How quickly do establishments reply to your email where you’re at?
August 31, 2025
1) Businesses
2) Government entities
Please don't forget to mention which country that is
12 comments
Finland
1. Varies
2. Varies
Impossible to give an answer because it varies SO MUCH
Somewhere at [0; +oo) for any country on this planet, hope it helps
A reply happens comes on the day or the next work day of making the inquiry.
Hungary:
1. Varies
2. What is this “email” you speak of? Is it something tasty?
🏴
Well I’ve had a council reply about an anti-social behaviour complaint 17 years later, so…
Business: usually within a week
Government entities: almost never reply at all
Netherlands
Businesses : never ever.
Government entities : depends on which.
Country : Malta.
1. Large companies usually reply by the end of next business day. Or in worst case by the end of the week. This could vary depending on how much they are willing to spend on customer support, but if you reach out directly to the department or person you are willing to contact it could be just a few hours. However there are a lot of e-mail addresses left on sites that may no longer be in use or in some cases even the company went out of business. Especially for SMEs it is often the case that they created a template website with a default email inbox years ago and they haven’t checked back ever since.
2. Law mandates officials must reply within 30 days to inquiries made through physical mail or e-mail. But in many cases it’s just a pre-written text of “Thank your for reaching out, we’ll look into it.”
Spain:
1. Within a week tops, usually sooner
2. Varies.
It varies. And some of them don’t have e-mail addresses you can write to – you have to write through their contact form on their web site.
Northern Ireland/UK
Depends.
Want to find out a bus time for a local bus? You have to call like it’s the 90s so there isn’t even an option to email.
On the other hand, I recently dealt with Land and Property Services as I needed some maps showing a property boundary. They replied to me within 15mins and I managed to get everything done via email in one afternoon (despite them recommending an in person appointment as the easiest option 🙄)
Generally I find anything from 1-2 days to never is pretty common across the board.
12 comments
Finland
1. Varies
2. Varies
Impossible to give an answer because it varies SO MUCH
Somewhere at [0; +oo) for any country on this planet, hope it helps
A reply happens comes on the day or the next work day of making the inquiry.
Hungary:
1. Varies
2. What is this “email” you speak of? Is it something tasty?
🏴
Well I’ve had a council reply about an anti-social behaviour complaint 17 years later, so…
Business: usually within a week
Government entities: almost never reply at all
Netherlands
Businesses : never ever.
Government entities : depends on which.
Country : Malta.
1. Large companies usually reply by the end of next business day. Or in worst case by the end of the week. This could vary depending on how much they are willing to spend on customer support, but if you reach out directly to the department or person you are willing to contact it could be just a few hours. However there are a lot of e-mail addresses left on sites that may no longer be in use or in some cases even the company went out of business. Especially for SMEs it is often the case that they created a template website with a default email inbox years ago and they haven’t checked back ever since.
2. Law mandates officials must reply within 30 days to inquiries made through physical mail or e-mail. But in many cases it’s just a pre-written text of “Thank your for reaching out, we’ll look into it.”
Spain:
1. Within a week tops, usually sooner
2. Varies.
It varies. And some of them don’t have e-mail addresses you can write to – you have to write through their contact form on their web site.
Northern Ireland/UK
Depends.
Want to find out a bus time for a local bus? You have to call like it’s the 90s so there isn’t even an option to email.
On the other hand, I recently dealt with Land and Property Services as I needed some maps showing a property boundary. They replied to me within 15mins and I managed to get everything done via email in one afternoon (despite them recommending an in person appointment as the easiest option 🙄)
Generally I find anything from 1-2 days to never is pretty common across the board.
1: Often fast, often never.
2: Within some time (2 weeks), sometimes never.