Verizon calls my legitimate email "SPAM"

[bobwithoneo]

This new port 25/587 SPAM issue is a DISASTER !!!    Verizon stops all of my outbound emails as "SPAM."   I have never spammed.  EVER!     I have gone around and around with Verizon Tech Service in India and Mexico City.   They seem (or pretend) to not know what is going on.  

They have (3 times) taken over my computer, checked and verified all of the settings, sent a very simple email to myself, and proclaimed the problem "fixed," which it IS NOT.    I have also sent many emails in question (as attachments) to spamdetector.update@verizon.net, with no response or change.   

I have emailed Customer Service, telling them of my outbound emails being stopped as spam, and they sent me back this drivel about: 

 "Dear Valued Verizon Customer,  We are sorry that you are having trouble with your DSL.  (It's NOT my DSL that's a problem, it's your spam filter) Contact Customer Service (I already did) or call 800-567-6789."   (that's the number I called 3 times, with no help at all).

I have had it up to here with Verizon!     They have the WORST tech service and Customer Service that I have ever encountered.    They are just too big.   If I could get some other service here, I would be gone in a flash.   Unfortunately Comcast is the only other service available here, and they are just as bad. 

The big problem is that there is NO ONE locally to speak to, and no one who really cares if you are a customer or not. 

[Donald_Linbin]

can you post the entire email into the forum here, just remove any private information I can check it and see if there is anything I see that may set off a spam filter.

[bobwithano]

Thanks for your interest.  It happens with ANY email I send, however simple, but here is an example:

Dave,

Thanks for your help and patience regarding my email situation.

Here is the text from the Verizon Notice:

------------------ start of file --------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:40:52 -0500
From: service.advisory@verizon.net
To: Customer@verizon.net
Subject: Important Changes to Your Email Service - Your Action May Be
Required

Dear Verizon Online Customer, 

Verizon Online will soon be making changes to our network to further
strengthen the security of our customers' email messages and our network and
to help prevent spam. 

We have blocked incoming email from Port 25, which is the default port used
by email programs to connect to email servers and to send email, for some
time now.  We are now taking the additional step of blocking outgoing e-mail
messages from Port 25 to help ensure that our network is not used by
spammers.  Depending on whether you use a web-based email service or an
email program such as Microsoft Outlook, you may need to make changes to
your computer settings to ensure that your ability to send email is not
interrupted.     

If you use a web-based Email service (either Verizon.net or a third party
email service, such as Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL, etc.): 

If you use a web-based email service to send your email, you do not
need to do anything as our implementation of Port 25 blocking for outgoing
email messages will not affect your ability to send or receive web-based
email.
 
If you use a third party Email service such as Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL
and an Email program such as Microsoft Outlook:

If you use an email service other than Verizon.net (such as Gmail,
Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL, etc.) to send email through a program like Microsoft
Outlook, you will need to make the following modification to your computer
settings so that your ability to send email will not be affected: 

Change the port number in the "Advanced" section of your email
program from Port 25 to Port 587.  Detailed instructions on how to change
the port settings on your computer can be found at www.verizon.net/port25.

If you're using an email provider other than Verizon.net (such as
Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL, etc.) to send email through your email program
and you are unable to send email after making the change to Port 587, please
contact your email provider for additional information on their recommended
port settings. 

The above changes are necessary in order to allow you to continue to send
email through your email program after September 15, 2009.    

Thank you for being a valued Verizon customer.

Sincerely,

Verizon Online   

---------------------- end of file ------------------------------------------------- 

Bob

[Donald_Linbin]

Are you getting an error when sending, or do the messages not arriving at the desination?

did you already contact postmaster@verizon.net letting him know all of your mail is being marked as spam?

[bobwithano]

I get the error when trying to send, and nothing goes out.

No, I had not tried the postmaster@verizon.net, as I had never heard of it until now.   I just did send a plea to stop stopping my email. 

[Donald_Linbin]

can you post the exact message you get for the error?

[bobwithano]

Yes, here it is:

An unknown error has occurred. Subject 'Welcome To LaborGalore.com!', Account: '{edited for privacy}', Server: 'outgoing.verizon.net', Protocol: SMTP, Server Response: '550 5.7.1 The message you attempted to send was determined to be spam. Please visit http://www.verizon.net/spamfaq for more information.', Port: 587, Secure(SSL): No, Server Error: 550, Error Number: 0x800CCC69

[Donald_Linbin]

have you tried using port 25? are you sending with your verizon email address?

[bobwithano]

Yes, this all started with the port 25 issue.  (Please refer to the Verizon letter that I copied in an above message.)  Verizon determined that they could stop spam by moving the outbound port from port 25 to 587, however the spammers very quickly figured that out and moved too, so nobody is better off, and most are worse off.) 

 Yes, I have 3 email addresses that I used to send and receive mail through.   One is purely Verizon.  I have heard that Verizon will now only serve their own email addresses.   So, now I only send using that address, and I still get blocked.

By the way, postmaster@verizon.net is for child porn and copyright/trademark issues.  I just received a useless auto-response from an email that I sent earlier today.

Bob

[somegirl]

The outbound spam filter is actually an entirely separate change from the port 25 change. Sending false positives to spamdetector.update@verizon.net is the only way to influence the filters themselves, but there are some things you can do.

Some troubleshooting steps you can try:
If you have a signature, try removing one line at a time from it and attempting to send the message again. Some signatures look like "ads" to the filters, apparently.

If you are using a pop3 client (Outlook, Outlook Express, etc.) try sending your message from the verizon.net website. If this resolves the issue, then it is something that your client is adding to the message that is causing it to be blocked.

If the Subject line of your message has a whole bunch of "Fwd: Fwd: Re: Fwd:" try removing some of them.

Hope this helps!