# Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently: **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 21, 2016, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delivery-to-the-following-recipient-failed-permanently/775326 "2016-12-21T23:36:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2016, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delivery-to-the-following-recipient-failed-permanently/775326/1 "2016-12-21T23:36:13Z")
I recently got this message in my hotmail email account. And then it continued… “Google tried to deliver your message,” Maybe I am behind the times, but is Google the mail carrier, now? I thought that it was just servers talking to servers. But now, these servers are called Google? Again, very sorry if I am the only person that didn’t know this. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2016, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delivery-to-the-following-recipient-failed-permanently/775326/2 "2016-12-21T23:46:49Z")
Wait, you got this sending from a Hotmail account? Not a Gmail account? Are you absolutely positive? Were you sending it to a Gmail account? (just on the off-chance something else is going on). I’ve only seen this message when sending from gmail to a problematic account. ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delivery-to-the-following-recipient-failed-permanently/775326/3 "2016-12-22T00:25:49Z")
Yes, I was replying to a .com business from my hotmail account. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delivery-to-the-following-recipient-failed-permanently/775326/4 "2016-12-22T00:35:50Z")
Not all gmail accounts end in [gmail.com](http://gmail.com); it’s possible that the .com address you were sending to is actually hosted by google, and that’s what I’d guess is happening. If someone does use google to host their mail, then Google is the actual mail carrier for them. > **[Gmail: Business Email Accounts & Service | Google Workspace](https://workspace.google.com/products/gmail/)** > > Use Gmail for your business email service needs. Get Gmail as part of Google Workspace and learn how to create and manage a business email account. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delivery-to-the-following-recipient-failed-permanently/775326/5 "2016-12-22T00:36:08Z")
My guess is either it’s a spam or phishing attempt, or the .com address you were trying to send it to is hosted by google and has some kind of problem. As much as google would like to own the world, they do not control e-mail delivery on the internet. ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delivery-to-the-following-recipient-failed-permanently/775326/6 "2016-12-22T03:12:07Z")
What **Pantastic** said. Also, if you can view the full email headers (in gmail, “show original” – not sure about hotmail) you can see the entire delivery chain. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delivery-to-the-following-recipient-failed-permanently/775326/7 "2016-12-22T03:21:11Z")
Google runs the email systems of some big universities now. But they keep their .edu addresses. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delivery-to-the-following-recipient-failed-permanently/775326/8 "2016-12-22T03:32:07Z")
Did you actually send an email to this business? If so, scroll down and read the message and see if it’s the one you sent. If so, you probably put in the wrong email address. If you didn’t send anything, or it does not contain the message you did send, it is either spam related or a phishing attempt. Ignore it. (Phishing is trying to get someone’s personal information, basically.)