Some Mac users who are entitled to a free copy of Mountain Lion through Apple’s Up-to-Date program were left frustrated this week.
As part of the program, Apple is offering a free copy of its newly released operating system, OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, to those who purchased a new Mac on or after June 11. But some users have been forced to wait several days for their redemption codes, while others have received non-working codes.
Worse yet, a number of users have received codes for the OS X 10.8 server tools instead of the operating system installer, The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) reported on Friday. Many have taken to Twitter and online forums to express frustration over the situation.
“Waiting for a code to get Mountain Lion free via the up-to-date programme, Just called Apple,” one user, Chris Beach tweeted on Friday. “They’re handling claims MANUALLY. 72hrs wait.”
Besides the long wait, some users received non-working codes. That problem occurred because Apple’s form to request a free copy of Mountain Lion went live two days before OS X 10.8’s release. As a result, some users were able to get their code ahead of the operating system’s launch, only to later find out that the code didn’t work.
“Like everyone else, my original redemption code was falsely recognized as already used,” one user with the moniker “bogus” wrote in a MacRumors forum post. “Sent an email to Apple Support last night, got a new redemption code this morning. Except when I redeemed the code, instead of automatically downloading Mountain Lion, it downloaded Mountain Lion Server.”
An Apple spokesperson did not immediately respond when contacted by PCMag.com about the problems. New Mac owners still have until Aug. 24 to request a complimentary upgrade as part of the Up-to-Date program.
Meanwhile, those who aren’t eligible for the free Mountain Lion upgrade have been paying $19.99 for new OS without issue. Since its Wednesday debut, the revamped OS has found its way to 3.2 percent of all Macs, according to stats from mobile ad firm Chitika.
Copyright © 2010 Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings Inc