Same thing happened to me, I was on hold for like 30 mins and I got the exact same response.We're still waiting too (family 2), application received June 25th, AOR August 22nd, In Process September 11th. Tried 11 times to contact CIC to find out what date they're up to for Invite to Take Test - no agents to take call. The last time I called before AOR the agent was able to tell me exactly what date they were up to, so to give you an accurate idea of how long ours would take.
Update! I'm currently on phone hold and will find out the timeline and let everyone know.
After being on hold for 15 minutes, I was told that they do not have specific information about the date they're currently up to for the 'Invite to Take Test" part of the process. They only knew specific dates for the AOR and overall process which is still 12 months.
I've also been In Process since Sept 12, 2018 waiting for test invites - in Vancouver.