Email query - acceptable response time

[Lopéz]

Just out of interest, what would you consider an acceptable response time having logged or registered some sort of query with a company (via email, or telephone)
At work our company policy is to respond within 1 hour - although my own customers would think something was wrong if I didn't respond within 15-30 mins.

What do you think is an acceptable sort of time for a company to respond (or at least acknowledge they are work on your query?)

 

[Skully]

Usually expect a reply within 24 hours.

I once emailed the council and had a reply 2 months later.

 

[Kae]

Depends on the company tbh.

Medical gear, response within 30 mins (and technician working on machine within 2 hours).

Normal query's, response within 24 hours at most.

 

[Rroff]

I would expect some kinda confirmation (automated) within a couple of hours or so and a human response within 1-2 days.

 

[Marky]

Human reply within 24 hours usually...

 

[Atari]

Depends on the query really. I'd say 24 hours should be enough, if the email/telephone query is done during normal business hours, I'd say by the end of the day if it's something that can be resolved quickly.

 

[Freefaller]

I'd expect it within an hour - but more often than not it's 24hrs unfortunately. :/

 

[meghatronic]

I usually wait no more than 24 working hours (i.e. two days) before getting angry .

People are different though - e.g. AMEX have got back to me in <1 min before, and I'm still waiting for a reply from the council (9 months I think now).

 

[Swi1ch]

I'm waiting a week on a reply from BFG for an RMA number. I'm about ready to go meet them face to face.

 

[Slime101]

Depends on the nature of the email, the company, and your relationship with them.

If i email one of our suppliers or sub contractors i expect a response within an hour or less, however if a customer contacts us the usual response is 24hours, normally less but its all down to priorities. There are very few subcontractors for whom we are their major source of work so i expect priority response.

 

[Cosimo]

I would normally expect a reply within 2-4 hours and no later than 24.

 

[Strife212]

1 hour for an email reply to a company? Unlikely

 

[asim18]

Shouldn't take longer than 42 minutes.

 

[Beansprout]

24 hours for large companies, much less for small companies.

I've dealt with web hosts who advertise 24x7 support and have come to realise what some really mean is "wait 24 hours for a useless reply"....

 

[shocking]

It depends on the nature of the query, but I consider email to be non-urgent. If I wanted something done instantly, I would just phone.

 

[asim18]

I've dealt with web hosts who advertise 24x7 support and have come to realise what some really mean is "wait 24 hours for a useless reply"....

Maybe you need to change hosts

I use TSO host and they give extremely helpful replies within minutes, even in the middle of the night.

 

[sanaxe1]

I make sure my customers have a reply of less then a hour between the hours of 11am-11pm anything out of those hours and they have to wait until 11am.

 

[Rotty]

I lodged a question with a share broker about a sale I was about to make a few weeks ago

took them 5 days to reply and cost me £1000

 

[ntg]

It is quite funny how email was heralded as the fastest medium to communicate and used as such a tool by companies, yet it usually takes longer for most companies to respond than calling them and getting the answer you want.

I find that any email response that takes longer than 4 hours is an unsuitable use of the medium. If I'm going to wait more than that then I'd better call them and sort it out (where possible and depending on the service).

cheers

 

[The Funktopus]

Email is a cancer IMHO, the perfect media for either being ignored or to back-heel an issue for someone who doesn't want to take responsibility for something.

Mind you, I detest working within the office environment altogether.