I wanted to ask if anyone here has gathered experience with commown (https://commown.coop/)
Fairphone is a partner of FairTEC together with /e/, commown and WeTell (I’m a customer there).
I can’t afford to invest in a new phone out of petty cash, but would like to have an FP4 for various reasons (need not be discussed here). I also find commown’s idea quite interesting that individual ownership of hardware causes some of the problems in terms of resource consumption. As a step toward more efficient use of resources, they offer (organized as a cooperative) a kind of hardware as a service.
So my question: has anyone had any experience with them? How is the handling, how did you experience the service/handling in case of a problem?
OK, 6 so far but no reply. Apparently there is not so much experience here yet in this regard. So if I decide to go for it, I will be happy to report. If someone can still report something before, I’m still happy of course!
No experience, but from what I remember when I had a look at it, the total cost will eventually be significantly higher than if the FP4 is bought upfront in the Fairphone Shop. The extra service provided by Commown comes at a price which I think is fully understandable.
I guess you had already taken this into account, I just wanted to bring it up for others reading.
You’re absolutely right: the costs are significantly higher (about twice as high at 5 years compared to just buying from the store, I think, considering only the pure purchase costs), and some of the services are in principle also covered by the FP warranty. However, theft (with deductible) smashed display etc. are not, something like that is covered by commown. Also, if the delivery time for a defective module is more than two days, you also provide a replacement phone during the downtime, whereas just contacting the FP service can be longer than two days ;). If it’s just about the monetary aspect, I guess it depends on how carefully I handle my phone whether it’s worth it.
Another aspect would be the conservation of resources, and the question is whether the model leads to a significant reduction in resource consumption. The idea is, for example, to reuse working parts from returned phones instead of taking new ones.
On the other hand, it is promised to put money from the rent into research & development of longer use, but I have not found any substantiation of what exactly the money will be used for. I have not found a transparency report. However, on the other hand, I also assume that when FP enters into a partnership, they also check the business model of the partner.
so far but no reply. Apparently there is not so much experience here yet in this regard. So if I decide to go for it, I will be happy to report. If someone can still report something before, I’m still happy of course!