations that lack legitimacy.
- Make sure that all claims are backed by reliable documentation or reporting from reputable sources.
Examples of issues that trigger this notice:
- A topic that heavily relies on forum posts, personal blogs, or other unverifiable sources.
- Unsupported claims with no evidence or citations to back them up.
- Citations to disreputable sources, like non-expert blogs or sites known for spreading misinformation.
To address verification concerns:
- Replace or supplement weak citations with credible, verifiable sources.
- Make sure that claims are backed by reputable reporting or independent documentation.
- Provide additional evidence to demonstrate systemic relevance and factual accuracy. For example:
- Avoid: Claims based entirely on personal anecdotes or hearsay without supporting documentation.
- Include: Corporate policies, internal communications, receipts, repair logs, verifiable video evidence, or credible investigative reports.
If you believe this notice has been placed in error, or once the article has been updated to address these concerns, please visit the Moderator's noticeboard, or the #appeals channel on our Discord server: Join here.
❗Article Status Notice: Inappropriate Tone/Word Usage
This article needs additional work to meet the wiki's Content Guidelines and be in line with our Mission Statement for comprehensive coverage of consumer protection issues. Specifically it uses wording throughout that is non-compliant with the Editorial guidelines of this wiki.
Learn more ▼
How You Can Help: If this is a non-Theme article (See: Article types):
- Persuasive language should not be used in the Wiki's voice. Avoid loaded words, or the causing of unnecessary offense, wherever possible.
- No direct attacks on named individuals or companies. Malice may be attributed to bad and proven offenders, but only through the use of quotation and citation - never in the Wiki's voice.
If this is a Theme article:
- Where argumentation is used make sure it is clear and direct but not inflammatory. Avoid strong language, or causing unnecessary offense.
- No direct attacks on named individuals or companies. Malice may be attributed to bad and proven offenders, in a formal and calm manner.
This notice will be removed once sufficient documentation has been added to establish the systemic nature of these issues. Once you believe the article is ready to have its notice removed, visit either the Moderator's noticeboard, or the Discord (join here) and post to the #appeals channel.
| Basic information | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2014 |
| Legal Structure | Private |
| Industry | Computer Hardware, Computer Software |
| Also known as | |
| Official website | https://puri.sm/ |
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 Linux distribution, PureOS, which works on both laptops and Purism phones.
Incidents
Incidents not mentioned here are in Category:Purism.
Purism 5 Refund Controversy (2022-2023)
Purism started taking pre-orders of this phone on 24 August 2017. A customer bought a pre-order 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 tactic is 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 policy was 'no refunds'", as requests do not have to be granted.
Security Concerns
Take down Request
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
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKegmu0V75s (Archived)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IjUryQOlgk (Archived)
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29841523 (Archived)
https://liliputing.com/lilbits-purisms-refund-policy-or-lack-thereof-samsung-galaxy-tab-s9-fe-and-better-qr-code-scanning/ (Archived)