Refunds from airlines take weeks. If you paid cash for a ticket then you can wait between 8 and 12 weeks for a refund. The money is first paid over to the agent who did the refund and then they pay it over to you the client. Yes it really does take this long in most cases. When you purchase a ticket the amount is immediately deducted from the agency. So when you apply for a refund the money is not sitting with the agency in the case of an Iata ticket. This means that the agency is not in a position to give you a refund until they receive money back from the airline. Yes it may happen the agency holds onto this money or is slow in giving the refund however rest assured that generally the hold up is with the airline. Remember it does not speed up the process by calling your agent every day 
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In the case of paying with a credit card the refund is given and credited back to your credit card. This is a huge plus when buying tickets. This means that as soon as the airline refunds the money they refund it directly to your credit card which makes the process a lot faster and takes out the agent in the middle. This does not mean you apply directly to the airline for a refund, you will only do this in the cases where you have booked directly with the airline. If you have booked with an agent then the agent should apply for a refund on your behalf. Another bonus on the credit card refund process is that it is a lot faster than a cash refund. Reason for this is the airline refunds your card directly. In the case of a cash refund the money is returned to the agent in their BSP billing advise and most agents receive this every two weeks.
I hope this has clarified the process for you…
