How long must I wait after Innocence Lost before the Dark Brotherhood kidnaps me?

I have completed the quest Innocence Lost and have waited for days, yet I have not received the letter from the Dark Brotherhood. Nor does sleeping for 24-day intervals work.

Is my game glitched, and if so is there a way to fix it, such as a console command to trigger the quest?

Solution 1:

Having completed the "Innocence Lost" quest, I immediately fast traveled to my house in Whiterun and slept for 1 hour, the kidnapping took place straight away, there was no delay.

It has been noted on the wiki that:

If the courier doesn't appear after waiting a few days, sleep in a bed for at least 8 hours and the quest will continue.

• Sometimes this can take several days, even with sleeping.
• If the courier still does not appear, try fast traveling to a different hold and waiting.
• Sleeping for at least 8 hours is not necessary. 5 hours continued the quest. (PC) 1 hour continued the quest. (Xbox 360) 1 hour worked (PS3)

Just keep wandering around a different town and waiting until the courier arrives, it's been suggested this can take many days in game.

Solution 2:

about 24hours has always done it for me.. you cant go to sleep immediately.. If you wait overly long a courier will delivery a piece of paper to you with a black hand on it.

Solution 3:

PC Console workaround:

Locate the abandoned shack north of Morthal, south of the wreck of the icerunner. Once there, enter the following commands:

Setstage DB02 10
Player.additem 0002e3f8 1

This sets the quest with the objective to kill one of the prisoners and gives you the key necessary to enter the shack manually and do so. This is the only workaround that I know of, sorry Xbox people. If you get the glitch where the messenger doesn't show up there's no way to make him show up.