@thedales
Reading your question, I didn't quite understand the terminology you were using, so I asked AI to translate and explain - which it did. As part of the explanation it hinted that you probably don't need staff to handle your request.
I then asked AI, are you (as the customer) able to achieve what you are asking without staff intervention.
I've included the answer below, in case that helps you achieve what you are aiming for, without waiting for staff to pick up your request sometime next week during office hours.
I have no idea whether the AI answer is correct, or whether the controls in the member centre work as described.
.
The customer can (and should) do the common SPF fix themselves in the Plusnet member portal. No staff action is normally required for that.
What the customer can do themselves
For a domain that is on Force9/Plusnet nameservers and managed via the Plusnet account:
- Log into the Plusnet member/portal.
- Go to Manage Account → Manage Your Domains (or the equivalent domain management link, often https://www.plus.net/my.html?action=domainv2).
- Select Configure for the domain (bobdale.co.uk).
- Under Additional DNS records (Advanced) → Configure DNS Records, create a new record with these exact values:
- Left field / Host: leave blank
- Type: MX
- Priority (Pri): 999999
- Right field / Target: please-add-spf-records
- Save/add it.
This is an unofficial but long-standing and widely used workaround. A backend script periodically detects the special MX record and automatically creates the appropriate SPF TXT record on the DNS servers (usually something that includes Plusnet’s internal SPF includes). It can take up to ~6 hours to appear. The customer can then check with a tool such as mxtoolbox.com (SPF lookup) to confirm it has been added.
This is sufficient in most cases to resolve the Gmail 550-5.7.26 rejection when mail is sent via Plusnet’s servers.
What the customer cannot do themselves
- Directly create arbitrary TXT records (or full custom SPF/DKIM/DMARC records of their own choosing).
- “Enable Advanced DNS” in any broader sense that would give full control over record types.
- Add other advanced records that the limited portal does not support (certain CNAME formats with underscores, etc.).
The portal’s self-service DNS editor is deliberately restricted to A, CNAME and MX only. The underlying DNS servers support TXT records, but customers have no direct access to create them, and Plusnet does not generally offer a staff-assisted route for arbitrary TXT records on these legacy hosted domains.
When staff might still be needed
Only if:
- The special MX workaround fails to generate the SPF record after a reasonable time, or
- The customer needs something beyond the standard Plusnet SPF (e.g. custom includes for third-party senders, DKIM, or other TXT records).
In those cases people on the forum often end up transferring the domain registration (or at least the nameservers) to a proper DNS host that allows full control.
Bottom line: For the typical Gmail SPF problem described, the customer can (and is expected to) handle it themselves via the “Additional DNS records (Advanced)” section using the please-add-spf-records MX trick. Staff intervention is not required for the standard fix.
