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Angry Mac owners raise Twitter ruckus over missing OS X upgrade codes

Redemption codes for free Mountain Lion upgrade not arriving, customers complain

July 26, 2012 09:55 PM ET

Computerworld - New Mac owners took their frustration with Apple onto Twitter today as they groused that they have not received redemption codes for the free copy of OS X Mountain Lion they were promised.

"36 hours later still no redemption code for mountain lion, a phone call to apple informed me the process can take up to 72 hours?? Huh?" tweeted Andy Blackwood around 5 p.m. PT Thursday.

"A day and a half later and still no Mountain Lion redemption code. This is what a Retina MBP earns me? Frustrated!" said John Derrick, referring to the MacBook Pro equipped with a higher-resolution display.

Blackwood and Derrick were joined by scores of others also on Twitter who complained about Apple's inability to get them the redemption codes they needed to download Mountain Lion.

Last month, Apple promised customers that if they purchased a new Mac on or after June 11, they were eligible for a free upgrade to Mountain Lion. The program, called "Up-To-Date," started taking requests from those Mac owners Wednesday when the company shipped Mountain Lion to the Mac App Store.

The terms of the deal, as spelled out in the fine print on the Up-To-Date site, promised a code would "be emailed within 24 hours of order qualification." The phrasing, however, distinguished between that "order qualification" and the customers' submission of a request.

Some people were positively hot.

"If I don't get my redemption code for Mountain Lion soon, I'm gunna go to an Apple store and slap the first employee I see with an iPad!" threatened Robbie Bone, one would hope with tongue in cheek.

Others took a conspiracy theory approach. "I reckon Apple is holding back my Mountain Lion redemption code for the lulz, to send it exactly 1 minute after I give up and pay for it," tweeted Martin Bryant early Thursday.

It's difficult to tell how many customers are awaiting codes, but a well-trafficked thread on Apple's support forum dedicated to the topic has been viewed more than 2,600 times and currently has over 100 messages.