I normally set things up in advanve, but will not wait more than 48 hours for a reply.

... is send another email after the two days saying "sorry i couldn't get a hold of you, maybe next time".

That way she knows you're not trying to book anymore.

you can set any time frame you want and I think you waited for a reasonable amount of time.  However, things come up and you're not always going to get a response within 48 hours.

When I send a request to a provider, it's because I want to see HER, not just the first who responds back.  So I might send one more message, making sure she got the first.

Today I got a response to a request I sent out about 10 days ago.  She cited personal reasons for being away and was quite apologetic.  She wondered if I was still interested in meeting.  Of course!  And I'm very much looking forward to it...

You just hit her on a bad day. It certainly wasn't your fault. I personally have major probs with email organization, and I know on my own site I put a special note that says if you don't hear back from me within 24 hours (except on weekends, I don't answer mail over the weekend), to write me again!  Because I'm not out here advertising my amazing organizational skills  

I totally understand you guys having to make other plans sometimes, altho I recently had someone tell me he had to make other plans for an appt three weeks in advance, because he didn't hear right back from me. LOL Ok!

Anyways, a follow up email saying "Did you get my first email?" takes two seconds and if you really want to see the lady, it's worth the effort!

Hugs*
Tamara

I know this is a big issue on any board.   I feel after 4 days of no contact, you were right in looking for other options. I agree with some of the others in which you could have taken an extra step and sent her an email once you had other plans confirmed. This was not a necessary detail just an extra kicker.

I usually do not run into this issue since a lot of my appts are booked out as far as 4 - 5 weeks at times.  If I am going to email a lady I will ask her for her schedule and waht works, that way nothing is confirmed and we still have plenty of time to solidify the arrangements.

I've read a lot of the replies and thought I'd throw in my two cents.

Many providers run their own domains, including the possibility of handling their own mail server.  I run an Exchange Mail server for my home-based LAN, and can attest to the amount of SPAM that floats into the various mailboxes I maintain.  My personal mail account that I use receives over 90 messages/day, and of that maybe three are ones that are directed to me and that I need to see.

Luckily I have software that filters out about 85 percent of the spam before it hits my server, so I don't have tons of that trash make it's way into the actual mail accounts.  Of that which does, most is then filtered out through the Outlook junk mail filters.

The point?  If a lady runs her own mail server, and she is not in possession of decent spam elimination software, then she has to sift through hundreds of messages/day just to find the ones that are from clients or potentials.  This takes time, trust me.

Having said all this, I think that four days was sufficient enough that you can move on with a clear mind.  I would have mailed a followup saying something like "sorry we missed each other" but it shouldn't be deemed as necessary.