People who go into a crowdfunding campaign expecting either a product or a refund with no risk for just one or neither, aren't the right audience for and shouldn't be participating in crowdfunding.

Okay, even if you assume this caveat emptor bullshit excuse to be the case: these refunds were not nearly limited to crowdfunding campaign backers. These were people who saw Purism advertising a finished product that they could preorder/order. This is the same position as if I'd go to Fairphone's website, order a Fairphone 6, never receive it, request a refund, and either get denied repeatedly or ghosted indefinitely.

You can't "buyer beware" a legally established American company advertising a product. That's just called a scam. And that's already generously ignoring the crowdfunding backers they scammed by giving zero transparency to.