Not receiving onetel emails

[TechSerf]

I have not received emails to my onetel email address from any of several routine senders since 26 July 2023, except tests I sent to myself after becoming concerned.  The senders are organisations and it's not simple to find out what error messages they might have received, if any.  Webmail shows plenty of space.  I changed the password successfully last week, just in case it had been hacked, but still nothing coming in.  Is this something to do with ongoing migration?  Is TalkTalk interrupting service for extended periods?

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Hello,

How are you getting on?

Thanks

[TechSerf]

Thanks for suggestions and quick responses.  It seems strange that emails from several different senders all stopped around the same time.  Contacting them individually is a daunting prospect.  I'll persevere with one of them for now, and hope that will give clues as to what has happened with the others.  Perhaps its just a summer holiday effect.

[Gondola]

You'll need to request Norton to make sure there's no suppression on sending to your email address. That's the most common reason for not receiving routine mailshots. 

There's no obvious issue with the other domains. No blacklisting recorded by the usual agencies and for computershare.co.uk and blackbaud.com there are SPF files in place and a DMARC policy so again no reason to suggest that mail would be blocked for lack of authentication. Computershare.net doesn't have a valid SPF file so I'd assume shares the one for computershare.co.uk.

[TechSerf]

norton@secure.norton.com

I can't be sure they've sent in the last week, but it would be consistent with past monthly reporting and other more spam-like messages. 

As for contacting the originating senders of automated messages, it's not straightforward!  I'm still waiting for the IT department of one of them to get back to me with their view.

Looking inside some other past emails I see they may be coming via Blackbaud.com,  Computershare.net,  Computershare.co.uk.

My other TalkTalk email addresses seem to be working ok.

[Gondola]

As TalkTalk Support have not picked this topic up I've re-escalated into their workflow so it's waiting for them first thing next week.

It would help if you stated at least one of the email domains that you're not receiving to enable preliminary checks to be done. Remember also that TalkTalk cannot investigate blocking events further back than 7 days. So, they'll be able to check for email blocked this week if they know the email was sent to you this week. That's down to you to arrange with the originator of the stated email domain.

Genuine Norton Emails:

If the domain is listed here, the email is a legitimate Norton email, according to the Norton website.

@ nortonlifelock.com
@ norton.com
@ identity.norton.com
@ login.norton.com
@ securenorton.com
@ secure.norton.com
@ lifelock.norton.com
@ mylogin.norton.com
@ myidentity.norton.com
@ family.norton.com
@ lifelock.com
@ mail.nortonstore.hk
@ mail.nortonstore.cn
@ mail.nortonstore.tw
@ mail.nortonstore.kr
@ mail.nortonstore.jp
@ mail.norton.com
@ email.norton.com
@ e-mail.norton.com
@ identityprotection.norton.com
@ subscriptions.norton.com
@ zuberance.com
@ ifeelgoods.com
@ trustpilot.com
@ club-off.com
@ m.onetrust.com
@ cleverbridge.com
@ creditview.co.uk

Just say which one(s) you would normally expect mail from.

[TechSerf]

Based on past experience I expected a monthly email from Norton in the past week.  Although I've received a few emails to the onetel address in the last week or two, I've received nothing from Norton and some other senders since late July.  I've put more detail in the private notes.

[Gondola]

You say no messages at all being received but you did receive the self sent message. And as there are no filter rules defined then there's nothing stopping mail from arriving in the Inbox. If TalkTalk were unable to deliver your mail then there would be a bounceback error message from the TalkTalk inbound mail server to the sending mail server. 

What mail are you expecting that's not coming though?

Put the sending email address in your Community profile, personal information, private notes. TalkTalk can check for blocking but only for mail sent over the previous 7 days.

[TechSerf]

Just to add to my last post...

I did check junk and spam and there were/are no messages there.  Still no messages at all being received to my onetel.com address.

It is not proving straightforward to get technical details from sending organisations on what messages they are getting about emails I'm not receiving.

Some don't have phone numbers (at least that I can find), and front-line support is not the same as technical support.  The question 'what is the error code on your email system when you send email to me' isn't on the list of standard answers.

Reading other posts and responses on this site, it seems to me that the risk of email failing with no easily establishable reason is too high.  It seems there are many filters (none I've set) between a sender and receiver that can leave an ordinary user completely in the dark.  Those 'blockers' at sending and receiving ends ought at least to send a message to say something like 'you have been/will be blocked, the reason, and this is what you can do about it'.

[TechSerf]

Thanks for the suggestions.  I sent a message to myself and it worked, and it and previous tests sent to myself are still in the inbox.  There are no auto-forward or filter rules.  There are numerous sending organisations, some of which might not have tried to send in the last few weeks, but some of which certainly will have.  I very much doubt they all use the same mail service provider, but I will try to get more details from one or some of them.

[Gondola]

If you're receiving self sent mail messages then the mailbox is working but just check other folders and that you have no filter rules defined.

Select here:  Sign in to TalkTalk Mail

Enter your email address and password, select Sign in.

Check the  Inbox first and then check  Spam and  Trash folders for mail messages that may have been diverted from the Inbox. Bear in mind the spam and trash folders normally contain mail not older than 30 days.

Compose and self-send the same mailbox a mail message. Check that the message sends without error, is copied into the Sent objects folder and arrives and stays in the Inbox.

Mail not reaching the Inbox could mean there's a Filter rule, including an Auto forward which is a special filter rule, that's diverting, discarding or blocking mail.

• To check, select the Main Settings menu icon      triple line icon top right on the blue header (Unmigrated mailbox - cog icon for migrated mailbox)
  (Mobile browser? use the desktop version)
• Select Settings from the top of the menu
• Select the inward facing arrowhead by Mail (or Email) in the left side panel
• Select Filter Rules
  If there's no rule defined, that's perfect
• To delete a Filter rule including any Auto forward
  select the Dustbin icon    to the right of the rule
  The icon background will turn red    
• To confirm you really want to delete this Filter rule
  Select the blue Delete button

Let us know of any error message, or if mail did not arrive in the Inbox or disappeared from the Inbox. Collecting mail messages with a POP3 mail account or mail collection service, like Gmail, may be deleting messages from the online Inbox.

If there are no filter rules defined then there's nothing stopping mail from arriving in the Inbox or Spam folder if pre-tagged as spam.

The issue then is whether TalkTalk are blocking at a network level or the senders have suppressed sending to your email address which is a protective measure that mail senders use to guard against recipients marking mail as spam that could then get the sender blacklisted for sending unwanted 'spam'.  The workaround is to change your email address or ask the originators to make sure your email address is not on a suppress sending list.

What are the names of the organisations? They may have a common factor in that the mail sending service may be the same.