Well first off they mentioned this only effecting patrol and faction missions so his original complaint is moot anyways and secondly they're saying you won't be awarded the award for a previously completed mission. Picking it up on the abandoned quests kiosk makes it current and allows you to receive the rewards again. Hence how my wife picked up a second stranger's rifle by completing the quest, so redoing this quest should work just the same, but once again they never said you weren't being compensated for these quests anyways, so you probably won't even have to do that.