Application sent (online) 20 Aug
Old Passport sent 20 Aug
Passport recieved 26 Aug (!!)
Application approved, Printed and Sent 17 Sept
It is very stressful, mainly because you feel totally out of control of the situation. The most galling thing is not being able to communicate directly with the office that has your passport, just some mediator. All I can offer is what I said before, make yourself a pain in the butt, and it didn’t come naturally to me either, though my missus might disagree.
As for the ‘Webchat’ it is NEVER open, just more BS from a Govt Dept. Twitter Q&A days are good, but they’re few and far between sessions.
Best of LUCK