Following up without losing your temper
The deadline you set passes, and nothing arrives. This page says when to follow up, what a follow-up recalls, and the point at which a letter stops being one.
The marker
When to follow up
The marker is not impatience: it is the deadline you set yourself in the first letter. Until that date has passed, there is nothing to follow up. The department still has the time you gave it, and a follow-up arriving before the deadline cancels the effect of setting one: it teaches that the deadline did not really mean anything.
The day after the deadline, on the other hand, following up becomes legitimate straight away. The silence has a precise starting date, that of the deadline that passed, not that of a weariness settling in over the days. Waiting several more weeks before acting does not make the follow-up stronger: it simply lets the file sleep a little longer.
The deadline you set counts for more than the one you would have liked to see kept.
The interval
At what interval to follow up
You follow up once, and the new deadline it sets is shorter than the first letter's: the department has already had the chance to deal with the request, it does not need as much time to answer it a second time. Two weeks is enough most of the time.
Too short an interval works against the follow-up without speeding anything up: it does not leave the letter the physical time to arrive, be opened and be given to somebody. Too long an interval teaches the opposite, namely that silence costs nothing. This marker moves if a precise period is already set elsewhere, by a contract for instance: that period then takes precedence.
What a follow-up recalls, and nothing else
A follow-up regains its weight precisely because it tells nothing new. It recalls three things, in this order, and stops there.
- The date of the first letter, so the file finds its starting point again.
- The request, in the same words as the first time: reworded, it suggests it has changed, and the case starts again from scratch.
- The time already gone since that date, so the silence becomes a fact that can be counted rather than an impression.
Why it fits in a few lines
A follow-up that recalls those three things has said everything. An added narrative, a new document unconnected to the silence, or a rising tone all dilute what actually counts: the first letter is dated, the request has not changed, a reply is expected by a precise date. Those three facts take a few sentences; spreading them over a whole page does not make them any truer.
Escalating
Going up a level without threatening
A follow-up that has no effect is not made stronger by raising the tone: it adds one more fact that can be checked. Recalling that the original deadline has already passed once, saying how long the silence has lasted in total, stating that a second absence of reply will change the nature of the next letter: each of those additions describes a situation, it aims at nobody.
The difference lies in what each sentence names. A dated fact can be checked by anyone, whoever wrote it. A sentence aimed at the person handling the file, rather than at the file itself, has the opposite effect to the one intended.
The tone of a follow-up follows the same habits as a first letter.
- The wordings that get results, and those that close the door what anger loses you, sentence by sentence
The signs that a follow-up will no longer do
Certain signs show that another follow-up would bring nothing but more time granted to the silence.
- A first follow-up has already gone unanswered, or has had a reply that does not address the request.
- The department confirms receiving the file but commits to no date for a reply.
- The total time since the first letter is far beyond what a department usually takes to answer that kind of request.
- The request bears on a period that is itself limited by a text or a contract, and that period is running out.
The limit
The point at which a letter stops being a follow-up
A follow-up recalls a request already made and is still waiting for an amicable reply. The next letter changes in kind the moment it announces a precise next step rather than simply asking for a reply: it stops being a follow-up and becomes a final reminder.
What a final reminder usually contains
A final reminder takes the same dated facts as a follow-up and the same request, unchanged. It adds one thing only: what will happen if the new deadline passes without a reply, named plainly and without drama. That next step stays factual, for instance the name of the department or body the file will be passed to, never a vague phrase meant to worry rather than to inform.
The deadline it sets is generally the last one before the whole thing changes form. That is why it is written with the same care as a first letter: the facts, the request, a deadline, and nothing more.
This page describes what a final reminder usually contains. It does not say whether to take one route rather than another: that choice depends on a particular situation, which this site does not know and never assesses.
Three neighbouring pages, and what depends on a country.
- Look again at the whole anatomy of a letter that gets an answer the seven moves, of which this is one
- Dating the facts, keeping the proof the chronology a follow-up recalls in three lines
- This is not a lawyer where to find real legal help when a letter is no longer enough
- The legal grounds by country when a time limit for replying is set by a national text