Am I really too late for the free Mountain Lion upgrade?

I'm sorry, but you missed the deadline. Of course you can always give it a try:

Am I eligible for the free upgrade?

See Apple - Free OS X Mountain Lion upgrade Program.

Terms and Conditions

http://www.apple.com/osx/uptodate/

This program entitles the purchaser of a qualifying product purchased on or after July 26, 2012, to upgrade to OS X Mountain Lion.

Completed order form and dated, itemized sales receipt must be emailed within 30 days of product purchase to qualify for this program.

All we can say is "because that's Apple's policy, and always has been". There has always been a deadline by which you have had to apply for an Up-To-Date program. Apple's quite rigid about it, so if you want Mountain Lion now, you'll have to pay the $20 US for the upgrade.

Regards.

Sim1dePim1 wrote:

... Sherlock :')
I know what it says, just can't imagine them saying "Even though you bought yours recently and paid loads; you can't have it. Go spend money."

I guess I'll just try anyway.

You were the one who asked the question, I wasted my time giving you the answer that is EASY to find if you would do a little bit of research yourself 😠.

There was a clear time stated during which you were eligible for a free upgrade. If you did not claim the upgrade during that time, then it was not something you "should have gotten for free". Many programs have a deadline before which you must apply to claim any upgrade, rebate, bonus promotion, etc. If you fail, for whatever reason, to apply during that deadline, you'll get turned down by everyone and would not be entitled to anything else. Running these promotions is not free to the relevant company; they have to pay significant amounts of money to handle all the necessary processing, so almost everyone puts on a deadline.

And yes, sorry, but there's nothing you can do about it. Buy the upgrade or stay with Lion. Your computer will work perfectly well just as it was out of the box, which was all you were promised at the time you bought it.

Regards.

I just found out about the August 24 deadline for upgrading products purchased in June. I'm amazed that this is Apple's SOP. Couldn't they have just sent a link to download the upgrade to registered users? Did they really need a hard copy of the receipt which I printed off of their own website? How did Apple become the largest corporation in market cap with this kind of lame service?

I have asked Apple to provide me the original wording of the advertisements and terms of their promotion...not holding my breath. Otherwise, I have asked them to return their product. Sadly, Apple has become the Goliath they did such a good of toppling.

So, if you relied on a free engine upgrade from your car dealership and they hid the 30 day deadline for upgrade in the fine print, you would be okay with being denied an upgrade 1 day past the deadline? To add insult to injury, what if they did not warn you of the approaching deadline, and requiring you to submit a receipt they already have on file?

In any case, just as you point out that Apple can be super strict and non-customer friendly about the promotion they used to induce people to purchase their products, those of us who are unhappy can make our unhappiness be known. Companies like Apple will never change their ridiculous, greedy policies unless their profitability is threatened.

I bought the MBP on 12/14/12 and submitted for the upgrade on 01/14/2013, exactly one month, but 31 days. Apple jerks declined it, then declined my first appeal and then declined my second appeal.

My only recourse is to NEVER buy anything Apple again. I'm going back to Dell/Microsoft.

You can always see if Support will make an exception. http://www.apple.com/support/mac/app-store/contact/

stevejobsfan0123 wrote:

You can always see if Support will make an exception. http://www.apple.com/support/mac/app-store/contact/

Not after five months they won't.

Regards.

Depends on how hard you threaten and rant.