My approach: When I have Elite 100K and get The Works for free, I don't bother trying to get refunds anymore. Instead, I just keep using travel credits, which are good for a full year for me.
So, for example, if I need to book a flight, I use the flight credits that I already have, instead of paying with credit card.
The advantage of using travel credits is that it's easy (don't have to do the form, and I don't have to track my credit card to see if I actually got the refund) and it always works (the refund form sometimes fails to work).