contact form - not reaching destination when Hotmail, AOL or Yahoo address submitted?

I have Universal E-mail set up for a contact form on a web page which requests an e-mail address. This works fine until you submit either an AOL, Hotmail or Yahoo e-mail address. It just doesn't arrive at destination.

We have made sure the "From" field is set to our client's e-mail address and not the e-mail address that's submitted by the user and we have the smtp set to our clients smtp address.

Is this a known bug?

Thank you
NJ

It is probably not an issue with the email script itself. What is the TO address? Are you saying it doesn't arrive if one of those email addresses are simply in the email body?

Most likely the email is being spam blocked. Those servers have more strict standards for spam checking. There are a few reasons why it could be blocked:

1) Your email server is on an email blacklist
2) Your email content is too spammy (uses keywords that they think look like junk mail)
3) You need SPF records on your server or need DKIM set up on your server

Can I see a copy of the page and the email include files it uses? I can see if I can spot the problem.

Hi Ray,

Yes, it would appear that way because the e-mail is "From" my client to themselves, in order to prevent such spam blocking.

It's hosted with Fasthosts, so it could very well be on an e-mail blacklist such have been the problems with their hosting in the past that they're still recovering from (they won't admit this, but it's highlighted all over the Internet).

I attach the files in question.

Thank you.
NJ

It doesn't make sense that it wouldn't get through with just those email addresses in the body. It is definitely still getting sent, so the only possible issue would be spam blocking somehow. Are you sure it isn't in a spam folder? Have you tried sending TO a different address and see if it comes through? When the emails do work, do they come with the correct FROM and TO?

Have you tried not setting the smtp server and using the default one? It looks like the sample mail code from fasthosts uses the extra parameters for setting the from. You might try checking that setting and leaving the email server blank.

Hi Ray,

After extensive testing and settings changes I can confirm that no e-mails are received when any of the following domain extensions are entered as the e-mail address by the user:

aol.com
yahoo.co.uk
hotmail.com
hotmail.co.uk

I changed the destination e-mail address to a BT address thinking that it was Fasthosts that was blocking submissions from the above domains but it turns out that BT are doing exactly the same thing. This makes me suspect that it's nothing to do with the destination address.

I've removed the SMTP server reference altogether - same problem.

The e-mails have the correct FROM and TO.

What now? :(
NJ

Those email servers are more strict when rejecting spam. You may need to integrate SPF records and DKIM on the email server to properly identify and authenticate emails to improve deliver-ability.

Which e-mail servers? I think there is some confusion here.

We have a form on our page that asks for an e-mail address. When it is posted, it is sent to our client's e-mail address unless you enter any of the domain extensions I've listed.

We initially thought this was because our client's e-mail address/server might be blocking these extensions so we changed the destination e-mail address and nothing changed. This indicates that it's nothing to do with the receiving e-mail server, does it not?

NJ

If you give me FTP access and steps to reproduce I can debug it and see if I can find out anything else. It would appear it must be a spam block on the receiving email server. First thing I'll do is send the email to my server and see if I get it.

Hi Ray,

Sorry to take so long getting back to you on this one. I'm still having problems with this issue and have narrowed it down to affecting Yahoo, AOL & Hotmail addresses.

When a user enters their e-mail address in one of the form fields on the contact page of our website, and that e-mail address is either Yahoo, AOL or Hotmail, the form does not arrive at destination. All other e-mail addresses work.

FTP details for the site are detailed below along with a link to the page/form affected.

The host, Fasthosts, sent us links to some advice they give on form scripts which we've tried to follow as best we can. I've created an SPF record, and have changed the smtp server address, but neither have resolved the problem.

SPF Records
https://resellers.fasthosts.co.uk/app/answers/detail/a_id/519/track/AvPEswrLDv8S~cQdGvQc~yK1JuUqQC75Mv8O~zj~PP~H

Sending e-mail from your website
https://resellers.fasthosts.co.uk/app/answers/detail/a_id/40/track/AvPEswrLDv8S~cQdGvQc~yK1JuUqQC75Mv8O~zj~PP~H

Using Fasthosts SMTP servers
https://resellers.fasthosts.co.uk/app/answers/detail/a_id/150/track/AvPEswrLDv8S~cQdGvQc~yK1JuUqQC75Mv8O~zj~PP~H

Hoping you can help resolve this one. My conclusion is that it is either:

1) The WebAssist form script settings
2) Fasthosts filtering/blocking (for whatever reason)

Thank you.
NJ

Do you use the input email address as the FROM address? Can you attach a copy of the email pages? The FTP information you provided didn't work for me.