What are our expectations?

We’ve created the world’s first ethical, modular smartphone. Unfortunately, sometimes we are still struggling with challenges. We designed our communication standards to help you and us communicate in a more collaborative, transparent way.

This guideline applies to all customers. This list is not exhaustive, and we reserve the right to refine it according to our changing community and team member needs.

We understand that your situation might be frustrating, and we are here to help you out. When you contact us, our agents will go above and beyond to help you address your issue. Please remember that we are also humans and appreciate respectful manners in any communication with us.

Respect members in the community and customer support employees

Stay civil

Don’t use language that can come across as offensive, threatening, insulting, or vulgar to others. Hate speech and discriminatory language are inappropriate, as is any obscene, aggressive, or disruptive language.

Please keep it clean

Treat our employees with respect in every interaction. Threats or harassment are always unacceptable, regardless of the language used.

Next to basic common sense, this etiquette guideline is also aligned with all applicable laws in the Netherlands and European Union. Don’t treat our agents differently based on (assumptions about) their race, ethnicity, age, national origin, mental capabilities, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, sex, gender, gender identity, disability, or diseases. Similarly, insulting other members of the Fairphone community on these bases is not allowed either.

Apart from that, we wish to address all our customers on a fair and equal basis. This fairness and equality principle also means that threats to the Fairphone team or an unwillingness to cooperate with our reasonable requests will in no way result in preferential treatment for the customer in the form of quicker or better service.

Violating any of these expectations will result in a warning communicated to you in writing.

A repeated violation will result in a decision where we will cease contact with you.

Keep it tidy

• When you already have a request on a specific issue, reply to that mail if it’s still recent.
• Avoid opening several requests on the same issue. It will take up more of our time to gather all the information needed - time we rather spend on addressing your issue.
• Try to use one email address to contact us, so information is concentrated, and we can help you quickly and effectively.

Please help us help you

We have the obligation to help you. However, we need your cooperation too. To prevent delays in addressing your issue, please carefully follow the instructions we provide.

Terms of service

Yes, legalities can be boring, but we must protect ourselves and your data against unfriendly folks. We have a Terms of Service (TOS) describing your (and our) behavior and rights related to content, privacy, and laws. To use this service, you must agree to abide by our TOS.

Communication with customer support employees

We're here to help you, and we want to work together constructively to address any issues you may have. To ensure we can provide the best possible support, please keep the following guidelines in mind:

Respecting Our Employees' Privacy

We understand that sometimes you may feel frustrated and want to share your experiences. However, we kindly ask that you respect the privacy and wellbeing of our employees. Posting personal information, photos, or profiles of our staff without their consent is not okay.

This means no sharing things like:

• An employee's name, contact details, or other private information
• Screenshots or photos of their profile or internal conversations
• Rude comments about an employee's race, gender, age, or other personal characteristics

Our team members are humans too, and they deserve the same courtesy and respect that we expect for ourselves. If you violate an employee's privacy, we may need to take steps like:

• Asking you to remove or retract the offending content
• Temporarily restricting your access to our services
• In serious cases, escalating to legal authorities

Working Together to Resolve Issues

We're here to help, so please bring your feedback and concerns to us directly through the proper support channels. That way, we can work together constructively to address any issues.

In the rare case where we have decided that you would like us to reconsider a decision, please make sure to follow our instructions carefully and provide any relevant information. It's important that you abide by these etiquette guidelines throughout our interactions. If these guidelines are not followed, we may not be able to proceed with helping you.

By following these guidelines, you'll help us maintain a respectful community that's good for everyone. We appreciate you doing your part!