Here's my situation:
Last September I booked two tickets to Chicago for 20k miles each for October 2011. Due to some family problems I had to cancel my flights. The helpful phone agent informed me that I had a year to use as to not have to pay to redeposit

Fast forward to the previous Saturday: I found an award that I wanted to redeem but I needed the miles. I thought of calling but the website offered me the option to cancel and redeposit. In goes #cc info out goes $250 (for the two tickets.)

Sunday night no sign of miles. I call up and after 30 mins waiting I talk to someone who tells me it takes 48 hours for the miles to be refunded. I am skeptical but get him to promise that they'll be refunded in 48 hrs.

Monday, 48 hours after asking for refund no sign of miles.

Tuesday I call in. Due to heavy call volume they can't take my call. Finally get through this afternoon, only to be told they can't access my account because the system is down (as my tone escalates I am told its because they system is updating.) finally I get the agent to escalate my inquiry to a supervisor who takes my info, confirmation code and first born. 25 minutes later she returns and the miles are back in my account.

If this is par for the course then it'll take forever for everyone to get their miles back.

FDW