Some incoming emails not arriving

[equaliser1]

Does talktalk block some emails arriving automatically? Some emails don’t seem to arrive on my tiscali email address.  

How is do I rectify this? Tried getting same emails sent to a different email address and they arrive fine.  So it must be something talktalk is doing.

[Gondola]

Hi @equaliser1 

Sign in to TalkTalk Mail here and check there's no Auto forward or Filter rule set up that may be diverting your mail messages.

First, compose and send the same mailbox a mail message. Check that the message is in the Sent objects folder and then arrives back in the Inbox.

Then go to the Main settings menu > Settings > Select the arrow by Mail (or Email) in the side panel > Auto Forward and then Filter rules to disable anything that might be setup in either category.

If there was a fail before then retry the compose and send message to see if the message now arrives in the Inbox.

Also check in Spam and Trash folders for 'missing' mail messages.

Have you been in touch with senders to see if they received a bounce-back error message for undeliverable mail?

[OCE_Ady]

Hi equaliser1, please let us know if Gondola has got you sorted.

Ady

[equaliser1]

I have never activated any spam filters or anything like that.  I have checked all the settings.  I have checked trash and spam folders.  Still not getting email messages from certain websites.  

I have not had them confirm if they get mails bounced back.  I will do this.

But does TalkTalk block spam automatically somehow? 

[Gondola]

Hi equaliser1 

If the 'certain websites' have had their mail messages fingerprinted as spam because lots of recipients have marked their mail as spam then those message will be blocked by the network.

It's the responsibility of the 'certain websites' to make it easy for people to opt out of receiving their unwanted mail messages and to immediately cease sending to recipients that have blocked the sender.

But what happens is that people (being people) take the easy way out and mark messages as spam or the sender keeps on sending messages until there are lots of mailboxes saying "no more spam". So then the 'certain websites' do get a bad reputation, possibly a listing on a spam blacklist and inevitably get blocked.

However, responsible websites have an opt in policy for mail messages, offer easy unlisting and have an immediate stop send policy on all undeliverable bounceback messages.

Which category do your 'certain websites' fall into, do you think?

[OCE_Ady]

Hi equaliser1, it looks like Gondola has your problem in hand. If you need further help please let us know. 

Ady

[RegRUK]

If I may chip in, I've always felt that TalkTalk over filters mail. Sometimes when I don't receive expected mail from a sender I ask them to send it to my Outlook account and I always, without fail, receive it there.

I understand that some senders may be blocked by TalkTalk. I rarely use Webmail but I see that there is a Spam folder. So mail may be blocked so I don't see it at all? So what would appear in the Spam folder? I've never had anything go into the Spam folder.

[Gondola]

Hi @RegRUK 

Any mail that the user marks as spam is sent to the Spam folder and alerts the TalkTalk spam intelligence engine that's collecting information from all users. If many users fingerprint the mail as spam then that raises the threat level until it triggers blocking.

If an individual user decides that the mail isn't Spam then the mail can be unmarked as Spam and returned to the Inbox and the TalkTalk spam intelligence engine notified to lower the threat level.

[RegRUK]

Hi @Gondola , but if an email to me is blocked for any reason then I don't know that it has been blocked. In fact I never know that it has been sent to me as I receive no notification of that.

[Gondola]

Hi @RegRUK 

I personally don't want marked spam entering my mailbox to be sent to a Spam or Junk folder.

If other users have marked the same email as spam such that it's triggered the blocking threshold then the sender will be notified users haven't received mail.  The sender will need to contact you another way.

It's the sender's responsibility in advance to:

1. Make sure it's easier to unsubscribe than have mail marked as spam
2. Immediately unsubscribe users on request
3. Immediately cease sending to unavailable mailboxes

[equaliser1]

You can’t start deciding which emails we can and cannot receive.  I am now paying for this email address 5 pound a month.

Your stopping me getting link back for online webinars I have registered for via websites. Different companies. Means I can’t join the webinars as I don’t get the links. 

And also one video conferencing platform I wanted to reset password on, you seem to be blocking that email. It never arrives. 

You must be blocking whole domains and not just individual emails.

Yes my spam folders also always empty too. 

[RegRUK]

Well @Gondola I don't want to argue with you but from many years experience I believe that much email marked as spam is not spam. Blocked email I cannot comment on if it works as you say only I know that good emails have been blocked. There does not seem to be a way with TalkTalk to set trusted senders.

I'd rather have the choice to reject mail myself rather than not know it's been sent. Maybe that should be an user option.

[Gondola]

Hi @equaliser1 

You still haven't advised which 'certain' websites you're not getting emails from. If you wish to keep it secret then update your Community Profile Personal Information (Click here) scroll down to Private notes to add sender address(es) so the TalkTalk team can ask the vendor to check.

TalkTalk does not 'arbitrarily' block genuine emails.  TalkTalk does protect users from spam.

There are mail services that do not have any spam protection.  Maybe for your needs that would suit you better?  Worth considering?

[Gondola]

...Let us know when you've updated your Private notes and I'll alert the TalkTalk team to pick this up.

[equaliser1]

But nothing ever enters the spam folder at all ever. We don’t get the chance to un-spam emails.

I get invite emails to these webinars but when I fill in the website form I don’t get the link back.

So I am not sure how invited emails are getting marked as spam. Unless it’s just blanket domain banning. Probably something to do that.

[RegRUK]

At the risk of continuing the argument I do side with @equaliser . Particularly vulnerable are those emails you get when registering on a site that require you to click a link to confirm your registration. Many just don't appear. Please don't ask for examples as I usually just re-register using a non-TalkTalk account. I'm afraid that It's a lot less bother.

[Gondola]

Hi @RegRUK 

For one-off registration confirmation I would never use a regular email address. Always a disposable email address. No spam then. Never had any. Quite happy.

@equaliser1 

Let us know if you're needing a check on the email addresses you say are not received. If you don't want any check then please say and we can close this thread.

[RegRUK]

Hi@Gondola I've got nothing more to say.

[equaliser1]

Yes I will try and identify the specific email addresses that are being blocked.  Will have to use an alternative email address to get them  to do this. 

[Gondola]

Hi @equaliser1 

Just let me know you've updated your Community profile Private notes and I'll ask the TalkTalk team to request the mail filter provider to take a look.

Heads up that you may be asked for dates and times of the blocking so I'm assuming they do a specific search on address and date and time period.