Office 365 validation failure and now domain based email no longer working

[#1]

Hi all, (note I've duplicated this post under the email section as well)
I've attempted to - (unsuccessfully), validate my PlusNet hosted domain name using the Microsoft requested MX record using the following notation;-
Left Field: Blank
Type: MX
Priority: 32767 (as per MS advice)
Right Field : ms61981368.msv1.invalid.  (this includes a trailing .dot)
Since doing this, I can now no longer receive emails to the entire hosted domain despite leaving the mail configuration as follows:-
: I wish to collect my mail using POP3
Is anyone able to shed any light on how I've managed to end up in this black hole of email delivery? I have located a similar thread :-
http://community.plus.net...x.php/topic,147828.0.html
and it appears that I have done all I can to get things working, so wondered if there was anything at the "PlusNet" side of things as I'm at a loss as to what else I can do.
I'm hoping that the knowledgeable Bob Pullen (from PlusNet) or anyone like minded will be able to help as speaking to customer support they advise they are not trained to assist.
Kind regards
Andrew

[#2]

Unfortunately verifying domain ownership for Office 365 set up does appear to a black art. The topic you mentioned MS Office 365 - Verify Domain for Email Setup meanders down a few blind alleys but with considerable assistance from a Plusnet staff member got there in the end.
What you've done appears to be the correct first step though I'm unsure whether the Plusnet DNS management system will accept the additional MX record when POP3 collection remains selected.
If, at a command prompt, you run the command shown in the first line of following code box, does the response you get still show the preference=10 line listed here? And has the additional MX record been added (in your case)?

C:\>nslookup  -type=mx  mydomain.co.uk
Response
Server:  dsldevice.lan
Address:  ........
Non-authoritative answer:
mydomain.co.uk   MX preference = 10, mail exchanger = mx.avasin.plus.net
mydomain.co.uk   nameserver = ns1.plusnet.co.uk
mydomain.co.uk   nameserver = ns2.force9.net
mydomain.co.uk   nameserver = ns2.plusnet.co.uk
mydomain.co.uk   nameserver = ns1.force9.net
C:\>

David

[#3]

Hi David,
Thanks for getting back to me on this. Indeed, this does appear to be something "special". I've logged a ticket with Plusnet as the current MX records are merely pointing at
acmcomputers.co.uk mail exchanger = 10 mx.avasin.plus.net.
yet my current ability to receive emails from this domain are now completely broken following the addition of the silent (non intrusive) MX record for validation (as per configuration and preference settings outlined).
The engineer on the chat suggested there is something problematic on the message relaying internally on this rather than a problem with the domain so I'm completely blind to things at the moment. Perhaps being a Plusnet member for nearly 20+ years has meant I've inherited some config that no longer conforms. I do really need to try and get emails back online to this domain so if push comes to shove and I really can't get Office 365 linked, I may have to jump ship from Plusnet completely which then removes one of the reasons I've stayed with them as a supplier for so long due to the domain association which has always served me well.
Let's see what happens and thanks again for your reply!
Andrew

[#4]

This is just a guess but I suspect attempting to add that additional MX record while retaining POP3 collection has failed (because the process isn't supported). So the DNS settings remain unchanged.
However trying to make the change has possibly screwed up email management so that the domain is no longer associated (mapped onto) your account with mail sent to the domain probably bouncing.
This should get sorted out when your ticket is responded to. Alongside that it should be possible to get Office 365 validation completed as was done in the other topic.
David

[#5]

Sounds perfectly plausible, effectively leaving DNS in a state of confusion/split brain scenario for an MX defined record that is attempting to advertise when the global setting is already in place (ignoring any preference). So much for attempting to introduce a seamless O365 Mail migration over a bank holiday weekend 
Thanks again for getting back to me!

[#6]

I'm now considering transferring out my domain to avoid problems like this in future as I do not have sufficient control over my domains destiny which is detrimental to my dependency on email.
Trouble is, I'm now stuck in limbo as any transfer request now needs me to validate I own the domain by responding to an email being sent to my current email which is inaccessible.
I've been told I'm looking at 72 hours before this is resolved - is there any other way to expedite support tickets?

[#7]

Are you still having problems with this?

[#8]

Hi Bob,
Up until about 4:30pm yesterday, yes I was. Why this took 4+ days to resolve when all it took was 15 seconds during my last ditch attempt phone call for an engineer to do nothing other than "refresh the components" to which he said "this sometime happens", I honestly couldn't understand. (particularly why this hadn't been done during the numerous previous calls I'd made and live chat sessions).
Unfortunately, this was a level of frustration too far and I have now agreed to move to another provider, taking all my services away from Plusnet. I hope you can appreciate, this is particularly poor customer service for something that ended up being so easy to resolve. As a customer of 14 years with Plusnet, it saddens me that the quality of customer care/technical support has let me down for which the company so vocally states is one of their key selling points and historically, I have never had problems. For some reason during this issue, no matter how hard I tried, I seemed to hit brick wall after brick wall of empty promises be it over the phone, via twitter and on the live chat.

Best regards
Andrew

[#9]

Sorry to hear that Andrew. It's not a common problem, so it doesn't surprise me that it took a while to resolve. Let me know if you need any assistance with the transfer. I'm sorry we let you down.

[#10]

Hi Bob,
Would you be in a position to assist with the migration of DNS for the domain to the following please or do I need to raise a new support ticket?
ns1.uk5.siteground.eu
ns2.uk5.siteground.eu
Kind regards
Andrew Mancey

[#11]

This isn't something we support so the name servers would normally need changing by the new registrar once the domain is transferred. Your not going to like it, but that's likely to involve downtime as well
Our Domain Control System simply doesn't support keeping registration of the domain with Plusnet whilst pointing the name servers elsewhere.
If you contact support to request the outbound transfer of the domain, then I /may/ be able to do something ahead of the transfer, but I can't guarantee it.

[#12]

Hi Bob,
I really appreciate your help here. In my support ticket to request the outbound transfer of the domain, what would you suggest I request to ensure that it is handled in the most suitable way? Do I need to make not of a specific department to ensure it is routed appropriately?
Best regards
Andrew

[#13]

You just need to let us know the IPS Tag of the registrar you're moving it to. Let me know when it's raised and I'll shift it to the right department.

[#14]

Hi Bob,
I've changed the IPSTAG via the domain settings portal through member centre - does that automatically do the work or do I still need to raise a ticket?
Many thanks
Andrew

[#15]

I think that might remove the domain from the account which would trash all the DNS until it gets picked up by the new host
I'm not working today but let me get a few things out of the way and I'll jump onto the VPN and have a nosey.