Getting 553 error when sending an email to recipient using Symanteccloud

[#1]

Many of my emails are being bounced with the following message:

The response from the remote server was:

553 Message filtered. Refer to the Troubleshooting page at http://www.symanteccloud.com/troubleshooting for more information. (#5.7.1)

The troubleshooting link doesn't work - www.symanteccloud.com does not exist.

When I try use Google to search for a solution, I just get gobbledegook - I am not sending marketing messages - I am replying to straightforward business emails.  Somehow I seem to have been blacklisted by Symanteccloud, and I cannot find out why.  And I cannot email the business colleague to ask them to sort this out - as my emails are bounced!

[#2]

@NicholasA  you're not alone https://community.broadcom.com/symantecenterprise/communities/community-home/digestviewer/viewthread...

[#3]

I know - but the various threads don't assist me in solving the issue.  All I want to do is reply to emails from my bank/insurance broker etc.

[#4]

"I am not sending marketing messages - I am replying to straightforward business emails.  Somehow I seem to have been blacklisted by Symanteccloud, and I cannot find out why."

I would suspect that there is nothing straightforward in the emails you are replying to.  Do you replies include the full content of the received email?  Try removing all embedded links in the content of the original email in your reply.

It would be ironic if the receiving service is rejecting URLs promulgated by their own email content.

I would doubt that you personally have been black listed.  Try sending a new test message to the email address and see if you still get a bounce response.

[#5]

It is bizarre that the recipient seems to have blacklisted emails from one of their clients.  Because of the possibility that one of the embedded links in the sender's signature might be causing the problem, I have also tried to reply to emails - having first deleted all unnecessary detail from the sender's original message.  I have also tried to send test messages with nothing but a few innocuous words in the email.

Having spoken to the recipients by telephone (so last century)  - they have contacted their respective IT departments to whitelist me, but to no avail. And it seems to be a blacklisting issue, as my spouse can send emails to the same recipients without them bouncing. The problem seems to be with Symantec, and there appears to be nothing I can do about it.

It is so frustrating 

[#6]

Are both you and your wife sending from address@youraccount.plus.com?

If yes...

Are you using the same or different devices?

Are you both using authorised credentials (user name and password) for the SMTP server?

If yes...

Are you each using the respective mailbox user name (youraccount or youraccount+address) and password or are they both using the Plusnet account name and password?

[#7]

No - we are sending from a GMail account - and using authorised credentials for GMails server.

Difficult to know what more I can do to sort this out, other than telephone the addressees to let them know that my emails are being bounced, and have their IT depts raise the issue with Symantec.  

Really irritating.

Thanks for your suggestions.

[#8]

@NicholasA What happens if you send an email to yourself? Does that bounce with the same 553.

All the info on the net refers to a lack of authentication when sending if you get a 553 back. You haven't accidentally unticked a box? Just a thought. 😀

Edit: For Symantec have you tried https://identity.symanteccloud.com/Logon

[#9]

Lack of authentication - not aware of any, and I can send mail to lots of other recipients without a problem - and can happily send mail to other members of my family. The bounce is clearly coming from the recipients email server.

[#10]

No - we are sending from a GMail account - and using authorised credentials for GMails server.

So is your FROM: a gmail.com email address or a someone@<accountname>.plus.com email address ? or even a someone@<mydomain> email 

[#11]

the "From" address is someone@mydomain.co.uk.

Curiously - only emails from him@mydomain.co.uk are bounced.  emails from her@mydomain.co.uk (using the same infrastructure) get through.

[#12]

@NicholasA Where is your domain hosted ?

Do you have an spf record that includes the gmail servers ?

[#13]

My domain is hosted by Plusnet - and Plusnet's "help" function states: 

We don't support SPF records on customer domains. For information about which records we do support take a look at our page on Managing DNS Records.

[#14]

@NicholasA  there is a not very well documented feature that does allow a restricted spf record to be created

However it will only allow creation of a standard one which permits sending via the plusnet relays.

If you want to try it, you will need to change your outgoing server to relay.plus.net , use port 587 with STARTTLS and authenticate with your PlusNet accountname and password

Then in Domain management DNS records, create the following record. It should then be live in a maximum of about 6 hours (the script doesnt run continuously) . I suggest checking using mxtoolbox to see when the spf record is created.

Type: MX
Priority: 999999
Right Field: please-add-spf-records

This will then, in the usual time frames, add the following record:

v=spf1 a mx include:_spf-internal.plus.net include:_spf-internal2.plus.net ~all

I'm guessing that your non delivery COULD be related to the lack of spf for your domain. Possibly combined with a slightly spammy signature in the emails. One of those may be ok, but having both the spammy sig and and no spf might just tip it over.

[#15]

No - we are sending from a GMail account - and using authorised credentials for GMails server.

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

I fear that there is an emerging risk of great confusion here., which needs clarification to give you sound advice.  I thought that this issue relates to replying to emails sent to your Plusnet email service - that is you are sending from the Plusnet email account.

My domain is hosted by Plusnet

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

When you say your domain is hosted by Plusnet, are you saying you use him@jones.co.uk rather than him@myaoount.plus.com?

If you are using a Plusnet hosted domain, you can set up SPF records, the documentation is dated.  Configure a DNS record as below.

Emails from your hosted domain MUST come from Plusnet's SMTP server.

Are both him@ and her@ both secondary email addresses, or is one the default mail address?

553 is an authentication error - see https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/email/email-error-553/#:~:text=A%20553%20email%20error%20is,...

Is the device encountering the issue...

• Connected to the internet via Plusnet (not 4G mobile)?
• Not using a VPN?
• Using the Plusnet SMTP server with username and password specified?