Purchased Used iMac: How do I re-download iLife 11?

Question

I have purchased a barely used iMac 27", which the person said was wiped clean. I had to put in my information and set everything up when I turned it on. It works great, no problems, except when I go to the App Store I can not download any of the iLife 11 software. For instance, on iPhoto it has "Accept" to click on instead of an amount. When I click on the Accept, it has me put in my Apple ID and password. I do this, and then it states:
"These apps were already assigned to another Apple ID, and they will be available in that Apple ID's Purchases list. If you don't have access to that Apple ID and want to receive future updates, you will need to purchase the applications."
Again, it won't let me repurchase these applications even though I know they automatically come with the new iMacs with Lion. I looked for a couple of hours at different forums and I finally found one that stated that the iTunes Store Customer Support had finally fixed his problem after many months. Here is that forum:
http://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-1224880.html
So I contact the iTunes Store Customer Support and they tell me that I have to call Apple Care. That means I have to pay so that they can fix this problem. I mean, I am going to get Apple care in about a month (I still have time), but I would like to take care of this problem now.
I mean, why would Apple deny me and charge me for software even though it automatically comes with Lion?.....it's free with the program! Yeah, it's second-hand, but they won't even let me repurchase it. So, I'm stuck like chuck. I now have to wait until I come up with the $160+ dollars for Apple care even though the software is only $50. I know Apple care is a good thing to have, but I shouldn't have to pay to obtain this software.....or at least put it to where I can purchase it. If I don't pay for the Apple care, I can NEVER have iLife. That's just wrong.
Does anyone have any idea of what I can do to remedy this situation without having to pay for Apple Care right now?

Answer 1

I gave the forums a read. It seems like you have 2 options. You can either spend a lot of time on the phone trying to sort it out or you could buy the retail DVD version.
You can grab it for around 25 bucks on Amazon. I'm really sorry that this is not the answer you are looking for but it is probably the only way besides spending time with Apple.
You could always e-mail them with your situation. They may be able to assist you.
Sorry I could not be of more help.
-JD