Reply from DataCaptiveFeb 12, 2026
Hi Randy,
Thank you for your review. We genuinely appreciate you taking the time to walk through this with us.
To help bring full transparency to the situation, we wanted to share our perspective and clarify where things currently stand.
When we promise a 90% deliverability guarantee, the replacements as per the agreed terms in the Statement of Work, applies specifically to verified hard bounces, determined by SMTP server response codes (like a 550 permanent failure). This is the standard, objective method used across the industry to validate email performance.
In order to properly assess your claim and apply the guarantee, we requested the detailed SMTP bounce log export a few times now. This report includes the server response codes and hard/soft classifications needed to determine whether the guaranteed threshold was actually exceeded.
To date, we haven't yet received that SMTP-level report.
The summary screenshot shared with us shows total bounce counts, but it doesn't distinguish between hard bounces, soft bounces, temporary blocks, reputation filtering, or catch-all domains. Without that underlying response data, we simply don't have the technical evidence needed to validate the claim or issue replacements or financial adjustments under the guarantee terms.
That said, and this is important, we never refused to help. Quite the opposite. We’ve been ready and willing to act, and specifically offered:
1. Immediate review as soon as the SMTP report is received
2. Replacement of any confirmed hard bounces
3. Independent third-party revalidation
4. Financial adjustment if verified hard bounces exceeded the 10% threshold
So the path forward is actually quite simple. Once we receive the bounce log export, we can act immediately. Without it, our hands are tied, not because we don't want to help, but because there's no objective data to assess.
We genuinely want to get this resolved for you. Just send us the SMTP report, and we'll take it from there.
Post Note:
Thank you for editing your response and sharing the stats over here:
For clarity, our deliverability guarantee applies specifically to verified hard bounces (permanent delivery failures). The screenshot referenced reflects total bounces and does not differentiate between hard, soft, or temporary filtering events.
Within Instantly.io, bounced contacts can typically be exported by navigating to the campaign → Leads → filtering by “Bounced” status → and exporting the list with bounce reason classifications. This allows identification of confirmed hard bounces for objective review.
We have requested this detailed classification so we can accurately assess results and apply our guarantee policy correctly. We remain prepared to replace any confirmed hard bounces or issue a proportional adjustment if the agreed threshold is exceeded.
Our intention continues to be resolving this matter fairly and transparently. If there is any thing related to the platform that you're using, as a goodwill gesture, we will be happy to run your campaigns on our platform.
Regards,
Customer Experience Team
DataCaptive Inc.
