> I backed the original campaign and later used to work on its software; I know where the delays came from, I know how badly managed the communication around the project was, how many of its problems were self-imposed and, roughly, how much money Purism lost on this whole endeavor.

It's not just "bad communication" -- they broke the law. One person's "bad communication" is another person's "contract fraud." Seriously. I was totally ok with waiting several months for the product, but based on the timeline that you yourself have proposed I would have needed to wait from the time of my order in 2019 (a couple of years after they started taking orders!) to 2022 or even 2023 for my order that I paid for and was told would be delivered in 3 months. At some point, you have to pull the trigger on getting a refund, because your legal rights have a time limit on them as well. I don't think you could get a refund for something that you preordered 10 years ago. Furthermore, why the fuck would anyone wait so many years to get a phone which may rapidly become obsolete? To be clear, the time limit to get a refund on a credit card transaction is generally 6 months. My bank made an exception for my case, and might have even taken the hit out of pocket to Purism's benefit (though I think they have the power to not do it, as it's a big bank).

>Nevertheless, it delivered; the majority of preorders have been fulfilled in 2022 (3 years after the initial estimated shipping date) and all remaining ones in 2023, and there's a surplus of phones in stock since then. The only people who haven't received their phones yet are those that either couldn't be contacted anymore, explicitly asked not to ship yet or requested a refund.

Unless you work there I don't think you can possibly know this.

>The main problem with this project was how stupid its refund policy was, which combined with the delays led to the company eventually refusing to issue them and scaling down to a skeleton crew just to keep afloat and deliver. It did deliver though, I still consider it the best GNU/Linux phone out there even though it's getting rather dated now.

No, the main problem with the project was that they didn't ship the fucking phones. Purism sent phones to social media influencers, which drove people to the website that perpetually said the phone was shipping within 3 months. Meanwhile they took everyone's money and tried to weasel out of their obligations, and pissed off even the geekiest people who wanted the phone the most. That's all it takes to destroy your reputation. How many years will it be before their customer base can trust them again? I will probably never buy another one of their phones, because I can't be sure I'll EVER get it. And if you can't trust them on that, can you really trust them on any other issue?

I just casually looked and found someone suing them this year for breach of contract: https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/56159803/Thier_et_a... I didn't download the documents (I'd probably have to pay for them), but there you go. I think there is reason to believe that some people unsatisfied with what Purism is doing to this day. Lying will do that. I think the people who buy Linux phones are pretty generous and tolerant of faults in hardware and software, so it takes a lot for there to be so much bitterness against a company that allegedly does well.

Here's a post about a class-action lawsuit on Reddit, not the only one either: https://old.reddit.com/r/Purism/comments/16cn3of/waiting_for... By the way, I got an email like that but it did not offer store credit. It only said I had to wait an indefinite amount of time for my place to come up in the shipping queue or something, to get a REFUND (which I am legally entitled to).

Here's a rant by their former marketing director about why he doesn't think it's worth buying the US version (at least): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIWYN00ssY8 I think he's ranted about Purism in another video, but I can't find it.

Here's one from Louis Rossman, a man who initially supported Purism, in which he calls it a scam: https://youtube.com/watch?v=wKegmu0V75s The person he knows who has firsthand knowledge of Purism, which he cannot disclose, is likely his current employer (a pro-FOSS philanthropist and entrepreneur).