I was finally able to get in touch with my CPO advisor after 3 weeks. Things learned:
1) apparently the picture request process is completely manual. meaning when you click the button, it probably sends an email somewhere, and a person has to actually respond to it by finding the pictures, attaching it to an email and sending it to you. that is obviously a very tedious process and apparently they are overwhelmed, which explains the slow or non-existing responses to the picture requests.
2) she suggested the quickest way to get pictures is to actually put a deposit down on the car, because then you are immediately pushed to the top of the line and you will get the pictures within 48 hours. after receiving the pictures, you have 72 hours to either proceed or cancel. so you can at least lock in the car, check out the pics, and decide it's ok or not.
3) as usual the CPO advisors are overloaded, and as a result are mainly focused on people already committed to cars (ie already put deposit down) and less focused on general inquiries. as an example, my advisor told me over the weekend she received 800+ emails which is pretty impossible to sort through. so if you don't get any replies from your advisor, now you know why.
4) not directly related, but regarding the lack of cosmetic reconditioning, it's purely due to lack of time. they simply don't have the time nor manpower to recondition all the cars coming back. they also don't have the space to hold all of them. so it's easier to just sell them as is and only fix up the mechanical issues. even then, they may not fix minor mechanical issues (ie door handles acting funny), only major ones. the minor ones they expect the customer can schedule a service visit.