Your message looks like SPAM or has been reported as SPAM (policy 3.2.1.1)

[Fonant]

I am finding it impossible to send normal one-off email messages to @btinternet.com email addresses, which is causing my business problems.

"Your message looks like SPAM or has been reported as SPAM"

"(reason: 554 Message rejected on 2021/09/17 16:24:29 BST, policy (3.2.1.1)"

My servers do not send bulk email, and they are not on any public blocklists. I can send mail to any email address apart from @btinternet .com ones. NOT GOOD 😡

Have emailed postmaster@btinternet.com, forwarding the bounce messages, several times. No response at all.

Do I need to ask my customers to stop using BT for their email?

[gg30340]

Have a look through this link

BT Email - best practices for postmasters and senders of email | BT Help

Keep emailing the BT postmaster and they should eventually respond, if they don't post back to see if other help can be given.

[Fonant]

Believe me, I've emailed postmaster@bt.com on and off for some months now. Both for bounced emails I've sent and on behalf of customers of mine who have had the same bounce problems.

FWIW, I've run mail servers for over a decade, so I know a little bit about this sort of thing.

[gg30340]

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@Fonant wrote:

FWIW, I've run mail servers for over a decade, so I know a little bit about this sort of thing.

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So does that mean you have done all that is mentioned in the link and sub-links?

[Fonant]

Yes.

[gg30340]

In view of the fact you have stated you have been trying to contact the BT Postmaster without success and that you have said that your email system complies with what has been suggested in the link I have notified the moderators of the forum about your problem.

Once they have read this they may be able to help. They are very busy at present so it can take up to 48 hours for them to contact you. They will do this by posting on this thread.

[DavidM]

Hi @Fonant and welcome.

Thanks for posting about your email, I'm sorry you're having problems. Can you tell me is this a business account? Which email are you sending from? Is it a btinternet account?

Cheers

David

[Fonant]

I am trying to send email to a customer who has a @btinternet.com email address. The message is unique, not bulk, and is a short message with an invoice PDF attachment. I am not a BT internet customer.

I am sending from my own company mailserver, which is configured with SPF, DKIM and DMARC, and which is not listed on any public blocklists.

I have forwarded bounce message to postmaster@btinternet.com several times, but there has been no response. There is no way I can find out why my emails are being classed as SPAM when they are quite obviously not.

If it helps, the bounce details included the message ID:

(reason: 554 Message rejected on 2021/09/17 16:24:29 BST, policy (3.2.1.1) ID (60C2AA5B10FA47CC) - Your message looks like SPAM or has been reported as SPAM)

[Fonant]

OK, I've now tried sending my customers with BT email address their invoices using my Zen Internet email address and Zen Internet's mail servers.

Your message looks like SPAM or has been reported as SPAM (policy 3.2.1.1)

So perhaps it's the fact that my message has a PDF attachment that's the problem?

EDIT: Renaming the PDF doesn't help.

EDIT: I can send a message that's exactly the same but without the attachment.

EDIT: I do seem to be able to send the same message, with PDF attachment, from my Gmail account.

EDIT: This problem only happens with customers with @btinternet or @btopenworld email addresses. All my many other customers are fine.

[stoem]

Has this ever been resolved?

I too run a business and we are having the EXACT same problem. Emails to BTInternet addresses get rejected with 'Looked Like Spam' messages even though they are not spam but either invoice emails or other communications which the customer WANTS to receive.

Did the OP manage to resolve this? I feel like one quick call to a senior BT engineer who can whitelist us as a sender would resolve this. We send using a dedicated IP that is clean, not in any blocklists and has the highest sender reputation possible.