Returned Mail

Sometimes email you have sent is returned to you with a message saying that your email has been rejected by the recipients mail server. Below is a list of common reasons why email can be returned to you. If you look closely in the response of your returned email you will be able to identify the reason why it was returned.

Reason 1 - User Unknown
One of the main reasons email is returned is because the mail server on the recipient end does not recognise their email address. The message will resemble the following:

The message could not be sent because one of the recipients was rejected by the server. The rejected e-mail address was 'bettepond@maxnet.co.nz'. Subject 'What is new?', Account: 'bobpond', Server: 'smtp.maxnet.co.nz', Protocol: SMTP, Server Response: '550 <bettepond@maxnet.co.nz>: User unknown', Port: 25, Secure(SSL): No, Server Error: 550, Error Number: 0x800CCC79

Often this is caused by incorrect spelling of the email address.

Solution: Check the email address again and correct. Contact the recipient if you are sure you have the correct address.

Reason 2 - Exceeded Storage Allocation
You are receiving bounced email because the recipients mail account has reached its maximum limit.

The message from the Postmaster reads:

This Message was undeliverable due to the following reason:
Requested mail action aborted: exceeded storage allocation

Some mail services such as Hotmail.com and Yahoo.com - and some ISPs - have a maximum mailbox limit. Therefore if you send an email to someone whose mailbox is currently at the maximum then it will be automatically bounced back to you, as the mailbox cannot possibly store any more email due to its restrictions and limitations. Some have maximum limits on the size of attachments, so your email may be rejected if there is an attachment that exceeds 1Mb in size.

Solution: Contact the recipient and ask them to remove some of the stored email or break apart the attachment into smaller sections.