emails being returned..?

[looobylooo]

hi,
can anyone throw any light on this please?
a relative has a hotmail email address,
but whenever i try to send her an e-mail, it doesnt get delivered, it just keeps coming back to me, with a message saying 'mail demon' or something.
she can send e-mails to me, but i cant reply?
and she receives mail ok from others.
so it seems its just me!
is there any reason for this please?
and is there anything she or i need to do?
thanks for any replies :o)

[boxtops]

If you hit "reply" when she emails you, does it still bounce (rather than your starting a new email to her)?

[emmie]

i have the same problem, type a new e mail to several friends, and they often bounce back, but i simply reply to one of their e mails it goes no problem. Was told to reload their contact address but it still does it.

[4candles]

Is it possible you're sending to hotmail.co.uk when it's actually hotmail.com, or vice-versa?

[MichaelZZ]

Are you attempting to reply via the "Reply" button?
This is much more reliable than typing out your relative's email address every time - or by picking her details from your address book.
If it's Hotmail, is the address hotmail.com or hotmail.co.uk?

[ChuckFickens]

"with a message saying 'mail demon' or something."

That message tells you exactly why it wasn't delivered. if you can't decipher it yourself post the message properly and somebody will say what the problem is.

[MichaelZZ]

Sorry! I hadn't read the other replies!

[Gromit]

Have you tried copy and pasting the email address?
Are you using a email program or emailing through a browser? Whichever metjod you are using, try the other one.

[looobylooo]

thanks all for replying, i appreciate it, thank you.
yes, ive tried just 'replying' aswell as opening a new email for her, but it still gets returned to me.
and yep, ive got the address right too.

i use aol to send my emails, gromit

chuck, if i post up a copy of the report i get, so someone can help, is there anything i need to blank out, other than email addresses?
theres lots of codes and whatnot in it, including IP addresses, so i obviously dont want to unbeknowingly post up anything private on a public forum.

thanks :o)

[ChuckFickens]

Obviously blank out email addresses, you can blank out IP addresses if you want (not really an issue if you don't though) but don't blank out server names as they are helpful.

[looobylooo]

okidoke! thank you ...

one sec then ....

[looobylooo]

chuck,

----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----
<********@hotmail.co.uk>
(reason: 550 Requested action not taken: mailbox unavailable)

----- Transcript of session follows -----
... while talking to mx3.hotmail.com.:
>>> DATA
<<< 550 Requested action not taken: mailbox unavailable
550 5.1.1 <********@hotmail.co.uk>... User unknown
<<< 503 Need Rcpt command.


Original-Recipient: rfc822;********@hotmail.co.uk
Final-Recipient: RFC822; ********@hotmail.co.uk
Action: failed
Status: 5.1.1
Remote-MTA: DNS; mx3.hotmail.com
Diagnostic-Code: SMTP; 550 Requested action not taken: mailbox unavailable
Last-Attempt-Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2011 08:45:23 -0400


Return-Path: <********@aol.com>
Received: from mtaomg-ma04.r1000.mx.aol.com (mtaomg-ma04.r1000.mx.aol.com [ ])
by imr-ma01.mx.aol.com ( ) with ESMTP id p6DCjH8T016142
for <********@hotmail.co.uk>; Wed, 13 Jul 2011 08:45:17 -0400
Received: from core-doe004b.r1000.mail.aol.com (core-doe004.r1000.mail.aol.com [ ])
by mtaomg-ma04.r1000.mx.aol.com (OMAG/Core Interface) with ESMTP id 950B4E000082
for <********@hotmail.co.uk>; Wed, 13 Jul 2011 08:45:17 -0400 (EDT)
From: *******@aol.com
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2011 08:45:17 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: test
To: ********@hotmail.co.uk
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="part1_74e7.42ada61.3b4eed5d_boundar
y"

X-Mailer: AOL 9.0 VR sub 5007
X-AOL-IP:
X-Originating-IP: [ ]
x-aol-global-disposition: G
X-AOL-SCOLL-SCORE: 0:2:201051424:93952408
X-AOL-SCOLL-URL_COUNT: 0
x-aol-sid: 3039ac1d290b4e1d935d1052

thank you :o)

[ChuckFickens]

Are you 100% sure you've got the email address correct.... the error is

mailbox unavailable
550 5.1.1 <********@hotmail.co.uk>... User unknown

Which is kinda self explanatory.... "User unknown" means it's not a known email address.

[daisya]

I think the same as CF here and have had people say to me they've sent me a mail and it's been returned. When I've checked the copy they've sent me for failure of delivery they've got one letter wrong in the address...say a c instead of a k...makes all the difference but overlooked very easily,.

[looobylooo]

'user unknown' - thats exactly what i thought chuck.

and yeah the address is correct, its her name, with hotmail.co.uk
plus, ive tried to just 'reply' and it still comes back to me.

ahwell, never mind, thanks everso for your time chuck in trying to help me, i do appreciate it :o)

[ChuckFickens]

Just to clarify a little more, the server that generated the error is.... mx3.hotmail.com, so your mail is getting to hotmails system OK but they are rejecting it as an unknown email address.

[looobylooo]

ah right, ok thanks chuck

[ChuckFickens]

Replying doesn't always mean the email address will be correct. you can set the reply address in hotmail to be whatever you want, and if the other person has manually set their address and made a mistake with it in some way then replying will fail.

If you check the mail header of a mail they have sent you then you should be able to see both the reply address and the originating address and these can be different. http://www.fraudaid.com/headers/aol.htm

There is also a slim chance that hotmail is having a hiccup, but as others can send to the person OK this is unlikely.

[looobylooo]

thats helpful to know chuck! cheers!
i will do some investigating then, and hopefully get to the bottom of it,
thanks again for all your good help and your time :o) x