We have a similar thread running over in the PNP forum (yours here has a lot more posts though). I'll copy what I just posted there:
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Dammit, I got an agent that didn't care.
It was like getting blood from a stone from her. The first thing she said after she asked my landing date is that there are currently mailing delays and I should get my card sometime around mid December. I had to ask her to take my UCI so that she would actually check my file, which she reluctantly did. She verified all my details (address is correct, etc etc) and then told me that my card application was not yet in process.
I also asked her if the application status would show up on ECAS, and she said the reason it's not there is because processing hasn't started. Then I asked if it will show up once they do start processing - she said yes, but I very much got the impression that she just wanted to get me off the phone.
So in summary, despite the 45 days having passed since I landed, my card is not in process. There are mailing delays which apparently add another 3-4 weeks on to the card delivery time.
I'm going to wait until the online estimate updates again, which I can only assume will increase. Then when I pass that date again, I will call again.
Good luck to everyone else with this too! Please call up and see if you can get any other information from them! We need to pool our resources and crack through CIC's secrecy! 8)