For the reply to it looks like you have set the value as:
<?php echo((isset($_POST["Contact_us_group_Email"]))?$_POST["Contact_us_group_Email"]:"") ?>
If this is the case then you should update it so that the value you enter is like this:
".((isset($_POST["Contact_us_group_Email"]))?$_POST["Contact_us_group_Email"]:"") ."
This looks to be a bug with UE currently, I will ensure that it is logged as so.
To set the default time zone you will need to add this code to the top of your page:
date_default_timezone_set ("America/Los_Angeles");
Here are the links to the php site with more info about this function and the values for it:
function
function.date-default-timezone-set.php
values
timezones.php
When it comes to Outlook and the color for the background can you check on the source of the email message to see if the background color css made it through? I'm wondering if the styling was stripped from the message before it got to you.