[ShubhamS11]

How long does a claim typically take for you? And were to able to get a refund without having to send back the wrong item.

Normal-As-Usual.
Let me explain.
Claims: If you mean crying & moaning at reps with made up excuses? On chat they just told me to wait for 1 minute or 2 then they processed my request instantly & scheduled return pick at my choice of date & time. Almost same goes on phone call.

Refunds: On most of my SE, refs were fast(as usual it takes for amazon issue ref. on any normal return for ref). Except for 2 times, 1 when the seller was 3rd party, or as you prefer to call it a Non-FBA order or something, that one took 13days or so because the seller was being an as***le.
And the other one is currently I'm working on "WHICH IS NOT AN SE, its just that this time i became victim to someone else executed SB return. Bad luck i'd say" 

Ref without Return: Less than 50% success here in this case, sometimes they agree to ref without taking return sometimes they had to take the item as return to process your return.
*I think ref without return depends upon the item+item's value++nature of your item+THE EXCUSE WHICH YOU ARE USING*. <--Pure educated guess, I may or may not be wrong. Not sure on this one mate.

Okay, is having to email pictures typical with wrong item method? This seems to slow the process down a lot. Should one get back on chat and moan further to speed up the process.

Yes, that is & also it takes time but not too much or forever, if its taking forever chances are you flagged & they might reject your claim later on too; this part depends on your most recent transaction history.

Dont call them too much, because as many reps see your account higher the chances are "they might dig dipper into your activity & history. 

If your se has decent gaps in between, higher the success rate. Ahahaha