I'm stepping in a little late, but in my opinion the user is in the wrong here regardless of which story is more accurate.
If Eyetech really did offer to do the rom swap themselves, a simple phone call to them could have resolved the misunderstanding. It's bad enough that the user tried to do the rom swap when they knew they didn't feel up to the job, but going ahead with it when you have unclear instructions too?
Honestly, there were plenty of options available to you: Friends (more technically savvy), user groups, the support mailing list, computer shops or even Eyetech themselves.
I think this is something to be chalked up as one of those bad learning experiences and move on. It certainly is not the fault of Eyetech that someone did something against their own judgement.
