1) 'Unknown User' or 'User Not Found'.

The username part of the email address is incorrect. An email address is made up of two parts: the username and the domain (username@domain). If the  username part of the address is incorrect, it may have been mistyped, or the user's email account may have been changed or deleted. Check that the email address is all in lower case letters with no spaces.

2) 'Host Not Found' or 'Invalid Domain' or 'Server Not Found'.

This error means that the domain part of the email address is incorrect. The error could be something simple such as typing domain.co.uk instead of domain.com, or it may be entirely incorrect. The domain part of an email address cannot contain spaces, and can be made up only of letters, numbers and two other characters: . and -  No other characters are allowed.

3) 'Return Address Refused', or 'Sorry, that domain isn't in my list of allowed rcpthosts'.

In simple terms, this error means that the email address you are sending to is unable to accept mail from your address. In most cases this is due to a misconfiguration of the recipient's mail server and will normally be resolved within a short time.

It may also mean that the recipient's mail server is intentionally blocking mail from EvenLink addresses. If this is the case, we will want to investigate. If you repeatedly receive this error please contact custcare@evenlink.com with details of the problem.

A related error, along the lines of 'DNS for host <email domain> is mis-configured' is a common error with emails on sub-domains, such as Freeserve email addresses (for example username@subdomain.freeserve.co.uk). This is the equivalent of the 'Unknown User' error and occurs when the subdomain part of the email address is incorrect.

4) 'Exceeded Storage Allocation' or 'The user(s) account is temporarily over quota'.

There are two possible causes to this error. The majority of mail servers will not allow a user's mailbox to exceed a specified size. If a user does not download their email on a regular basis, or if they receive one or more very large emails, their account may be taken over the server's maximum size. When this happens, mail sent to that address will be 'bounced' until the user downloads their mail.

This can also occur if the recipient's mail server is having difficulties. This is usually a temporary fault.

5) 'Relaying Denied' or 'SPAM-relay detected'.

In order to protect users from 'Spam' (junk or pornographic) email, many email servers institute automated security measures. Unfortunately, the error message won't tell you what caused your email to be rejected as 'Spam', and as these are automated systems it is not possible for us to investigate in detail. Some of the most common causes of this error include:

'Forging' of email header information, so your email does not appear to have come from an EvenLink address.

Too many recipients in the message, particularly if you use the 'BCC' function.

Incorrect header information (check your email settings and ensure that your email address is set correctly).

6) 'User Account Inactive' or 'Mailbox Unavailable'

These are common errors from large email systems such as Hotmail and Yahoo. The above error message confirms that the email address you are sending to is correct, but it is not possible to deliver your message. These large services frequently suspend accounts that have not been accessed for some time, and messages such as this are the result.

The problem is on the recipient's mail system, not EvenLink.

If you require any help or have any questions feel free to call our office.  We can be reached locally at 570-988-1800 in Sunbury or 717-274-3300 in Lebanon or outside the local calling area at 1-866-311-5900.  We can also be reached by email 24 hours a day at help@evenlink.com.