I am in a similar situation. My visa is valid until 30th of August, applied on the 2nd of July (wasn’t aware my passport was expiring as I hadn’t looked at it in about 4 years), shipped documents off same day and they arrived at the passport office on the 13th. It’s now the 28th and they haven’t even acknowledged that the documents have arrived – but I’ve received two reminders to ship off my passport to them…
I’ve spoken to the call centre staff on the 15th, got one guy who would “put a manager on” then hung up – no callback. Another one on the 16th was more useful, put a note on my account and emailed someone about prioritising my application. But clearly whoever they contacted ignored that as still nothing has happened.
Contacted their twitter staff who said they would “escalate” my case – that was a lie as still nothing. At this rate I’ll be expelled from the country and probably still have to wait 3 months before they realise my passport is in their mail-room. Probably doesn’t help that the Liverpool office is doing my application as it seems they’re the shittiest.