This is my timeline for renewing/obtaining a new PR card as returning PR (using a PRTD to return) after accompanying my Canadian spouse abroad for several years.
Obtaining the PRTD went really smoothly, however I only got a single-entry Visa despite asking for a multiple entry one. Once in Canada I immediatey applied for a new PR card.
Here is my timeline with some comments:
Online status timeline:
1. We received your application for a permanent resident card on July 18, 2016.
2. We sent you correspondence acknowledging receipt of your application(s) on August 22, 2016.
3. We started processing your application on August 22, 2016.
4. We sent you a letter on September 19, 2016. Please consider delays in mail delivery before contacting us.
The letter was eventually only sent and arrived in November after several phone calls and contacting CIC online after normal processing time had passed.
In turned out to be original documents that were sent back to me. The letter was dated September 19. However, the post stamp was dated November 15.
5. We sent you a letter on November 14, 2016. Please consider delays in mail delivery before contacting us.
This letter (this time by email) was to inform me about an issue with my middle name and additional documents were requested that I then sent in by Email.
6. We sent you a letter on November 15, 2016. Please consider delays in mail delivery before contacting us.
This was a letter via Email stating that the letter from September 19 had actually been sent and must have been lost by Canada Post (hard to investigate without a tracking number). Interestingly, the post stamp of the letter from September 19, when it finally arrived, was dated November 15th.
I have not received any more feedback or online updates since then.
November 25, 2016: Out of the blue my PR card arrived in the mail. ;D
So, I can only recommend to stay patient and play the waiting game and follow the instructions. I was totally in the dark from July until November and then again from the request of additional documents on until the card showing up in the mail.