Bootloader Scam Refund

[catbottom]

Hi everyone,

I was just curious where the refunds will go for the bait and switch scam Asus ran by removing the ability to unlock bootloaders?

You know, since the phone was sold with the ability to unlock the bootloader and install your own firmware officiall from Asus themselves, something which undoubtedly was a major reason a lot of people chose to buy this phone, since it negates the issue with a shorter time for software updates than most phones.

Since it ended up being pretty much a classic bait and switch scam, like selling a phone with 12gb ram and then delivering a phone with only 4, just curious how they're going to go about refunding me for the phone. Are they going to mail me a check? Or maybe a bank transfer? Hopefully not just in store credit, right?

Weird decision though on Asus' part, to just scam a bunch of people instead of letting them do something with the hardware they bought, destroying a whole lot of brand loyalty they may have had.  I dunno though, that's just my 2 cents.

Unrelated note, anyone know any good routers with custom firmware on par with AsusWRT-Merlin that don't lose hardware acceleration? Gonna have to find a new company to buy routers from, and GPUs, and phones, and basically all kinds of hardware.

Thanks a lot.

[landsome]

Why is that a scam? You think opening the bootloader was promised in perpetuity? Have you read the Asus terms? I understand your frustration - but the solution is simple in such cases: move on to something else, stop pretending the manufacturer is supposed to provide you with the means to engage in non-standard, questionable procedures. 

[catbottom]

An unlockable bootloader is a non-standard, questionable procedure? Omg, that's crazy, why would Asus sell a phone and specifically provide a questionable procedure with their own first party tool? You know, they could have mentioned that in the official press release where they announced this first party tool stating "unlocking the bootloader is as easy as downloading the utility, installing it, and running it." A statement they then sold phones off of (the bait), before removing it after the phones were sold (the switch.)

A manufacturer is not supposed to provide a tool for unlocking a bootloader. A manufacturer that comes out and provides an official tool for unlocking a bootloader and then sells a phone with that feature is though. Hopefully you can see the difference.

For example, I sell you a palm pilot without wifi, I am not obligated for it to have wifi. Another situation, I sell you a smartphone with wifi, then after the fact decide it no longer is going to have support for wifi, you use your 5g only. Though I guess you toss it in the bin and go "oh well", buy another phone?

[tochmi]

In the link to the download of the utility for unlocking, it warned of the risks of using it and what it would mean if it were guaranteed. 

 

Don't have to make any press release for this. Surely there is a way to unlock it without the help of Asus.

And search on the net, because right now I just did a search and I found the link to download the unlock tool from Asus. And I've downloaded it 🤭

 

[SR2631]

And then...? Have you tried using the tool you just downloaded? Because if you do, you will find out the tool you just downloaded is basically a junk app that can do nothing now because of Asus.

" Surely there is a way to unlock it without the help of Asus."

This statement was true, until Asus push several update to prevent OS roll back and shutdown their unlock server. I am not gonna blame you for not following up with the current situation, but the reason why we got so many angry user now is exactly because there is absolutely no way to unlock the bootloader of any newer Asus smartphone because of Asus's "effort", despite their promise from last year stating the bootloader could be unlock again in Q4 2023.