I'm just chiming in here to request that perhaps at least some notification on the "Send Free Download Link / Code" page indicate that it does not do so. A pop-up or simply by CHANGING THE TEXT in the control panel and on the page itself would be quite nice.
I have been sending out free download links for the past 18mo that have not arrived apparently and am unsure how often I actually sent the links to my customers manually as well, but I am sure this has affected the impression I've made.
For context, the time that just I have spent troubleshooting this is probably equivalent to the time a "Dev" would have spent in adjusting the text on the page to indicate it doesn't work, and is likely much less than the time spent responding to the complaints on this page.
(Hoping this helps the next guy!)
-S