For both my congressman and a senator, I filled in a form on the web, printed it out and faxed to their offices. Then I waited about 2 weeks and called to inquire "Sorry to bother you, but I just wanted to check that you received my fax". In each case I was told "Yes, we have it, but we haven't got to it". I followed up (by phone) a week or two later, and got responses a few days later.
From the congressman's aid I got a description of everything I already knew (but I was impressed she got it all in a single phone call) and told I needed to wait.
The senator's aid made a call on my behalf and got the IL sent out that day.
In all communication I was *very* polite.