CNAME lookup failed temporarily

M

MicS

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Hi guys,

I hope this is the right section to post in?

I need an explanation from you IT guys, but you will have to explain it to me in non-technical terms, as I am a layman.

Whenever I try to send an email to a particular company, the email bounces back but not immediately (after 6-8 hours or more). It says the following:-

"Hi. This is the qmail-send program at saol.com.
I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message to the following addresses.
This is a permanent error; I've given up. Sorry it didn't work out.

<******@******.co.za>:
CNAME lookup failed temporarily. (#4.4.3)
I'm not going to try again; this message has been in the queue too long."

I have a sneaking suspicion, although I am not quite sure, but I think the company is deliberately trying to block my emails. I applied for a service from this particular company, and have been receiving bad customer service from them (what's new) :mad: I haven't been spamming them if that's what you think, and I my attitude in my emails hasn't been scathing.

I applied and paid for a specific service, and I didn't receive that service from the company. Now I am requesting a refund (it's only R150, but still it's the principle of the matter).

Previously I have been communicating normally via email. The email address was working perfectly, then all of a sudden my emails can't get through. However when I lodged a query by going onto the company's website, the message got through normally and they called me back regarding my query. I tell them that my emails cannot get through and they give some excuse that I have typed the email address incorrectly. Yeah, right! :rolleyes:

I'm still waiting for my refund, which they apparently said they would give. I would appreciate it if anybody can give me some insight into what this error means "CNAME lookup failed temporarily." Or perhaps it's a coincidence that there is a technical bug whilst at the same time they refuse or are delaying my refund.

Thanks.
 
This is most likely a DNS failure on their part - there are much easier ways if they wanted to bounce your mail.
 
An error like that means that your server can't find the IP address for their server. Either there is something wrong with the DNS server your mail server is using, or it's a global problem and nobody can send them mail.
 
So up to now, the email gets bounced daily. It still says : "CNAME lookup failed temporarily". Seriously, how long does it take to fix a DNS server? My emails get through to other people. Still I haven't got my R150 refund back from this company!
 
MicS said:
So up to now, the email gets bounced daily. It still says : "CNAME lookup failed temporarily". Seriously, how long does it take to fix a DNS server? My emails get through to other people. Still I haven't got my R150 refund back from this company!
Click to expand...

Have you tried using an alternate domain server? Perhaps post the domain here, and we can do an MX check on it to see if it has any records.
 
That domain is hosted on Google Apps. And the setup looks fine.
But whats puzzling is the fact that the error mentions CNAME.
No real mail admin will use a CNAME in an MX record... Its just bad practice.
 
That's the oddest failure I've ever heard of. Only a 5xx should be a permanent delivery failure.
Who cares what the C-Name is or where it points. Sounds like a sucky setup to me.
When it comes to email the only thing you should worry about are MX records!
 
Ivork said:
That's the oddest failure I've ever heard of. Only a 5xx should be a permanent delivery failure.
Who cares what the C-Name is or where it points. Sounds like a sucky setup to me.
When it comes to email the only thing you should worry about are MX records!
Click to expand...

MX records need to point to something. an MX record can't (shouldn't) point to an IP, it should point to another record. And it should point to an A record. But some people seem to think that CNAMEs will do too, but thats just iffy.
 
I'm lost here. I don't know all this technical jargon. Forgive me. So what does this all mean?

I sent an email yesterday to [email protected], saying that I have been waiting for my refund. It seemed to get through, and I got a reply from [email protected], saying they will look into the refund (which I highly doubt). However, the people that I were interacting with regarding this matter, their email bounces (CNAME lookup failed temporarily). So I don't understand how an email can get through to [email protected], but not [email protected] (I emailed the person who works at the "help-desk" and the boss/superviser; both of their emails say CNAME lookup failed temporarily)? :confused:
 
Update

Well, it seems that after emailing them at [email protected], the guy who responded ([email protected]) to my email yesterday, he called me today to say they will be arranging the refund. So FINALLY I get my refund!

But the question remains, how is it that an email can get through to [email protected], but not [email protected]? Were those two people on leave/vacation, so they deliberately blocked incoming email? If so, what great customer service :rolleyes: They should of given my problem to someone else to handle.
 
Hm. The error you got shouldn't have happened, unless your DNS server experienced a failure of some sort.
 
Can someone please explain to me in plain English what's going on, if anyone knows what's going on?

Thanks.

By the way, they are still giving me the runaround regarding my refund :mad: I am pissed!
 
Last edited:
From your PC if you are running Windows, go to Start, type in cmd by the run/search
in the command prompt type nslookup and press enter, then do below
> set type=MX
> talk4less.co.za

Your answer should look like this

Non-authoritative answer:
talk4less.co.za MX preference = 30, mail exchanger = ASPMX4.GOOGLEMAIL.COM
talk4less.co.za MX preference = 30, mail exchanger = ASPMX5.GOOGLEMAIL.COM
talk4less.co.za MX preference = 20, mail exchanger = ALT1.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM
talk4less.co.za MX preference = 30, mail exchanger = ASPMX2.GOOGLEMAIL.COM
talk4less.co.za MX preference = 10, mail exchanger = ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM
talk4less.co.za MX preference = 20, mail exchanger = ALT2.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM
talk4less.co.za MX preference = 30, mail exchanger = ASPMX3.GOOGLEMAIL.COM

ASPMX5.GOOGLEMAIL.COM internet address = 209.85.210.6
ASPMX5.GOOGLEMAIL.COM internet address = 209.85.210.5
ASPMX5.GOOGLEMAIL.COM internet address = 209.85.210.1
ASPMX5.GOOGLEMAIL.COM internet address = 209.85.210.8
ASPMX5.GOOGLEMAIL.COM internet address = 209.85.210.4
ASPMX5.GOOGLEMAIL.COM internet address = 209.85.210.7
ASPMX5.GOOGLEMAIL.COM internet address = 209.85.210.2
ASPMX5.GOOGLEMAIL.COM internet address = 209.85.210.3
ALT1.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM internet address = 209.85.220.49
ASPMX2.GOOGLEMAIL.COM internet address = 209.85.135.27
ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM internet address = 209.85.229.27
ALT2.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM internet address = 209.85.135.114
ASPMX3.GOOGLEMAIL.COM internet address = 209.85.222.1
ASPMX3.GOOGLEMAIL.COM internet address = 209.85.222.7
ASPMX3.GOOGLEMAIL.COM internet address = 209.85.222.3
ASPMX3.GOOGLEMAIL.COM internet address = 209.85.222.6
ASPMX3.GOOGLEMAIL.COM internet address = 209.85.222.5
ASPMX3.GOOGLEMAIL.COM internet address = 209.85.222.2
 
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