Earlier today we reported that OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion was now available to download from the Mac App Store for $19.99. For those that have purchased a Mac computer on or after June 11th however, you are eligible for a free upgrade to Mountain Lion. I purchased a brand new MacBook Air recently so I was indeed eligible for this free upgrade. As such, as soon as I woke up this morning I filled out the required information to enrol in the up-to-date program and after I was finished immediately wondered – how long does it take to get your OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion redemption code?
I did a bit of research and discovered the time really varies. Some users have gotten their OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion redemption code in less than an hour, while some people are reporting that it could take days. I personally was not satisfied with what I found so I decided a poll would be in order to figure out the average time it takes to get an OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion redemption code. As such, if you have received your OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion redemption code please answer the poll below and share any further thoughts in the comments.
Update: Wow, after almost losing hope, I finally got my redemption code a few hours ago… making the total wait time over 48 hours.
[polldaddy poll=6416455]
So, are the people that have already chosen 24+ hours using a different definition of time? Mountain Lion hasn’t even been out for 24 hours, anyone that votes 24+ less than 12 hours from launch is making the poll useless. Don’t be that person.
Indeed, though I suspect there’s quite the backlog of requests. I submitted my request about 3 hours ago. Still waiting…
it says in terms that it will be emailed within 24 hours
I am still waiting for mine, it’s been 6 hours or so now. Seriously, I don’t understand how hard it is for you to determine my serial number is from a MBPr
Especially because of the issue with issue keycodes already in use. I just don’t get why it isn’t automated by serial number, that is about as unique as it gets I imagine.
still waiting… 8 hrs later
5 hours .. still waiting here !
7 hours and counting.
11 hours and waiting
I also do not understand the procedure of checking the serial number .. it should be simple – one unique number =one new mountain Lion .. I suspect this process takes so long on purpose – for those who do not have any patient and ready to pay money instead of waiting ..
I submitted the request 10 minutes ago and I am still waiting… I will come back and leave a new message once I receive it.
i submitted mine more than 3 hours ago, No response yet.
requested the upgrade link around 8:30pm central time, and just received the code! that was only about 36 minutes! woohooo! good luck to all who are waiting…
10 hours still dont have it.
Submitted at 8AM this morning. Its 10:37pm now. No response, code, nothing. Come on Apple, is this how your force people to buy your product???
still waiting.. It has taken more than 13 hours …..
just requested my copy ana googled how long it takes and found this! (the poll was genius!)
probably something wrong with the Mountain Lion key-generate system too much over give out the same codes…. guess Apple wasn’t “prepared”
Got mine 20 minutes after I requested. The thing is, it was invalid haha… The code was already redeemed.. Still waiting for apple to fix this issue.
I stopped counting. I called them today and they said that it can take up to 72 hours!!! Unbelievable.
been waiting for the past two hours so far nothing, hopefully by tomorrow morning , hate this crap if i wasnt so broke, would of just bought it times are ruff!
2 macs, so asked for 2 codes, currently no result in both cases:
– 1st: requested 17 hours ago
– 2nd: requested 12 hours ago
still waiting…
it means to them that it has passed already 12 hours but no code, so it is expected more than 24 hours.
How is that not automated? I doubt Jobs would let something like this happen!
Just hit the 22 hour mark after sending request. Nothing on the horizon as yet. It’s such a shame that such a great company with such brilliant products are starting to act this way.
19 hours.. n counting :( :(
They should just credit your account with the cost so you can get it straight off. Seems such a strange system.
if you take a look at the terms it says you will get it before its gone 24 hours
It’s Been 18 hrs for me so far.
It’s been over 24hrs for me. I even called to try and find out what was going on and he could not find my reference number in the system but said I had to wait up to 72hrs before calling back and if I still hadn’t received it they would figure something out. I would expect a clunky process like this from MS but not Apple.
Super disappointed. If I weren’t so stubborn I would just spend the $20 or whatever and move on.
25 hours and counting.
I submitted mine over 12 hours ago, but have not received anything as of yet. Not even a confirmation email that they have received my submission. I have a claim reference number, but don’t know what to do with it or where to check my claim.
Lastly, I purchased my system at BestBuy and when I was typing in the options for reseller, a bunch of BestBuy stores showed up in a dropdown. Of course they were in no specific order and I scrolled through every one but did not see my location in the list, so I just wrote in BestBuy. I dont know if this will slow it down or not?
24 hours and waiting. And I didn’t receive any confirmation email…
I submitted mine request 24+ hrs ago and also haven’t gotten any sort of email back. I bought my macbook off the apple online store so I don’t think it’s because of you putting in BestBuy; more likely it’s the issue involving invalid codes they’ve given out.
that exactly what happened to me
Waited 27 hours so far and no code. Just called Apple Care and the tech couldn’t even get my information from the database because it was so overwhelmed. He told me to wait 72 hours and try calling back on a Saturday when they were less busy.
If I just buy it and bring my receipt and serial number to the store will they reimburse me? I really don’t feel like waiting
I found this article doing a Google search for the amount of time it takes. I submitted my request yesterday at 9:45am EDT and still have not received a reply. I have a claim code but of course no information on what to do with that code. I am also keeping a close eye on my SPAM box as I would not be surprised if GMail marks a message from Apple as SPAM these days.
It’s been more than 24 hours. I tried resubmitting and got a message to say the serial number was already claimed. So I guess that means my claim is in the system. I haven’t found a way to use my claim reference to check progress.
I called applecare as well. told them it has been 24 hours. they said most likely I would receive it within 48. If I haven’t received after 72 then to call back.
i have not got the redemption code yet, its been more than 24 hours
I called Apple and they said it could take upto 72 hours. I have waited over 24 hours so far.
around 24h now…
I requested mine 28 hours ago, phoned applecare who used my reference number and said that the system showed that my request had been accepted however it doesnt show them redemption code and it should be with me within 72 hours
Seriously, I can tell all of you live in America, have some fucking patience go to work or somethiń and it will be there. I’m waiting patiently!
Didnt any of you guys hear that they sent the osx server version so it wouldnt work, so it may take longer to get the code for osx mountain lion…
waited over 48 hours now
redemeed 25 July , 8.30am PST but nothing yet ! Not even bad or wrong code.
Showing patience and will call after 80 hrs
Seeing as how we are apparently the least patient strata of people on the planet… Apple should have thought ahead and come up with some way of instantly delivering this product. It has been slightly over 24 hours since it was released and there seem to be 1000’s of people all complaining about how long it is taking to get it.
Did any of you guys actually send the Receipt/Proof of the purchase to Apple?
I can’t believe how impatient some of you nerds are. You should be more concerned with things like boobies. Now f you were to say damn it its been 12 hrs since ive last motor boated a nice rack. Come on guys chill out. As you can all see i pointed out how it could be way worse
I had to upload the receipt (format: jpg/png <= 1mb)
I think they are purposely delaying some people to reduce server load on the os download.
I think the difference here is if you bought it on the apple online store or not.
First of all, look whom you’re replying to: ‘Sarah’. Second of all, you sound rather oversexed.
And for the record, it’s not that we’re impatient per se, it’s that we would expect a lot more from Apple to deliver our update. It’s more about how it’s disappointing that Apple fails to properly provide us with a promised free upgrade.
then why did you google how long it takes?? stupid….
shut up you commy
I live in the Netherlands by the way ;). And I am also waiting patiently, however I am disappointed in Apple’s system to deliver us their update.
why did you fucking google how long it takes if you have a set of tits to suck
Still, nothing like a good rack!
then why are you reading this?
+1
Been waiting for 30 hours. contacted apple & was told that will take up to 72 hours & if I had the claim reference number all I had to do was wait & if I didnt get it after 72 hours contact apple again. Shouldn’t this be an automated process.
Yea, I’m actually shocked it’s not just automated. They should be able to easily figure out by the serial number or even by your Apple ID. I mean, I bought mine via the Apple Online Store, they should know that I bought it there with my Apple ID and then figure out that I am using that Apple ID on this MacBook Pro, so why can’t they just push the update to my laptop?
It just doesn’t make much sense, but I guess calling Apple constantly is just going to slow down the progress, so we better just wait ;d.
When I filled out the update request on line it said “could take up to 24 hrs” Apple told me 72 hours. They need to update their on line form.
Indeed they should. They informed me that it will take up to 24 hours as well ;d.
I’m at about 30 hours now and haven’t gotten so much as a confirmation email informing me that my claim was received and being processed. I don’t mind waiting, but it would be nice to know that my claim was successfully delivered to Apple. I also accidentally exited out of the window that had my claim number, so I’ve no way to use that to my advantage either.
It’s been 50 hours for me, still nothing…
So how much longer after 24 hours did you guys have to wait before the email came? Or did it come yet?
Never came to that screen. When I spoke to apple I was told don’t worry if you submitted & have a claim reference # your request was received & just wait….. I have been waiting waiting & waiting now just over 36 hours……
It’s been 29 hours since I entered the required info still no email I expected the email right away…But I’m not surprised it is taking so long
I bought it directly from the online store so I didn’t have to upload a receipt
he replied to WTF.
Nearly a day for me :/
It’s been 48 hours for me :/ Was there no way to pre-register and then when it went live? This might have solved a few of the problems and possibly the tsunami of calls to the apple hotline.
This poll is going to mostly be a sample of those who have been waiting long enough to find a forum like this in the first place! But whatever it seems like apple would be more on top of it than having all these people wait a day plus!
i got my Claim reference number about 50 hours ago, no response yet, though i bought it in los angeles and now i live in russia and it was impossible to indicate this in online form, so the informarion wasn’t correct in the end.
omg its taking aaaages for me too….still nothing :(
apple, this is bullshit
Thanks for posting this. It’s good to see I’m not alone in having to wait. I’ll chill for a few more days before contacting customer support.
I’m at 36 hours and waiting. I suspect with the initial problems they are delaying on the replies until they work the kinks out of the system. I’m cool with waiting. I’ll probably wait until the first patch is released before actually upgrading anyway.
Personally, I’m not impatient. I just want to know how long I should wait until I think something’s gone wrong and I need to follow up. I figure I’ll give them until Tuesday, or about a week.
Hm, I am in the 24+ zone mark right now… still waiting though. Maybe you should also add more options for the 24+ check in your poll haha. This is ridiculous now. Every average programmer can make a generator of such redeem codes based on a serial number of a laptop. Seriously Apple, I changed from Windows a couple of weeks ago. Why is this happening now?!
total bullshit. I guess the people who didnt recently spend 3000 on a new macbook pro retina get the upgrade first. I submitted the stupid thing 2 days ago. tyre
36h and counting….
Just got my code in 45 minutes
I did, 35 hours ago, still waiting.
Almost 48H… Still waiting… Bored!
They give you a claim number. And apple told me it will take up to 72 hours
Interestingly,
I submitted my claim on Tuesday and haven’t received anything… Today I finally decided to resubmit and got my code for the second submission in 20 minutes.
Hi, how did you resubmit? I also tried it, but of course, the serial number is now already taken (by my first request).
Exactly what I was thinking. This is a biased poll.
I was googling how long it would take and left this tab open, but now, a few hours later I’m already downloading Mountain Lion. So I have no complaints! Good luck!
Bought the retina display and have been waiting for over 36 hours!
I tried what @retinapro did and it tells me my serial number has been claimed. So I know it is in the hopper somewhere. I wish Apple provided something to use the claim code for.
48 hours and counting. Apple sucks in this matter this time :/
I just got mine, it took them 48 hours.
After waiting exactly 48 hrs, I’m download the new OS Mountain Lion right now
I googled to find out how long people have waited around the world. I am in Denmark and I JUST got my code, after app. 50 hours. So off I am… ;o)
Got mine after 45 hours. Downloading right now :)
i submitted it 2 days ago and got it not long ago that means apple are doing this slow but when you have submitted you will get it it should be done better but if you don’t want to wait pay the 20 its not much but if you can get it free why pay 20 dollars
Bought my Macbook Pro Retina at Best Buy and requested my free copy Wednesday around 5 o’clock EST and received both emails (there are two, one for a .pdf file that is locked and another for the password that unlocks it–the .pdf file contains the code for the Mac App Store) at 11:54 a.m.
today (Friday) forgot to add that :D
I just repeated the process… Put in the same serial number and it just went through…
update:
crazy apple people replied with this even thought the receipt had total cost and order reference number
====
Thank you for your recent OS X Mountain Lion Up-To-Date order. Unfortunately, we cannot process your order because of the following:Receipt does not indicate product was paid for and received Please resubmit a scan or high-quality digital photograph of the information listed above here
56 hours later and I have finally received the code. That only took 2 phone cals and an email to costumer service.
I’m in the same situation – I purchased mine from Argos Direct (Online Store) so the only proof of purchase I have is the email receipt.I’ve sent an email to Apple Support (uptodatesupport-uk@apple.com). I attached the same Argos email receipt that I uploaded online (I have no other proof of purchase). Let’s see what happens…
same here..its been 2 days since i uploaded my details and i have not received my code yet. thr is no way to check the status..or is the??
Received the code this morning, so very close to 72 hour wait. Not a big deal, for everyone waiting, it will come… at some point.
not necessarily so… bought my from the online store and I still had to upload a copy of the damn receipt…like they couldn’t verify that. Still waiting for my code… now over 48 hours.
The poll is not revelant. The question should be : “How many days have you been waiting” …
I’m still waiting for my code. Apple disapoints me this time…
That’s the worst thing about this system. You do not even know where is your demand ? Is it accepted ? Did they receive it ?
Like others below, I had been waiting for a while, but then I resubmitted my details and was accepted within 10 minutes or so, so try resubmitting details to apple and it should come.
Hope that helps!