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Soft Bounce Undeliverable Email Notification

Janice T
Jul 29, 2018 1:43 PM
Joined Mar, 2016 63 posts

I received a number of "soft bounce" notifications yesterday and this morning - both to a guest email address and my own email address. The notifications were on emails tied to different reservations. I've checked with the guest and they have received everything that I emailed them. Any ideas what is causing this?

Notification example >>> https://s15.postimg.cc/a95sgtl0r/Email_Soft_Bounce_Notification.jpg

Chris Hynes
Jul 29, 2018 10:43 PM
OR Team Member Joined Oct, 2012 1401 posts

A "soft bounce" means that the email was temporarily unable to reach the email address, but it will automatically try again several times over the next day or two. This can happen for many different reasons -- maybe the email server is down for maintenance, maybe the account is out of space, etc.

That's different than a "hard bounce" which means the email has been dropped and will not be retried. That happens for permanent reasons like incorrect email address, spam blocks, etc.

In your case, the bounces were all to your email address, not the guest's email address -- the copies you get and notification emails were soft bounce, not the ones to the guest. The guest's emails show opened.

Do you see the emails coming to your email address now? It was likely an intermittent issue and has been resolved by your email provider already.

Chris Hynes
Jul 31, 2018 10:00 PM
OR Team Member Joined Oct, 2012 1401 posts

FYI, these are still bouncing to you, but if they're bouncing that means no emails are getting through from us, so you probably didn't get the notification on the forum post.

If you check back, circle it up and let us know what was going on with the account... maybe out of disk space?

Janice T
Aug 1, 2018 10:07 AM
Joined Mar, 2016 63 posts

Chris, I am so puzzled as to why this is happening. I thought maybe AT&T (Yahoo) just had a temporary hiccup, but then it happened again early this morning with a notification of a security deposit being reserved for ORB1562769. I received the notification email at 3:07 am, and then the soft bounce email from OR at 3:08 am.

I have only used 0.47% of my 1 T storage with AT&T, so there's no way that I'm out of space. I hope you have an idea for me. I have started searching this issue, but so far haven't found any answers. Thanks!

Chris Hynes
Aug 1, 2018 12:55 PM
OR Team Member Joined Oct, 2012 1401 posts

Are the emails still getting through to your att.net account fine, just showing a bounce and maybe a couple of minutes delayed?

Janice T
Aug 1, 2018 2:41 PM
Joined Mar, 2016 63 posts

Yes, I am receiving emails fine and showing a bounce a minute or so after.

Chris Hynes
Aug 1, 2018 3:51 PM
OR Team Member Joined Oct, 2012 1401 posts

Looked into this further and it's actually a second level bounce -- looks like there is a forward to forwardfromatt@gmail.com and that is what's bouncing, not the initial send to your @att.net account.

Can you disable the forward from your @att.net account? That should solve the problem.

Janice T
Aug 1, 2018 11:55 PM
Joined Mar, 2016 63 posts

Yes, I have disabled that forward now. Thank you so much for finding the solution!!