Some of us have bitten the bullet...as hard as it was to do so. (Of course, this painful procedure often occurs every March 1st if we happen to drop elite tiers in our airline and other programs that use this standard "new benefit year" date.

As for the mailing of renewal kits, I had the same thing. My RA expired at the end of June and as of the 24th nothing had arrived as the AMBASSADOR replacement kit, so I too emailed and got a similar note back. The kit was sent out on the 26th (this will show on your "statement" online). Seems they are only sending kits out at the end of the month you're status expires, rather than earlier so we'd have our replacement/new cards on the first of the next month.