More formal way of saying: "Sorry to bug you again about this, but ..."

I was wondering if there was a more formal and polite way of saying:

Sorry to bug you again about this, but we still have not received a response about X ....

(if we still have not received any assistance with X)

Sorry to bug you again about this, but we are still having problems with X and ....

(if we have already received some assistance with X)

I would like to use examples of the two sentences above in an email directed to an organization, but I would like to avoid using "you" or "bug", if possible.

For more context, this is part of an email where we are requesting this organization to fix a service that they provide to us.

Addendum: To clarify, I'm interested in both cases when we directly pay for the service requested and when we don't.

Solution 1:

I assume by "Sorry to bug you again about this" that you were already given help with "X", so instead of an apology, perhaps a thank you would work better:

Thank you for your help with X, but we are still having problems with it and...

This is most likely how I would write it, an apology seems to be an admission that you feel "bad" for asking and can sound "whiny", while a thank you gives the idea that you feel "good" about their previous help and appreciate it.

If you are paying for this service or for support (which you may not be), I wouldn't worry about apologizing for requesting it, especially if your previous request was not attended to.

I would like to use examples of the two sentences above in an email directed to an organization, but I would like to avoid using "you" or "bug", if possible.

I don't think it's quite necessary to avoid these two words, but there are a number of options if this is your goal. For example:

Sorry to be a bother...

Sorry to burden your staff with this... (still uses a form of "you")

I/We apologize for the repeated request...

Personally, in any case I would drop the apology or thank you, in fact all extraneous parts of the email altogether. Busy people like to get things done quickly, and if their staff has a lot of work they'll appreciate a to-the-point email. However, it depends, and I recognize that this viewpoint avoids the literal question of what to replace those two words with.

Solution 2:

The phrase "we do not mean to be burdensome" is very close to the "sorry to bug you" phrase, yet has more of a formal feel. It also indicates that your intention is not to be a bother.

Examples:

We do not mean to be burdensome, but we are still having issues with x.

and

We do not mean to be burdensome, but we still have not received a response about X ....

You may substitute "annoying", "bothersome", "aggravating", or "irritating" for "burdensome" for similar results.

Solution 3:

Rather than bug I would say bother, but otherwise keep your phrasing: "Sorry to bother you about this...".

Since you don't want to say you (Why not? It's appropriate!), we can rephrase it passively as: Sorry to be bothersome... or Sorry to be troublesome...

But I have to say, the active voice is better writing.

My recommendation: go with 'Sorry to bother you...' or even better 'We're sorry to bother you...'

Solution 4:

I'm sorry to have to bring this up again, but […].

Solution 5:

I don't think any of these situations call for an apology, and inserting a "fake apology" (anything fitting the pattern of "I'm sorry...but") serves no purpose and is at best patronizing.

If you're paying for a service:

We are still awaiting a response regarding issue X. Please reply as soon as you receive this message.

If you're not paying:

We are still awaiting a response regarding issue X. If you are unable to provide an answer at this time, please inform us as to when we can expect a response so that we can plan accordingly. Thank you for your support.