Cannot send invoice to @aol.com customers..

[ramystyle]

Has anyone had this problem before? I have a client with an aol email address. Whenever an invoice is sent to his email address, it rebouds back to our server with the following message:

 

---------------------------------------------------------------

A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of its recipients. This is a permanent error. The following address(es) failed:

 

------------@ aol . com

SMTP error from remote mail server after end of data:

host mailin-03.mx.aol.com [205.188.157.217]: 554-:

(RLY:CS4) http://postmaster.info.aol.com/errors/554rlycs4.html

554 TRANSACTION FAILED

---------------------------------------------------------------

 

If you go to the link, it says : This error message indicates that your email has been identified as coming from a server or web site that may have a compromised script or program available.

 

[bear]

This is not a WHMCS error, but a problem with AOL. We normally see these when we have clients forwarding mail off the server to AOL, and then reporting it. You need to visit AOL's postmaster section, and follow the instructions for getting things the way they like (SPF records, rDNS and so on), then contact them to get this fixed.

Be prepared for it to take some time, they aren't usually fast at resolving this.

 

We moved a server back in September, and we'd missed installing GD, on which one script was relying for spammer control. It was compromised within a day, and we caught it only after it had sent about 1,000 spams. That got us on AOL's block...and it took us literally months to get back off.

Best of luck.

 

Make sure you sign up for the "feedback loop" they offer....it's an early warning sign of potential problems, and it really helps.

[ramystyle]

Thanks bear !! I figured it was not an whmcs problem..

I will follow your instructions and hopefully it will be ok. I sent the invoice to my customer using my outlook mail for now

 

Thanks again !

[bear]

No problem, happy to help. A word of advice: keep after them...sometimes they forget to follow through, and if a ticket sits too long it's purged...meaning you get to start over.

[okihost]

Your best bet is to give them a call, tell them what happened and list all of your IP addresses with them. I find they are fairly decent both with emails and calls but always get faster service when calling.

 

I have to say I wish other ISP's would follow suit and offer such an option as it helps everyone keep things managed in the long run.

[ramystyle]

Hi Okihost !

 

Thanks for the advice.. Any idea where I can find their number.. I looked on their website but only found access numbers

[okihost]

Actually it has been a while since I setup my feedback loop but it looks as though you can do this all online now.

 

http://postmaster.aol.com/

 

Also if you caught the issue with what was going on with emails from your servers getting flagged then it may be a temporary block, I have some clients who sometimes get a ton of spam, the email gets forwarded from our server to the email account at AOL of the customer and they flag it as spam not realizing it is not originating from our servers thus we get blamed for the spam.

 

You need to watch these emails and speak with clients as soon as you start to get a few complaints, a nice FAQ about this system can help though you may need to actually contact the client via phone and explain what is going on if you can't reach them via email.