I have been patiently waiting for 3 months although my friend sent in his renewal weeks after mine and received his card about ten days ago.
Plus lets say it takes another month before I get my card, instead of getting a year of use out of it, then I only have a valid card for 8 months instead of a year.
Pre dating my card back to when I originally sent in my application out would be a disservice to me.

Im just glad to hear im not the only one getting the run around.