Reinstalling Mountain Lion - pay twice?

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Hey all,

My HDD recently failed and before I had Mountain Lion installed. Upon collecting my machine from the Genius Bar I had OS X 10.5 back on my drive - the OS the machine came with when bought - so gradually I have been bringing it back up to speed using the disc I had for Snow Leopard and the reinstalling Lion via the app store (I had already paid for it when it came out earlier this year and the app store let me reinstall it with no problems or extra payments).

My machine is now running on Lion 10.7.5 and I have tried updating to Mountain Lion via the app store but it is asking me to pay for it again though I already purchased my copy months ago. I cannot understand why it is asking this given that Lion reinstalled fine and I had only downloaded my copy of Mountain Lion once. Is Apple now wanting me to pay up every time my HDD fails? Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks to all those who help illuminate my situation.
 
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j.shakerley said:
Hey all,

My HDD recently failed and before I had Mountain Lion installed. Upon collecting my machine from the Genius Bar I had OS X 10.5 back on my drive - the OS the machine came with when bought - so gradually I have been bringing it back up to speed using the disc I had for Snow Leopard and the reinstalling Lion via the app store (I had already paid for it when it came out earlier this year and the app store let me reinstall it with no problems or extra payments).

My machine is now running on Lion 10.7.5 and I have tried updating to Mountain Lion via the app store but it is asking me to pay for it again though I already purchased my copy months ago. I cannot understand why it is asking this given that Lion reinstalled fine and I had only downloaded my copy of Mountain Lion once. Is Apple now wanting me to pay up every time my HDD fails? Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks to all those who help illuminate my situation.
Click to expand...
Have you checked that your Mac shows up as authorized in your iTunes account? If not, reauthorize it. You should not be charged twice, but Mtn Lion should show up in your purchased list when you open the MAS.
 
chscag

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Also make sure you're signing in to the Mac App store with the same Apple User ID that you used to purchase the initial copy. Otherwise it will not allow you to download Mountain Lion for free again.
 
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It's authorised (checked iTunes) and it's showing up in my purchases in the app store but is still asking for me to 'buy' again and, yes, I'm logged in using the same ID I purchased the OS with.

Any other ideas? Should I call Apple?

ALSO I just tried to go ahead and buy it (because I can't be bothered to call Apple) and it said 'There was an error in the App Store. Please try again later. (100)'
 
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It shouldn't be asking you to buy again. I just checked the App store and clicked on Mountain Lion. Underneath it just states "Download" which means I can download it again without having to pay once more.

I suspect it's a problem with it not recognizing that you have already downloaded and paid for ML. So yes, give Apple customer service a call and they should be able to set it straight for you. Let us know how it turns out.
 
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This is the confusing thing - ML in my purchase list also has 'download' beneath it but when I actually click on 'download' it requests me to sign in again in order to 'buy'. OK well I will muster up the will to call Apple and will get back in touch.
 
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j.shakerley said:
This is the confusing thing - ML in my purchase list also has 'download' beneath it but when I actually click on 'download' it requests me to sign in again in order to 'buy'. OK well I will muster up the will to call Apple and will get back in touch.
Click to expand...

I think what it's asking is normal. It does not necessarily mean it wants you to pay again. What happens if you go ahead and sign in and proceed? If it wants to charge you again it will ask if you're sure you want to pay. Let us know.
 
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Like I said, if I try to proceed I then get the message 'There was an error in the App Store. Please try again later. (100)'.
 
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Found a tip online, followed the steps - problem solved!

Thanks for all your replies everyone, anyhow.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4134816?start=0&tstart=0 (See Carolyn Samit's post):
From the Finder menu bar click Go > Go to Folder

Type this exactly as you see it here;

~/Library/Caches/com.apple.appstore/Cache.db

Click Go

Move the Cache.db file to the Trash.

Now here:

~/Library/Preferences/

Click Go

Move these files from the Preferences folder to the Trash.

com.apple.appstore.plist

com.apple.storeagent.pllist

Now here:

~/Library/Cookies

Click Go

Move the com.apple.appstore.plist file from the Cookies folder to the Trash.

Empty the Trash, try the App Store.
 
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OK, thanks for posting back. It was a bad plist file that was causing the problem all the time. I guess we should have tried that first and saved all the chatter. Anyway, glad you got it resolved.
 

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