So glad I found this thread a few months back! Set my expectations accordingly, for a ticket cancel and rebook. Long story short, I wanted to change a ticket but couldn't do it online (some bug and web issues with my reservation, as UA acknowledged), so I called in to cancel and change. Transaction resulted in some credit, and hence the ETC. But the ETC was never emailed to me, and after 3 attempts to get it emailed, I gave up and just booked a ticket over the phone using the ETC "in the system."
If you want the long version, read on...
(1) As mentioned above, I wanted a simple ticket change, but the website wouldn't allow me to do it online. So I called, and the agent acknowledged that it was an web issue ("web support tells me that your are not the only one having this kind of problem"), so he canceled and rebooked over the phone. I paid the change fee, and the new ticket cost less than the old one, so the agent told me that I should be getting an ETC by email. BUT, although he said the "3 to 5 days to reach by email" as a standard protocol, he admitted that it's a crapshoot when I actually get it, and he even suggested that I might be better off booking it over the phone as I might never get it! (hmm...). It was rather a nice exchange, as he seemed to be very knowledgeable, even figuring out my new flights with very little details given to him at first.
(2) A week or so has passed, no ETC. I started to worry a little, just because I don't want ETC to disappear through the cracks in the system (happened to me once at WN). So I called, and the agent apologized to me profusely about not getting the ETC. Then she checked on my reservation, and yes indeed I have an ETC. She offered to request to have the ETC emailed to me again, with the standard "3 to 5 days" timeframe. She assured me that the ETC will be "in the system." Again, she was nice and knowledgeable.
(3) A few more weeks has passed since my second call, no ETC
. Now, I do have a flight in mind, so I decided to call and see if they can actually book it without quoting me a higher fare (I was burned by something like this pre-Mar'12, when I found a great fare online but couldn't book/change, only to be quoted a higher fare over the phone, because they couldn't see the fares I saw online). This time, the agent was not as knowledgeable as the first two, but she got the job done. At first, she asked for a PIN number that I never got. So I explained to her the situation, and after putting me on hold, she finally figured it out, then at first told me the same "3 to 5 days" deal again. But then I told her that I should be able to book it over the phone, and after some time, finally booked my flight, with the same fare quoted on the web. I was happy, just amused to have booked this flight using the ETC that I never saw.
P.S.
I think, if I am able to change flights on the website, I get the ETC almost immediately. I'm guessing this particular issue was caused by cancel/rebook over the phone (which again, I had to do because I couldn't do online change)?
P.P.S.
As I mentioned above, I was impressed with some of the phone agents, and the wait times for all calls were less than 5 seconds (and they all answered with "1K desk" if that means anything).