You could have made the same points without tearing down a person who wore their heart on their sleeve and became too frank with you, instead you chose to drag them through the mud. Remember that video you did on bullying all that time back, maybe it was high time you went and watched it. You complained about lack of openness and weasley language in the last video, have you ever thought that maybe that is why this person answered in such an open manner? Not saying that this is an acceptable manner to answer in, but if they knew a better manner they would not have chosen one that would expose them to such degradation. I never expected you to understand developmental psychology and to pity people who are "culty" but i always thought that you could leave a person and his way of raising his kids out of the mud. It may be flawed, but the alternative is a mid life crisis for them, or something worse like having to build a whole new persona. And if you were going to drag another person through the mud, atleast you should have had the decency to read the mail in a normal and monotonous voice rather than that condescending whine you use to derrogate things. That would have been a sign of sympathy, ruthless, but sympathetic critique. Plus admitting that you are flawed does not give you the pass to be wrong. If anything, this response of yours is the more self congratulatoy and pissing over someone's grave kinda shit. You call him out for being delusional and thinking of himself as innocent while you are guilty of the same thing but from the bullying aspect. You think you are doing the right thing and justify your degradation of a person who in ypur pwn words sounds "culty" -reasoning being that i think people should sympathize with such people because they lack the mental windows that makes others see the futility of such acts, pr their reason is overpowered by other needs, but nobody in their right minds chooses to be culty for fun. Half of it is right, but the old rossmann who did that video on bullying, in that sate of mind, may not have agreed with your method, the one who was hurt about hurting a real bully, while this person is simply a supposed delusional person who believes in a cause. This person was not smart enough as Tim cook and other such people, who are the real evil and do things purposefully to literally one day enslave humanity in the bonds of subscriptions, which is partly why he gave you the opportunity to degrade him by trying to be frank. And you preyed on him showing his weak side. People who fight for the good side should have standards. And here you did not have any. You can do better.

One guy threatened Louis for saying "informative and unfortunate" and now he has turned it into a slogan. Never change Louis.

Bad refund policy aside, I don't want to have any relationship with a company that has employees who speak like this.

As you were reading the creep's diatribe about his "journey", I got chills because it sounded a lot like my dad had wrote it. My father was a narcissistic menace to society who terrorized my family and hometown until my mom pressured him with child support enforcement enough to get him to literally flee the country, and I honestly am worried about this guys kids being exposed to that nonsense. If you ever get fed this kind of crap by someone in your life, get as far away from them as possible.

That letter sounded like he had looked up a list of confidence building buzzwords and decided to use them all! 🤣

"I assume that I am the villain" Louis says while monologuing with a cat on his armrest... That tracks

He's got that entrepreneurial-cult-seminar vocabulary pretty much spot on. "Proactive", "goal-oriented", "synergy". I was also waiting for "we're like a family" which disappointed me but he saved it with "I'm just like you!", "we're on the same side!".

I appreciate your videos because you're helping others see the manipulation tactics. "Look what you made me do" is one of the games people play that Eric Berne, MD wrote about. Also, the next thing you go into at 18:00 where he says "you and I want to help," that's forced teaming that Gavin de Becker discusses in his book The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence. He is trying to get you to see that you're on "the same side" to get you to do things you wouldn't normally do if he was a stranger. Thanks for helping people notice these abuse tactics with real-life examples.

The lesson on how to understand deceptive and manipulative people and their intentions is great! And the philosophy about the danger of believing that oneself is the good person! Louis, never change ❤

Nobody writes an email like this as communication. This whole thing was an infomercial sales attempt

So actually pre-ordered the phone and eventually got it realized it wasn't actually usable as a daily driver so I paid to ship it back to them with their return policy and now they have my phone and won't give me a refund

16:49 "FUCK YOU SIR... !!" I gotta clip that....Lmao

Thank you for spreading awareness on companies who wrong people like this. I now know to never consider purchasing any product from this company. You really help consumers

The guy came across to me as condescending, self-righteous, narcissistic, and delusional. He’s avoiding the point while bloating the conversation with nonsense and patting himself on the back. He’s basically stealing from people and trying to justify it. Bad business practices result in a bad reputation, which he deserves. I hope everybody gets their refunds…

Honest people don't quack about how honest they are. Good for you Louis for not letting them off the hook.

OMG! I have GOT TO SHARE this!! Questioning one's own honesty is the KEY to true honesty! I'll have to warn them about the windy letter full of corporate buzzwords.

Excellent content, per usual. I should tell you: once I got it in my head that the spray bottle on the couch looks like it’s purposefully looking away from you, as if it’s actively ignoring you. I can imagine it coughing and sighing to get your attention so you can see that it’s *very intentionally* not looking at you. I couldn’t not see that. I can imagine it would be constantly crossing its arms pointedly. If it had arms, and, you know, it wasn’t an inanimate object I’m anthropomorphizing for some reason. Oh, right. Engagement. Consider this rambling non-sequitur my way of approving of what you do. And a thumbs up. Keep being awesome. Cheers!

There are 2 things that never change: 1. bad companies scamming people 2. louis's sitting position

I don't know whats worse, trying to keep your company afloat by running it like a ponzi scheme, or having absolutely no honesty with yourself that this is what you're doing.

Anyone gullible enough to fall for the "I would gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today" scam honestly deserves to lose their money. That being said, these people need to be investigated for not giving people what they paid for.

I am loving your content. the passion and sarcasm and ability to properly articulate your point are completely on point

I find it endlessly hilarious how companies don't realize that sending these emails telling people to take down their videos will just result in another video being made on them.

Louis certainly "reshaped his paradigm" for him, and for free! 😂😂😂 This isn't an email, it's a thesis! Anyone who has been contemplating telling a lie, you can just foget it. This guy has used them all up. There are no more lies left for any of us!

That customer service rep is a nutcase - wow! You dealt with him prefectly

In bits. You took apart so many layers of corporate BS. Keep it up!

Never trust anyone who peppers their sentences with "synergize" or "paradigm". They will turn out to be a vacuous twit 100% of the time. "We didn't want to deny refunds. We're the victim of our early customers."

No refund because of no product delivered is theft. Any judge would agree. Someone needs to contact the states attorney. Get them arrested.

that email genuinely creeped me out

Bro went off, idk how i found this channel but god damn it was nice to be here 👏🏽👏🏽 learned alot here

I’m glad you doubled down, and exposed them for the pricks they are

If I got across anything with this video, 13:43. If you don't want to watch the whole thing, go to 13:43. Learn how to recognize people who do this, and above all, make sure you're never the person doing it yourself. It is a daily exercise for me to catch myself in the act of self aggrandizing how good a person I am, and to always seek out the least flattering intentions for why I am doing anything that I am doing. I think it's imperative to actually doing good in the world. Defaulting to the assumption that I'm a piece of shit may seem extreme, but if the other side is this... I'll take my way.

Lol the cat heard that evil voice and was like wtf he on hahah

Anyone that treats their customer like that, I wouldn't trust to not be a sociopath. They might as well have hidden backdoors in the system and are working with corrupt shakers and movers..

I've not heard such slimy corporate buzzword appeal-to-conscience claptrap of this magnitude in a very long time. If I got anything like this from any company ever I'd make sure to warn everyone I ever came in contact with. Also love how Louis' inner angry New Yorker came out.

The "paradoxes" this customer service rep is struggling with is the realization he's working for a Ponzi Scheme 😂

Thank you so much for doing this video. I have been so interested in this phone for years. Literally the freedom angle appeals to me greatly. But I've always been sketched out by their caginess about when I'll actually get a phone. I'm so glad I didn't fall for this scam. I literally had the order form filled out once with my CC # and everything. But I last minute noped and glad I did. God I hate scammers. I was gonna buy the super expensive made in the US one too...

Great video. Thank you! Decades ago, I had an Applied Physics instructor who had a great phrase I still recall to this day. The phrase "Fourteen carat bullshit" applies to the words and actions of Purism.

as a victim of this horrible company: Thank you so much, Louis, I could not have said it any better!

That phone call will be a trap. He will bring in a legal counsel and threat you not to further comment on their matters and they will try to disclose some information to you but require you to sign a NDA before they can explain anything to you. Once you are tricked into agreeing, they can then come after you for violating the NDA when you discussed their matter in the future.

I always love the Louis that gets frustrated and tells us how he really feels.

Thank Louis! you managed to explain something I've never been able to put into words, It borders on the idea that sociopathic behaviour is endemic in our society it's not an illness it's part of the human condition especially where making money is concerned, the lack of empathy and being able to turn a blind eye to the damage that is created on the innocent consumer, we all suffer from bad business practice, and the guilty ones don't care, why should they, they were only ever interested in taking your money, company ethics for many, is just public lip service, even when regulatory bodies block their unfair practices, some smart ass lawyer will find a loop hole, being paid for from ill earn gains taken from the unsuspecting joe public. We live with a sickness often controlled by even sicker politicians, god help us!!

As a former Israeli myself, I can only recommend that when you hear this kind of BS from an Israeli person know that they are the biggest crook alive! STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY and don't fall for this sweet-talking BS. Like you said - villian!

The only thing worse than a sob story filled with excuses is a sob story filled with excuses coming out of the mouth of a marketing person.

Great video Lois, I can really appreciate the philosophical perspective.

That email exchange just reeks of someone so invested in their scam they think they can sell someone new on their scam despite them already knowing they're running a scam. It reminds me of the Boiler Room scene where Seth tries to pitch his dad (a federal judge) on his bs investment deal, after his dad had told him he was working for a scam shop, and then the dad blows up yelling at his son that he incredulously thought he was going to sell him on joining him in a scam.

Reminds me a bit of a pyramid scheme: If two new people pre-order and pay for phones, one old customer can get a refund.

Bro couldn't resist breaking out the thesaurus when he sent Louis that email. You can tell he helped his kids study for the SAT for 8 hours a day.

That is breathtakingly culty and manipulative, I am so glad you called out this BS.

Lol, I had this happen with a software company! I bought software that did not do what was advertised. I asked for a refund and they denied it. So, I went to a review site and wrote a paragraph review exposing them as scammers. Basically take your money for bogus software and then run. They told me to remove the review, ( the review company passed it on to them). I refused due to the truth and no refund. They escalated to a supervisor who threatened me with defamation, but I made my point, no working software, no refund, you get a very bad review and it stays. A couple of days later a member of "upper management" wrote me. H e was nice but still insisted I remove the review, I refused. His reply was to ask me if I would remove it if I got my refund. I told him I would but only AFTER the refund cleared the bank. It took another week but I got my refund, then I removed it.

This sort of language is what's used in every scam directed at older Americans. The moment my dad turned 50 he started receiving "offers" for products that are written just like this guy's emails. They like to say they're just honest, patriotic people who all pulled themselves by their bootstraps and shit like that.

There's nothin' in this world more dangerous than someone who refuses to ask "am I doing the right thing?" Never fall into that trap. Always look inward, because there is every chance in the world you might well be wrong.

This can lead to a MASSIVE lawsuit, literally

Louis, Rotary International has what is called the "Four Way Test" for the things we think, say or do. 1. Is it the truth? 2. Is it fair to all concerned? 3. Will it build goodwill and better friendships? Will it be beneficial to all concerned? THIS COVERS IT ALL! It is possible to run a business following these rules, and be very successful.

"It is up to the customer to release me from my promise" Customer: "Give me my money back, you lied" "Well, no. Delete that."

"As this video is posted in 2023, it's expected to be relevant up to Q4'26/Q1'27, this video cannot be deleted. Once this video loses its relevance, you can request deletion of this video" Then wait for Purism to ask again in Q2'27, ghost them and reply no sooner than at the end of '27 with: "My policy clearly states to not bow down to bullies. I can only tell you to S my D and G my B but if you'd like to accessorize that experience, feel free to buy some merch at [insert link]"

NEVER give companies more time for a refund than you have time to file for a chargeback with your credit card company. It's a simple rule of thumb.

Louis, What you are describing is the bureaucratic govts of every city, county and state for starters! They want more than they can blow; so their shortcoming can hopefiully be outsourced to the point that unions are in fact running all these places for their own hierarchy - malarkey. The output of function in minuscule. Like 5 road workers taking turns holding a shovel while a tractor operator team shows up to unload and tear up the street, to benefit another closing crew. Why did they come in the 1st place. A request for discovery. Somehow someone, likely a citizen, complained something must be fixed. Did Lahaina ever expect a fire from wood and 70 mph winds. Did they forsee Oleary's cow. Did the word contingency plan ever get spoken onto paper by the States Tourism Police?

I believed in Purism too. I even remember leaving a comment suggesting Louis hop on the Librem 5 hype train cause it was going to be everything right to repair could want. I had a whole shopping cart ready to buy when I decided I was happy with the Librem 5. They said all the right things and I didn't do my due diligence. I requested a refund after a couple years. Their "wait for shipping" game almost worked. Supply chain issues were understandable. Money's tied up with vendors - I guess I can appreciate that. When I got to the top of the shipping queue I checked - and the software still isn't ready. You guys had 4 extra years to do your homework and you still couldn't get it done? Supply chain didn't stop you from finishing your HTML 5 app support. How do you still not have Signal running? For real.

Using the word "synergize" is a big red flag IMO.

That letter read like it was written by Sgt. Thomas A. Deisenburger, before his mum said “Sorry, Tommy?” because she couldn’t understand a word. If I didn’t know any better I’d have thought it was satire.

This is easily my favourite "Cat sleeps with random noise in the background" ASMR video, more please!

Can't believe you didn't take that 20-30 minute phone call to "synergize". Just think of the concrete-less outcome that could have been mutually ushered into fruition!

I once sent a guy $40 for a book about Tori Amos. The money was sent in Aug for book delivery by Xmas. Well it never came, lesson learned wrote it off. To my surprise 3 years later the book arrived and it is a very good book. There was never any communication so all in all not a great experience. If I knew it would take almost 4 years I would have passed.

I support you and your comments. Companies obviously need to be honest although many are of the opinion that this is not a requirement. This type of attitude make me also question the quality of the phone, certainly the company owners are of low quality.

If they really wanted to do the right thing - they'd get out a loan - instantly refund everyone who wanted it. Hell if he was so principled as he talked about with his daughters he'd remortgage his own house to pay back those customers asking for refunds. He doesn't know what principles are.

"F*ck you Sir!". Polite addressing of the person. Informative message, with concise directive. Delivery with heart felt passion. Helpful guidance to where they can go. Louis is a true orator. The man knows how to properly communicate a message, with the full meaning that the recipient deserves to hear.

This email is absolutely insane. I'll guarantee that it was either written by chatGPT or that the person is a psychopath. No one talks like this in real life. The pacing and organization is as id imagine that an email from a crazy stalker might be, it's absolutely nuts the kind of mental backflips this guy does. This video is so surreal as a result.

I subscribed to this channel for watching mac repairs and now it's the best life lesson giving channel. Every video is better than 99% TED talks.

Lets remove the impossible of the time machine. What would it take? 1. Refund every customer, even the ones who don't want one. 2. Deliver a phone to everybody who had ever pre-ordered one. 3. Close the company, and never work in this kind of job ever again. No, not just "not cell phones" I mean "never a job where people have to trust you". If everybody was paid off, given the product free, and the company nolonger existed, it might be moral to remove the first video, as long as this one remained.

What they tried to (in my opinion) was try to string people along until the statute of limitations runs out so they don't have to legally refund the money. Definitely a shady business I'd never ever do business with

i was reminded of that whole philosophical "4 kinds of evil" thing. one of them is sadism. people who just get off on being a jerk. another is psychopathy. people who simply lack the capacity to understand that what they did was wrong. another is Machiavellianism. people who think that whatever bad thing they're doing is excusable because it's for the "greater good." and the last one is incompetence. it's just like that old saying "don't assume malice when it can be explained by incompetence." some people will create a whole narrative in their head that someone is out to get them, like if someone is walking in front of them and lets a door slam in their face instead of holding it, when the reality is that the person just didn't know they were there. i'd put this guy in the 3rd category 'cuz it's sounding like they painted themselves into a corner in pursuit of the "greater good" known as profit, and now everything is excusable as long as it's towards that end, with as much mental gymnastics and corporate sales consultant speech as they can shove into it.

Apple is that one friend you are always suspicious of but you don't stay away until you expose their fraud.

16:49 I'd say something funny about the neighbours hearing this, but I got nothing, lol.

It's important to remember that if you ever unironically use any permutations of the phrase: "We are not so different, you and I" in a conversation with a stranger than you are almost certainly a literal villian.

The fact that they emailed you with this spin story faster than the email their customers tells me everything I need to know. Still watched it though.

This is outright against FTC regulations. In the United States they are required to ship product within 30 days of accepting online payment OR offer the opportunity for a refund or alternative agreement. The fine is up to $16,000 per incident.

Sounds like a great new scheme, selling other products to repay the initial product refund... maybe if they had a third product to sell more of- they can repay the second product refunds when it doesn't come to fuition... etc.

This email thread reminded me of someone specific. I was working for a retailer, and we had a guy who reported a bunch of orders as not received, but then returned the goods for refunds after we'd already refunded him for them as "lost." HIs emails were flowery and verbose as hell, but he was a thief. Eventually we shut him off as a customer.

Gotta hand it to Purism, not having the actual phone is the best security method ever! No one tracks you, no one can access you're personal data, and the best way to protect customers is to not send them the phone you order! (Loved the obvious AI emailing you, like a real person communicates in that way!!)

The cat was offended at the"f**k you sir" moment.

@Louis Rossmann As a recipient of this phone. I waited 4.5 years to receive it. The phone is basically like Android 1.0, slow and sluggish, it has improved over time, except that I cannot use it as a phone. Every SIM card I've put into the thing will not register on any cell network I've tried. One time it did but fried the SIM Card moments later. There's a hardware problem with the SIM Card reader. With the way support is I'll never have a working phone with them and will never buy a product from them again.

When will these companies learn that Louis does not bow down to anyone? Keep up the good fight.

if the company goes bankrupt, whoever sent you that letter should be personally liable for every outstanding refund

Your comment "Fuck You Sir" (absolute gold) it was going through my mind as you said it.

Lol I ordered one of these from the website back in early 2020, it didn't arrive until May of 2023, a little more than 3 years to the date of ordering.... I had truly just written it off, even now that I have it I haven't even powered it on. It always annoyed that they continue to send emails selling "investment opportunities" (stock but not actually because they are not publicly traded) when they hadn't even delivered the original order.

When Louis answered "What would it take for you to delete your video?" with "A TIME MACHINE" I lost it 😂

Sounds like they have impure intentions

Louis, you are a consumer advocate! There are so many bad companies out there that could care less about customers after the purchase. You sort of remind me of what Marvin Zindler in Houston used to do. That guy outed so many businesses and helped so many people. I wished he was still alive.

I've just stumbled upon your channel. Excellent. Love your dry sense of humour.

11:20 I can vouch for this. I dropped a donation during one of his livestreams a couple years ago thanking him for advancing my career and he said almost exactly the same thing. Louis is the GOAT

I had a similar thing on a minor scale with a product bought on Amazon. I was buying a Starrett product from an Amazon seller and when it arrived it was a knock-off. I complained and was refunded and the seller was removed from Amazon. I then get a message from the seller with a similar narrative, I'm a small business, it was a mistake, I have children to feed, I may lose my home, etc. "Please remove your complaint so I can continue my business". Not a chance mate! You try and screw over your customers and got caught out, that was your mistake!

They lost me when they went on that honesty/spiritual tangent. What he actually meant to say is that he is a scammer on multiple levels and even his own children aren't safe

Here’s what to do. You get the vendors in address and look up who hosts the site. This is fairly easy to do. In each listing of the host/domain provider, they will have an email to report abuse and also another email to contact them. You write to both emails. You tell them that they are hosting (name the site) which is a fraudulent. You tell them that will be party to a fraud action unless they address the vendor. You will probably get your money back. Worked for me.

Way back in 1981 I got hired at a software company as a grunt coder. This was my first professional computer job. The person who wrote you the email sounds something like the pie in the sky, woo woo person who was running the company I worked for. Instead of staying on the job and working hard to guide their business, they would take time off for consciousness raising trips to Brazil - when they couldn't even make payroll for their company! I had to wait months to finally get my severance check from them, when state law required 24 hours maximum time for an employer to issue a check after employee termination. What a jackass. Step away from the lotus plant, I hope this person's children can get the therapy they may end up needing.

Anytime a company tries to pull this garbage or anything shady, you sue them in Small Claims Court. Usually the threat alone is enough to get them to just pay you. Its cheap to file, the form takes mere minutes to fill out. Show up in court, speak in plain english, just tell the truth, no lawyers allowed. They likely wont show up and you win a default judgement; or if they do show they will lose anyway. Small claims heavily favors the little guy as it should.

"We wanna... _PUSH_ the envelope, we wanna... _CHANGE_ the paradiggum! _JESSE?!_ ... step away from the box." That's what that message made me think of.

I find it a bit hard to get worked up over these types of scams. How soon we forget. These used to start with, "I m a Nigerian prince, and I need your help to recover my family fortune tied up in our national bank." Even Popeye used to know better, "I'd gladly give you a phone on Tuesday for a hamburger today."

it would be better if companies would say " give us money to develop this concept and accept that it may fail and you can't get money that we've already spent back"

Instead of all this BS they should say, "Hey Louis we saw your video and realized our policy of not issuing refunds is wrong and we will start issuing all valid refunds including refunding if the customer did not receive the product because we hadn't shipped it and be glad we got a 3 year interest free loan in an inflationary environment."

“Are you buying this?” That’s a hard “no”.😂