Sending some emails blocked on Windows-based email client due to "policy reasons"

[Roy_Harrison]

I run a Thunderbird email client on a Windows desktop and have been doing so for many years. Recently I have had trouble forwarding emails using this as some get rejected by the talktalk outgoing server with an error message: "Reject for policy reasons". It has appeared the in the last couple of months or so, something has changed on the outgoing mail server that has become more strict in its validation of emails.

I can understand the blocking of some emails, although it's still frustrating, as some are spam that I am trying to forward to report@phishing.gov.uk which is the UK National Cyber Security Centre.

However, I recently attempted to forward an email I had created that was originally a simple textual email and the email client outgoing server rejected this. However, when I tried to forward it from the web mail, it worked. So, there is something perhaps too strict about the outgoing server for Windows clients compared to web mail. It seems weird, but that's my experience. Please can talktalk advise?

[PeterW5]

Can only agree will all three points - mad that you cannot use Talktalk to report to GCHQ!!  This does not seem to be a Windows thing at all. The error messages I have received all make reference to the senders domain such as "talktalk.net does not pass DMARC verification and has a policy of reject" or "message rejected per sender's DMARC policy -OXSEU001_514" so it is clearly with Talktalk to resolve.

When I tried to set up another talktalk.net email address to try and get around the problem the 'expert' who was helping me did not know that Talktalk had suspended the option of having up to 5 email addresses until we found a note on the website. The explanation was then that Talktalk were dealing with some possible fraudulent activity but as a non-fraudulent participant please can they do something to fix this.

[Ady-TalkTalk]

Excellent, thanks for letting us know Roy. 

[Roy_Harrison · Accepted solution]

OK, thank you Ady. I have just found a work-around which is to configure the email client (Thunderbird) to not use HTML in emails, although this does detract from their appearance.

Best wishes,

Roy

[Ady-TalkTalk]

Hi Roy_Harrison, unfortunately spam has been a particular problem recently. As a result the team managing email have restricted the use of TalkTalk mail servers for forwarding.

Ady