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iPhone Did I screw over my friend?

G

guitarmandp

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 21, 2012
418
0
I have a friend that isn't very savy when it comes to computers. He wanted to be able to cancel his iPad plan which he pays $40 a month for and use Tetherme. I also installed a few tweaks like swipeselection on his phone and bitesms.

Long story short he paid me $60 to jailbreak his iphone 5 and setup Tetherme and a few other tweaks and spent 15 minutes explaining how to use everything. I never told him to not upgrade because his iPad 2 was running 4.3.3 and the jailbreak disables OTA updates

So a week after I do this he updated his phone. He plugged the phone into the computer and hit "restore" and he's furious at me for not telling him.

Did I screw him? It took him a while just to learn how to use the hotspot so I figured te last thing he'd was update his software.
 
guitarmandp said:
I have a friend that isn't very savy when it comes to computers. He wanted to be able to cancel his iPad plan which he pays $40 a month for and use Tetherme. I also installed a few tweaks like swipeselection on his phone and bitesms.

Long story short he paid me $60 to jailbreak his iphone 5 and setup Tetherme and a few other tweaks and spent 15 minutes explaining how to use everything. I never told him to not upgrade because his iPad 2 was running 4.3.3 and the jailbreak disables OTA updates

So a week after I do this he updated his phone. He plugged the phone into the computer and hit "restore" and he's furious at me for not telling him.

Did I screw him? It took him a while just to learn how to use the hotspot so I figured te last thing he'd was update his software.
Click to expand...

How good of a friend is he? I would never charge any of my friends to do what you did (nothing really), let alone $60. Maybe if they wanted to buy me a drink or lunch or something.

I would probably just give him his money back and apologize.
 
You should have told him if he ever updates to stock firmware with iTunes he would lose the JB and tethering and other hacks you installed.
Some people think software hacks and JB unlocks stay forever even after your restore/update.
Either way its your choice how you want to handle it and how much you value your friendship with the particular person.
Maybe give him half his money back or something to make him happy.
 
guitarmandp said:
I have a friend that isn't very savy when it comes to computers. He wanted to be able to cancel his iPad plan which he pays $40 a month for and use Tetherme. I also installed a few tweaks like swipeselection on his phone and bitesms.

Long story short he paid me $60 to jailbreak his iphone 5 and setup Tetherme and a few other tweaks and spent 15 minutes explaining how to use everything. I never told him to not upgrade because his iPad 2 was running 4.3.3 and the jailbreak disables OTA updates

So a week after I do this he updated his phone. He plugged the phone into the computer and hit "restore" and he's furious at me for not telling him.

Did I screw him? It took him a while just to learn how to use the hotspot so I figured te last thing he'd was update his software.
Click to expand...

This reminds me of the situation. "Don't put your hand on the hot stove" and you do it anyway, cause you forgot or were curious.

As a CEO, I can give you some advice. First, your price is your price. You had knowledge your friend did not, and that is valuable to you. Could he have spent hours learning what a jailbreak is, how do it, the right tweaks to install, etc? Yes, but he didn't. You had the services, and you set the price on what you felt was fair.

I also repair computers, and regardless of how quick the problem is, I still charge a flat out price. I took the time to learn all there is in the tech world, the ins and outs of the computer, etc. Since he/she didn't have the skill, she had to pay someone that took the time to learn it, to do it for them. (Now, I don't rip off people of course. If a cord is unplugged, or a quick setting change fixes something, it would be morally wrong to charge for something like that).

I can't make you get rid of your guilt, but in my eyes, no you did not do anything wrong and you should keep the money. You told him what not to do, but he did it anyway. He could stretch it and say a restore isn't updating, but iTunes does give you a message before you restore that it will wipe and update your phone to the latest version. That should have raised a flag.

You could also give him maybe 30-50% of his money back, if you want to feel even better since he is your friend, and not a client. Since you had no expenses to pay using the jailbreak, it won't be any loss.

In fact, donate it to the jailbreak devs. That should make you feel even better. :)

Good luck on whatever you choose to do. But, if it becomes a big deal, don't lose a friendship over a silly thing.
 
Since his iPad was on 4.3 I figured he was one of those guys that never updates anything.
 
I wouldn't have charged him, but if he agreed to pay then that's fine.

I suppose you could've told him to not upgrade, but ultimately he's responsible for his crap. To fix the situation, give him back his $60, then jailbreak it again (if you can) for free.
 
Tend to agree--give him back the cash. The friendship is worth more than $60, and he had no way of knowing that updating would mess up what you'd done. Hopefully he's enough of a friend that he'll drop it once he gets the cash back. Otherwise, hard lesson learned for both of you. :(

(This is why I refuse to JB any devices not under my personal control--for free or for pay. When anyone asks, I point them here, tell them a few "need to know" things, and let them know I'm available on call at $150 an hour if they screw it up. Needless to say, at those rates, I'm not stuck playing tech support anymore! LOL Seriously though, if they're not tech savvy enough to follow the basic instructions of how to jailbreak--and take steps to learn at least a little about it--I can pretty much guarantee they're going to f it up in some fashion, probably sooner rather than later. And life's too short to fight with friends and family over stuff like this.)
 
Besides all of the above, only the evasi0n jailbreak blocks OTA, with all others you end up in a boot loop and need to restore.
 
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