Just for those who are still with Snow leopard and NOT on later OS X-versions:
You can still upgrade to ElCapitan, even if you never "bought" or downloaded ElCapitan:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206886
You can still upgrade to ElCapitan, even if you never "bought" or downloaded ElCapitan:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206886