Why does Apple take 5-7 DAYS to deliver a Mountain Lion download?

I had to download this because I wiped my Mac and it went back to 10.7 and I can’t update to the latest version without 10.8 minimum. It says 1-3 working days but my order status is “Complete”

Still no email with a download link

Does seem a bit long, but will your Mac not function until then? Is instant gratification absolutely necessary at all times?

Okay, apologies. Wasn't in the best of moods at the time and shouldn't have been posting.

1. Is this your first purchase from the App Store? If so, then a delay isn't unusual. Apple, like many other companies, will run a minor hold charge of a dollar or less to see if the credit card information provided is valid. They won't release your purchase until confirmation.

2. If you mean this coming weekend (Nov. 9-19), and your download of Mountain Lion is still not available, then backup your current system. Use something like SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner to an empty partition on another drive large enough to hold your current working boot drive. Trust me, this is far easier and faster then erasing a drive back to its previous OS and applying a Time Machine backup to the reinstall. You'll be done cloning a drive back to its previous state in 20-30 minutes instead of 2+ hours. You can also do this same type of full drive cloning with Disk Utility.

Once the backup is done, install Mavericks and the business software you need. That gives you a day or two over the weekend to get things on the drive, tested and set up.

Wow! I've never heard of such a series of mishandled attempts on one simple order. Unfortunately, no one here can do anything for you. Though Apple owns and operates it, it's a user to user forum.

I have found myself in the same boat. I wish I had checked here before proceeding to zero the drive and reinstall Lion with a new license. I recently acquired an iMac from a friends business and I told home I would clear the drive and reinstall with my own new license and now I have a useless machine for the next who knows how long.

I agree that this should be an "at the time of purchase" download. I find it odd that they have no problem withdrawing the money from my account nearly instantly yet I now must wait for a product I have already paid for. I can't believe this is a difficult process, I'm sure millions of purchases from the App Store are paid for and go through without a hitch. This experience leaves me longing for the old days when Apple still had something to prove.

Let me conclude with the fact that I am also dealing with a time sensitive project and this is partially my fault for not being sure the software would be available to me before erasing the previous users copy of the installed OS. This could make a person feel punished for doing the right thing when acquiring a used machine. I hope that Apple can streamline this process so other folks don't find themselves in the same predicament.

I just bought Mountain Lion and am waiting to get a download code. Agreed, it's a bizarre wait. Are they doing a background check or software scan? 😀 Trying to wait you out? Analyzing the personal data they've collected on you? (Little Snitch constatly shows 'radar submissons @ Apple' trying to access my computer for a look).

The time wait is expected to be 3-5 days. It's obviously being done for a reason.

I want to upgrade for two reasons:

1. Mountain Lion lets you download 'last compatible app' from the App Store. Lion doesn't. A piece of software I have was updated for Mavericks, and dropped Lion / Mountain Lion Support. I needed to reinstall that software as it was buggy, and had to go through hoops / backups / other means to do so, because the App Store told me that this software is not available for my OS any more, even though I bought it.

2. When a piece of software I use gets a point upgrade (bug fixes etc) they sometimes do not qualify older OS's that the previous point fix did qualify for. This is my case. There are cases where having a mismatched OS / Software (even out by a point upgrade on either) causes undesirable results. Lion is being dropped in terms of support very soon, and I want to upgrade to take advantage of the bug fixes.

One recent point upgrade/bug fix in the piece of software I have needs 10.8.4, and since, they released a point upgrade that needs 10.8.5. So that works well for me, and obvioiusly, I'm going with the 10.8.5 one, because it's newer and because that's all that's available for "Mountain Lion"... but ... what if my software wasn't qualified to 10.8.5 yet, and they dropped Lion Support... what would I do then? You can't get 10.8.4 any more. I guess stay on Lion and not do the point upgrade.... meh, until it 'possibly' was qualified.

But finding this post made me think... I should keep a copy of all OS point upgrades. I am downloading Mavericks now as we speak, after seeing this thread -- I will not install (I tried it on a non-critical machine, didn't like it, reverted back w Carbon Copy Cloner). I will download each point update of the software I use going forward it just in case I need it someday. It's only a little hard drive space. Although I don't like it, if I need to upgrade to continue making money with less hassle (less bugs in software) I will.

I wish I knew this before I made my purchase, got a macbook from a family member and decided to reinstall the osx, they forgot to bring the installation disc and I wanted to get it up and running, so I purchased lion 10.7 online on a Saturday, called apple today and was told I have to wait another 4 days. ive been using windows for a long time, and this is my first time dealing with apple financially, I have to say im super fujjin pissd off. since when does a non physical download require 3 to 4 working days? yet the money has been taken instantly.

not happy at all

deffmuzic wrote:

not happy at all

www.apple.com/feedback

I also got a macbook from a friend. They erased the hard drive and I purchased mountian lion online 4 working days ago, still have not received code or confirmation email so I can not log in on this macbook with my apple ID. What takes them so long!

If the hard drive has been erased (no bootable OS on it), how did you manage to purchase Mountain Lion? More importantly, how do you plan on installing it?

I need to write this so there's a record somewhere of another disgruntled user (whether anyone at Apple bothers to read this or not.) I purchased a used iMac recently and had to upgrade from Lion to Mountain Lion (because half the software I use is unsupported on Lion), and have had to twiddle my thumbs for a couple days now because the process takes 3-5 days. While some might argue that 3-5 days is not a long time, for a piece of software delivered over the Internet, I think it is. Incidentally, I can't cancel my order because it's 'complete'.

I for one don't disagree. Any other online purchases I've ever made for downloadable software has taken a maximum of 4 hours to retrieve. Usually less than 10 minutes. I have no idea why it takes Apple's servers so long to turn around a purchase of Lion or Mountain Lion.

The description for the download code sates this:

1 business, day which contradicts the shipping time further up the page, still seems a little too long though for a download code.

Why this is I cannot say. Its odd to say the least. The 3-5 days seems to be is just the standard delivery time for any physical purchase in the store. My guess is it won-t actually take that long. Its just a default value for an item in the store, that was not changed for Mountain Lion.