Getting off AOL's blacklist (or, "I Hate AOL")

[David J. Hennessy]

Recently, a client's "contact us" form on their e-commerce site was
compromised. We fixed it within minutes, but not before AOL blacklisted
the IP. Now, despite emails to their postmaster (which go unanswered)
and signing up for their "Feedback Loop" (which, as far as I can tell,
is a useless placebo form designed to make me feel better), several
weeks have gone by, and AOL customers who order from my client's site
still can't get emails from the site.

Does anyone know how to reach a human being who actually does something
at AOL?

[Brian Wakem]

Post by David J. Hennessy
Recently, a client's "contact us" form on their e-commerce site was
compromised. We fixed it within minutes, but not before AOL blacklisted
the IP. Now, despite emails to their postmaster (which go unanswered)
and signing up for their "Feedback Loop" (which, as far as I can tell,
is a useless placebo form designed to make me feel better), several
weeks have gone by, and AOL customers who order from my client's site
still can't get emails from the site.
Does anyone know how to reach a human being who actually does something
at AOL?

You need to apply for whitelist status:
http://postmaster.aol.com/whitelist/whitelist_guides.html

It was surprisingly painless when I did it.

[Scott Bryce]

Post by Brian Wakem
http://postmaster.aol.com/whitelist/whitelist_guides.html
It was surprisingly painless when I did it.

They won't whitelist me because I don't send enough email to AOL
addresses to establish a history of sending non-spam. One would think
that someone who sends no email would also be sending no spam. I guess
AOL can't reach that conclusion.

[Phil Payne]

Post by Scott Bryce
They won't whitelist me because I don't send enough email to AOL
addresses to establish a history of sending non-spam. One would think
that someone who sends no email would also be sending no spam. I guess
AOL can't reach that conclusion.

I'm sorry to be no help, but thanks for the chuckle. I've had a long
day and it has involved AOL as well.

[David J. Hennessy]

Post by Brian Wakem

Post by David J. Hennessy
Recently, a client's "contact us" form on their e-commerce site was
compromised. We fixed it within minutes, but not before AOL blacklisted
the IP. Now, despite emails to their postmaster (which go unanswered)
and signing up for their "Feedback Loop" (which, as far as I can tell,
is a useless placebo form designed to make me feel better), several
weeks have gone by, and AOL customers who order from my client's site
still can't get emails from the site.
Does anyone know how to reach a human being who actually does something
at AOL?

http://postmaster.aol.com/whitelist/whitelist_guides.html
It was surprisingly painless when I did it.

I had looked into that earlier, unfortunately, we don't send 100 emails
to AOL a month in order to meet the minimum consideration. Apparently,
if you're not a big-time bulk mailer, they aren't interested in letting
your mail past their spam filters. Sorta seems a bit mixed-up in the
priorities department to me!

[Brian Wakem]

Post by David J. Hennessy

Post by Brian Wakem

Post by David J. Hennessy
Recently, a client's "contact us" form on their e-commerce site was
compromised. We fixed it within minutes, but not before AOL blacklisted
the IP. Now, despite emails to their postmaster (which go unanswered)
and signing up for their "Feedback Loop" (which, as far as I can tell,
is a useless placebo form designed to make me feel better), several
weeks have gone by, and AOL customers who order from my client's site
still can't get emails from the site.
Does anyone know how to reach a human being who actually does something
at AOL?

http://postmaster.aol.com/whitelist/whitelist_guides.html
It was surprisingly painless when I did it.

I had looked into that earlier, unfortunately, we don't send 100 emails
to AOL a month in order to meet the minimum consideration.

Ah, I see. If you have a friend with an AOL account you could ask him if he
wouldn't mind you sending him 100 emails a month - that would get around
that problem.

I was sending over 100 per day, so they moved quite quickly for me.

[David J. Hennessy]

Post by Brian Wakem

Post by David J. Hennessy

Post by Brian Wakem

Post by David J. Hennessy
Recently, a client's "contact us" form on their e-commerce site was
compromised. We fixed it within minutes, but not before AOL blacklisted
the IP. Now, despite emails to their postmaster (which go unanswered)
and signing up for their "Feedback Loop" (which, as far as I can tell,
is a useless placebo form designed to make me feel better), several
weeks have gone by, and AOL customers who order from my client's site
still can't get emails from the site.
Does anyone know how to reach a human being who actually does something
at AOL?

http://postmaster.aol.com/whitelist/whitelist_guides.html
It was surprisingly painless when I did it.

I had looked into that earlier, unfortunately, we don't send 100 emails
to AOL a month in order to meet the minimum consideration.

Ah, I see. If you have a friend with an AOL account you could ask him if he
wouldn't mind you sending him 100 emails a month - that would get around
that problem.
I was sending over 100 per day, so they moved quite quickly for me.

That is a fabulous idea!!

[Arnie Goetchius]

Post by David J. Hennessy

Post by Brian Wakem
Ah, I see. If you have a friend with an AOL account you could ask him
if he wouldn't mind you sending him 100 emails a month - that would get around
that problem.

That is a fabulous idea!!

I have had my own AOL account for many years to verify whether or not my
emails were getting through. Now that AOL is free, you could sign up for
one of their accounts so you wouldn't have to bother a friend.

[Auggie]

Post by Brian Wakem
http://postmaster.aol.com/whitelist/whitelist_guides.html
It was surprisingly painless when I did it.

I had looked into that earlier, unfortunately, we don't send 100 emails to
AOL a month in order to meet the minimum consideration. Apparently, if
you're not a big-time bulk mailer, they aren't interested in letting your
mail past their spam filters. Sorta seems a bit mixed-up in the priorities
department to me!

AOL handles millions of emails per hour. 100 emails a month is only 3.3 per
day on the average.

I know it sucks to have your emails not make it through, but 100 per month
isn't very much and I think thats pretty great that they are willing to even
do something for sites that generate such a minute amount of email.

I think this is just one of those "Grand Scheme of Things" situations where
you happen to be on the wrong end. Considering how many domains and
websites there are out there, its actually great to hear that they would
give consideration to a site that does just 100 emails per month... but a
line does have to be drawn somewhere, and 100 sounds reasonable.

[Steven J. Sobol]

Post by David J. Hennessy
Recently, a client's "contact us" form on their e-commerce site was
compromised. We fixed it within minutes, but not before AOL blacklisted
the IP. Now, despite emails to their postmaster (which go unanswered)
and signing up for their "Feedback Loop" (which, as far as I can tell,
is a useless placebo form designed to make me feel better), several
weeks have gone by, and AOL customers who order from my client's site
still can't get emails from the site.
Does anyone know how to reach a human being who actually does something
at AOL?

Their Postmaster group has a website and a 24x7 toll-free phone number.
The following URL also lists phone numbers for international
divisions of AOL.

http://postmaster.info.aol.com/contact/index.html

They also have a page where you can get information about their bounce
mesages.

You may want to consider signing up for one of their feedback loops if
you are actually sending bulk email and are interested in
deliverability.

[saz]

Post by Steven J. Sobol

Post by David J. Hennessy
Recently, a client's "contact us" form on their e-commerce site was
compromised. We fixed it within minutes, but not before AOL blacklisted
the IP. Now, despite emails to their postmaster (which go unanswered)
and signing up for their "Feedback Loop" (which, as far as I can tell,
is a useless placebo form designed to make me feel better), several
weeks have gone by, and AOL customers who order from my client's site
still can't get emails from the site.
Does anyone know how to reach a human being who actually does something
at AOL?

Their Postmaster group has a website and a 24x7 toll-free phone number.
The following URL also lists phone numbers for international
divisions of AOL.
http://postmaster.info.aol.com/contact/index.html

<snip>

I had a similar problem last week. I used the contact phone number on
the above page and spent only a couple minutes on hold. I had a live
person helping me and and everything was resolved within 36 hours.

[David J. Hennessy]

Post by saz

Post by Steven J. Sobol

Post by David J. Hennessy
Recently, a client's "contact us" form on their e-commerce site was
compromised. We fixed it within minutes, but not before AOL blacklisted
the IP. Now, despite emails to their postmaster (which go unanswered)
and signing up for their "Feedback Loop" (which, as far as I can tell,
is a useless placebo form designed to make me feel better), several
weeks have gone by, and AOL customers who order from my client's site
still can't get emails from the site.
Does anyone know how to reach a human being who actually does something
at AOL?

Their Postmaster group has a website and a 24x7 toll-free phone number.
The following URL also lists phone numbers for international
divisions of AOL.
http://postmaster.info.aol.com/contact/index.html

<snip>
I had a similar problem last week. I used the contact phone number on
the above page and spent only a couple minutes on hold. I had a live
person helping me and and everything was resolved within 36 hours.

Thanks, that's what I will do. I knew there had to be a more direct route!

[unknown]

Post by David J. Hennessy
Recently, a client's "contact us" form on their e-commerce site was
compromised. We fixed it within minutes, but not before AOL blacklisted
the IP. Now, despite emails to their postmaster (which go unanswered)
and signing up for their "Feedback Loop" (which, as far as I can tell,
is a useless placebo form designed to make me feel better), several
weeks have gone by, and AOL customers who order from my client's site
still can't get emails from the site.
Does anyone know how to reach a human being who actually does something
at AOL?

You need to do the AOL Feedback Loop.
Then call the Postmaster with the bounce error msg.
Goes like this.
" I did the loop, how do I get off? "
Assuming he/she doesn't bring up the soft music and wine thing, they will
let you know.
* AOL US Postmaster(local): 1-703-265-4670
* AOL France: 0892 02 03 04
* AOL Germany: 0 1805 313164
* AOL UK: 0870 320 2020
* AOL Puerto Rico: +1.888.265.1111
* AOL en Español (Estadas Unitas soledad): +1.800.771.7084
* All other countries: +1.703.264.1184 (This is a toll call.)

* General AOL Support: +1.800.827.6364
* AOL Broadband Support: +1.888.849.3200
* AOL for Windows Support: +1.800.827.3338
* AOL for Macintosh Support: +1.888.265.8007
* AOL Support by TTY: +1.800.759.3323

[j***@naturalhealthperspective.com]

Post by David J. Hennessy
Recently, a client's "contact us" form on their e-commerce site was
compromised. We fixed it within minutes, but not before AOL blacklisted
the IP. Now, despite emails to their postmaster (which go unanswered)
and signing up for their "Feedback Loop" (which, as far as I can tell,
is a useless placebo form designed to make me feel better), several
weeks have gone by, and AOL customers who order from my client's site
still can't get emails from the site.

Gee, ever think of setting up a new additional email account, somewhere
else? Could take about 5 minutes. Aren't your customers worth it?

With dozens of different domains available, you could probably even use
the same web site name.

[William Tasso]

Fleeing from the madness of the http://groups.google.com jungle
***@naturalhealthperspective.com
<***@naturalhealthperspective.com> stumbled into
news:alt.www.webmaster

Post by j***@naturalhealthperspective.com

Post by David J. Hennessy
Recently, a client's "contact us" form on their e-commerce site was
compromised. We fixed it within minutes, but not before AOL blacklisted
the IP. Now, despite emails to their postmaster (which go unanswered)
and signing up for their "Feedback Loop" (which, as far as I can tell,
is a useless placebo form designed to make me feel better), several
weeks have gone by, and AOL customers who order from my client's site
still can't get emails from the site.

Gee, ever think of setting up a new additional email account, somewhere
else? Could take about 5 minutes. Aren't your customers worth it?

Customers? as I read it, it's the customers' customers that have
addresses @ aol.

Remember folk: friends don't let friends use AOL.

Post by j***@naturalhealthperspective.com
With dozens of different domains available, you could probably even use
the same web site name.

There are dozens of domains available? is that all? best snap 'em up
quick then.

Fear not, if that ever looks likely you can bet your arse some kind soul
will invent/release/allocate a brand spanking new TLD to play with.

[David J. Hennessy]

Post by j***@naturalhealthperspective.com

Post by David J. Hennessy
Recently, a client's "contact us" form on their e-commerce site was
compromised. We fixed it within minutes, but not before AOL blacklisted
the IP. Now, despite emails to their postmaster (which go unanswered)
and signing up for their "Feedback Loop" (which, as far as I can tell,
is a useless placebo form designed to make me feel better), several
weeks have gone by, and AOL customers who order from my client's site
still can't get emails from the site.

Gee, ever think of setting up a new additional email account, somewhere
else? Could take about 5 minutes. Aren't your customers worth it?
With dozens of different domains available, you could probably even use
the same web site name.

Are you suggesting I change the email address that the server sends
order emails from? I don't see how that will help. Perhaps I should
request a new IP address, but somehow I thought that resolving this with
AOL would be faster & more permanent.

[a***@gmail.com]

It is now 2017, and AOL is no better. Its "24 hour tech" support consists of persons paid to stay up all night and answer the phone to tell you that they cannot help you. Then they refer to to billing, and transfer the phone line, knowing full well that billing isn't open 24hrs. I am starting to wonder exactly what I am paying for here.

But I see that the people who are getting it for free are abused even worse.

[David]

wrote in message news:87359c10-53b2-4aad-93b5-***@googlegroups.com...

It is now 2017, and AOL is no better. Its "24 hour tech" support consists of
persons paid to stay up all night and answer the phone to tell you that they
cannot help you. Then they refer to to billing, and transfer the phone line,
knowing full well that billing isn't open 24hrs. I am starting to wonder
exactly what I am paying for here.

But I see that the people who are getting it for free are abused even worse.

What is the rent?