What is going on with tax refunds this year? Code 9001, Schedule M or no, NO REFUND… headache!?

My sister and I both filed on January 15th using TaxACT online software. On the 18th, we both received acknowledgement that our returns had been accepted by the IRS. We both expected that we would have our refunds by January 29th. Obviously this did not happen. On January 21th, my status would not pull up [...]