Delivery Status Notification (Relay) (Full Version)

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JStanbrook -> Delivery Status Notification (Relay) (25.Oct.2005 11:38:18 AM)

Hi,

When I send an email to a certain email address (xxx.btinternet.com) I receive this back:


Subject: Delivery Status Notification (Relay)

This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification.
Your message has been successfully relayed to the following recipients, but the requested delivery status notifications may not be generated by the destination.

xxxxxx@btinternet.com

Several emails were sent to this address towards the end of last week and they haven't received any of them.

Any ideas? The person at the other end has checked their settings and with their ISP, and they seem to be ok. Pretty sure my settings are right as well.

Im quite new to all this stuff so hopefully it's not too complicated an answer!


Many Thanks,
Jon



mbunch -> RE: Delivery Status Notification (Relay) (25.Oct.2005 6:19:36 PM)

If I understand the scenario correctly, you are send this user an email message and 1. they don't receive it, 2. you get a bogus delivery message from their server?

It appears that the recipient's server doesn't recognize delivery receipts and generates the bogus message automatically. Here are a few things I would look into/questions to ask.
  1. Have you reviewed the header information on the message to see if it contains any additional information regarding the server or any error messages?
  2. Have you had the recipient send you an email? Did you receive it? Did you reply to it to see if the recipient receives it this way? Receiving a message from the user will give you the confirmed address and the headers can provide good baseline information regarding the ISP servers and the route the message takes.
  3. Has the you or the recipient contacted the ISP to see if they can run a trace on the message and see where the message disappears to? Any reputable ISP should be willing to work with you to track down issues of this nature.
I know you were hoping for simple answers and all I offer are more questions, but these are a few of the steps I follow when I encounter simiar issues on my systems. Hope some of the questions may help provide you an answer.

-- Mike



JStanbrook -> RE: Delivery Status Notification (Relay) (26.Oct.2005 4:14:27 AM)

Yes, that is the scenario. Not sure if the message from the server is bogus or not though.

Thanks for your thoughts. I'll look into them. I think my first post was slightly misleading. It's a colleague of mine who has the problem (I had put me!). I sent a test email to the suspect address but I didn't receive the Relay Delivery Status message back. They haven't replied yet though so maybe they haven't received it (which would indicate the same problem my colleague is having).

Thanks again for your help and ideas. Hopefully it will solve the issue!

Additionally: My colleague has received an email from the suspect address and has replied. That's when she got the Delivery Status (Relay) message. They didn't receive the email. I've checked the header of the email received from them - there doesn't seem to be any error codes although I may have missed something.

Cheers,
Jon



mbunch -> RE: Delivery Status Notification (Relay) (26.Oct.2005 7:22:55 AM)

Wow, I really need to proofread my posting a little more closely. Rereading my message, you never would have guessed I have journalism degree with an English minor. My collegiate advisor would tear his hair out. Guess my excuse it that is has been just a few years since my graduation and the mind goes with age.
 
What I meant by "bogus" reply is that the message appears to be a delivery notification, but if you actually read the message, it states "...the requested delivery status notifications may not be generated by the destination..." This means the server relay the message, but you can't actually prove anything because the server doesn't guarantee the message was actually delivered to the recipient.
 
Based on what your colleague has tried thus far, I would have to guess you will need to start with the ISP that provides the SMTP relay/services. If your colleague replied to a message, that should eliminate any issues with an incorrect email address or bad routing information.
 
I hope you track down the issue and it isn’t too difficult to resolve.
 
-- Mike



JStanbrook -> RE: Delivery Status Notification (Relay) (26.Oct.2005 9:58:20 AM)

hehe no worries!

I have gotten on to our ISP, so hopefully they will get round to sorting it out!! Will post back with any news/developments.


Jon



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