@DigitalDownlandFC: While there have been reports of occasional glitches, generally messaging is muted because the shop has sent too many non-transactional message (i.e. "I am running a sale", "Thank you for favoriting my listing" etc.). There does not seem to be a set amount of time that a shop is muted for spamming.
"... it doesn't give a satisfactory answer ..." Often the first response you get from customer support is an automated reply meant to weed out the people who contact support over common issues that can be easily solved.
Every eMail from Etsy support should have a link something like "I Still Need Help". Click on that link in each reply from Etsy (or actually reply stating that you still need help) to keep the report alive otherwise Etsy will assume that it is resolved. You may have to do this innumerable times, before anything is done but do not give up.
