Hello @Packerbacker,
thank you for joining the forum. Actually, you are not the only one experiencing issues with A-Z claims. Over the past few weeks, they have been acting weirdly.
I had lots of A-Z claims granted with no contact from buyers since 25.September. There are no buyer-seller messages exchanged before the claim is filed. I contacted Amazon through Jeff and they are still investigating.
As long as you are not losing your claims, but they are just taking longer to be processed, there is no need to be concerned. When investigating A-Z claims, Amazon usually e-mails (or calls) the buyer and asks for more information. If the buyer is unresponsive and the value of the claim is higher, in such case it can take longer for Amazon to make the final decision.
Feel free to check out my A-Z claim guide thread if you need response templates: