REPLYING TO REQUESTS

Abstract

Typical excuses for not replying promptly are:

• Sorry but for some reason my system thought your email was spam.

• Sorry I was convinced I had already replied.

• Sorry but I have been out of the office all week.

If you don’t feel it is necessary to have any excuse you can say:

• I apologize for not getting back to you sooner.

Avoid giving an excuse that is likely to irritate the recipient or make you seem inefficient, such as the following:

• I apologize greatly for the delay. I have had a week away skiing and did not put my out of office reply on. I did ask my colleagues to keep an eye on all incoming emails so I am sorry nobody got back to you.

When you are late in replying, you can apologize both at the beginning and the end of the email:

• Please accept my apologies, I was convinced that I had replied to you. Your best bet to get info on this is to ask Yuki directly – he is in the London office. Thanks and once again sorry for not getting back to you straight away.

• If possible, state what you are doing to resolve the situation that the sender has informed you about.

• My sincere apologies … I am still in the process of trying to find the information for you.

• I am genuinely very sorry about the delay on this Robert, I will get the documents to you as soon as I possibly can.