This thread is old, but I'll reply anyway. I didn't respond to the initial job offer for several reasons. On the one hand I had flown down there out of pocket on the understanding I'd be reimbursed at the interview. I wasn't. Likewise for the hotel, and the second night in the hotel when the interviews ran past ten in the evening and I missed my flight. I wasn't happy. I spoke with NJME pilots who had little or nothing to say, and indicated they feared for their jobs if they spoke about the company.
When I did get the offer and the salary, it was considerably less than less qualified applicants at the same interview, at least one of whom crashed the simulator during the interview. I didn't feel for what I was learning about the company that the offer of pay, nor the offer of aircraft, was appropriate. I found it somewhat insulting. I was also displeased with a refusal to discuss salary. A company that refused to submit basic employment details in person did not necessarily merit an immediate response by mail.
Further, the nature of the employment offer was that no response within ten days retracted the offer, and silence therefore is an appropriate response, and a legal one. Additionally, I did not desire to tender a refusal before I had a chance to submit paperwork to the company for reimbursement for the interview...nearly a thousand dollars. Comments received by employees and ex-employees lead me to take that course of action, which was appropriate under the circumstances.
Finally, I have no particular compunction to be the poster boy for the pilot community, nor do I represent the pilot community. I represent myself. Should I elect to respond or not respond within the requisite 9 days, I have done the pilot community no disservice, nor the employer who tendered the offer. I have merely acted within the terms set forth by that employer in their late offer. Nothing more.