QBO: Why do "Bounced Email" invoices indicate they have been viewed by the customer?

Hi PJBooks, 

It's an interesting outcome when getting bounced email. I'm here to help check the reasons why it indicates viewed by your customer. 

Generally, a bounced email happens when your clients failed to received the message you've sent due to different situations. Thus, it shouldn't show viewed since the recipient didn't get it. 

I've checked here if there are ongoing issues about this, and so far, there aren't any. The initial troubleshooting steps we can do is verifying whether or not your browser's causing this to happen. 

A typical browser uses a cache of memory to work efficiently and load pages faster, but as data collects it can cause unexpected results. To start with, let's login to your QuickBooks Online account using a private browser and send the invoice back to the same customer. 

Here's how:

• Google Chrome: press Ctrl + Shift + N 
• Mozilla Firefox: press Ctrl + Shift + P
• Internet Explorer: press Ctrl + Shift + P
• Safari: press Command + Shift + N

If you can't get a bounced email prompt or see a viewed by customer message using the private browsing session, you need to go back to your regular browser and clear its cache. Refer to the article to guide you through the process:

How do I clear my browser cache and temporary Internet files?

These steps can normally resolve unexpected behaviors in QuickBooks Online and get you back up and running. 

Please give them a try and update me with the results. I'll be here to help you further. 

Have a great day ahead! 

Every single emailed invoice is showing bounced in quickbooks, but our customers have received them, why is this happening?  Cleared browsers, sent through incognito, difference browsers, it's all the same result.  

At first it caused a major issues with customer relations because they were angry they were getting duplicate invoices when I saw the bounced message and tried resending after following the corrections of clearing browsers, using incognito, different browsers. 

Is quickbooks going to fix this or is this something I have to just assume will always be wrong and waiting until an invoice is past due and then call the customer and then find out they never received them, because calling every single customer to find out if they really did get the invoice is not an option.

Or following up in quickbooks to confirm every single invoice emailed the day before was viewed.

Not an option, this is an administration nightmare

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@actionglass wrote:

Every single emailed invoice is showing bounced in quickbooks,

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What screen are you on? Screen shot?

I am having the same problem. Bounced emails for known email addresses and some have been viewed by the client so they have received them. Others have not been viewed but now I can't trust the QB bounced error to be correct. This really needs to be fixed. Maybe make it more clear what the problem really is as opposed to saying they are ALL bounced. I too don't want to anger our clients by sending duplicate invoices and calling is cumbersome and defeats the purpose. 

Hi @mharan,

One possible cause of this issue is when you send an email to many contacts.

Some of those contacts may have received the email, and some didn't. That's why the system is showing you the email status that's bounced and viewed at the same time.

Leave a comment below if you have any other questions.

I had an overdue invoice to a vendor our company uses and the invoice showed it had been viewed several times by the customer, I got concerned and dropped them as a vendor thinking they were being sketchy. After reading about this issue it seems it is a QB issue...NOT HAPPY AT ALL!

We don't want you to feel that way, Shum1289p.

You can use the Cc/Bcc option to check if you also receive the email for the invoice sent. This is a carbon copy of the invoice, and the recipient will not see that it's also sent to another email. Here's how:

1. On the Invoice page, you can click the Cc/Bcc link.

Then enter your own email address. If you receive an email, the recipient should also receive it on their end.

However, since this is a strange behavior, I recommend reaching out to our QuickBooks support. This is for us to be able to check your account further and send a report about the error.

1. Click the Help icon.
2. Click Contact us.
3. Enter the error you encountered, then click Let's talk.
4. Select from Start messaging or Get a callback.

I appreciate your understanding on this matter. Please let me know if you have other questions.

Thanks for letting me know about this, @Anonymous.

I'm here to show you the way to the right support. We have received a similar concern about the invoice that shows as delivery bounced or delivery issue when sending an invoice to the customer. I'd recommend contacting our QuickBooks Online Customer Care Team. They have the tools to verify your account and add you to the list of affected users. Then, once resolved, they will send you an email about this issue.

Here's how to contact them:

1. Go to the ? Help button and enter in the text field, "Talk to human."
2. Enter your concern such as, "Bounced Invoice in QBO" or "Invoice Delivery Issue."
3. Select the I still need a human button.
4. Click Contact us.
5. Choose how you want to be assisted if it's either through getting a callback or messaging.
6. Fill in the blank fields needed to get in touch with the support.

I've added some screenshots for your additional reference.

I've included this article that you can use in the future in case you want to personalize your sales forms: Customize invoices, estimates, and sales receipts in QuickBooks Online.

Please know that I'll be one  post away if you have other questions in regards to QuickBooks. Take care.

It shows that my message concerning this issue was sent to you on Oct 2019 and you are now getting back to me, that's concerning. I do not have time to follow your snapshot directions for more assistance on this issue. If you can just fix it that would be great.

It looks like this is still a problem. Did you manage to resolve it? I sent about 20 invoices out today and all of them are marked as undelivered, but I have checked with a random few clients and they have all said that the email was received. Indeed, 3 of them have already paid so they must have received the invoice.

As has been said by others, to contact clients just to ask if they have received an invoice is both time consuming, unprofessional and should be unnecessary.

Should I always assume that QBO is lying ?!

I understand how important it is to keep track of your customers invoices, MJCambridge.

This isn't the kind of impression I want you to have with QuickBooks. Allow me to provide you some insights on how to isolate and fix this issue. 

Let's start by logging out and logging in to your QuickBooks Online (QBO). This refreshes the system and for the updates to take effect. If this is not the case, I suggest accessing your account in a private or incognito window. 

This way, we can check if this is a browser cache issue. There are times the browser is full cache and cookies to help the browser function swiftly. However, when pilled up, this can cause issues and affects the views of your account.

Using a private window helps us verify the issue as this doesn't store any junk files. To open an incognito window, you can follow these steps base on the browser you're using.

Press keyboard keys:

• Ctrl + Shift + N (Google Chrome browser)
• Ctrl + Shift + P (Mozilla Firefox & Microsoft Edge browser)
• Command + Shift + N (Safari browser)

If the invoices show as delivered, I suggest logging in to your regular browser and clear its cache. If the issue persists, I recommend using other supported browsers. This way, we can see and check if this is a browser-integrated issue.

If this is not the case, I highly suggest contacting our Support team. This way, they can take a look into your account and investigate the cause why your delivered invoices show undelivered. Ensure to check their support hours to know when agents are available so you'll be accommodated.

Once everything is all set, you'll want to check this link for reference: Record invoice payments in QuickBooks Online. This contains detailed steps on how to manage your receivables flawlessly.

You're always welcome in the Community space whenever you need help with your invoices. I'll be around to assist you anytime. Have a great day and more power in your business!

I have resolved this issue after an online chat with Support.

It appears that it all stems from trying to send copies to another email address, whether by ticking the 'Email me a copy at' box (Gear Icon/Account & Settings/Sales/Messages (Default email message sent with sales forms), or by entering an email address there in either the Cc or the Bcc box. Even ticking the 'Send me a copy' box in the Send dialog has the same effect.
I have given feedback about this so hopefully someone at QuickBooks will get this corrected sometime!

Well when a company asked for the invoice to come to 2 addresses this is a huge inconvenience, my clients think I am being pushy sending multiple invoices. QBO costs too much for this to not work! They took the app away and forced everyone to use subscription online and broke it!
I have been having this issue ALL year long!

Hello there, @uswebworx.

Thanks for chiming in on this thread. Allow me to share some information about the email delivery issue with invoices in your QuickBooks Online account. 

We currently have an open investigation regarding bounced emails. Our product development team is working with your bank to resolve this issue, and we're going to roll it out as soon as possible. For us to send you an update, I recommend calling our phone support so we can add you to our notification list.

Here’s how to get in touch with them:

1. Go to the (?) Help icon in your QuickBooks Online (QBO) account.
2. Select the Search tab, and click Contact Us.
3. Enter a brief discussion of your concern and click Continue.
4. Select either Chat with us (if you preferred messaging) or Give us a call.

Make sure to review their support hours to know when agents are available. This way, you can contact them at a time that is convenient for you. 

I can see how these additional options and functionality would be helpful for both you and your business, and I encourage you to submit feedback. These requests and suggestions are forwarded directly to our Product Development Team for consideration in future updates.

You can submit this form within your QBO account by selecting the Gear icon and Feedback or by going to the following link: QuickBooks Online Feature Requests.

I've also added a reference on how to view lists of bounced emails: How To View List Of Bounced Emails With Delivery Errors.

If you need further assistance regarding your QuickBooks Online transactions, you can always leave a comment below. Stay safe!

It's a real shame that QBO has not resolved this issue.

Our invoices are usually issued to multiple email addresses and often we receive generic automated responses which I believe are triggering these delivery failure reports.

There is no way of telling which email address has failed or why it has failed. ie. wrong email address, contact has left, out of office, auto response confirming receipt etc. 

As others have said, we cannot resend these each time on the off chance they didn't receive as this then causes confusion and frustration for our client's. We also have around 50 a month!

We really need to be able to see the bounced email just like we would in Outlook. It is only when chasing for payment once our invoice is over 30 days overdue (as statements are also issued from QB) when we actually see the bounced email. This is therefore costing us money and needs to be resolved asap.

Thanks!

Hello, LHarris89. 

This is not the kind of service we want you to experience. I've checked with my resources and verified with the technical developer, the bounced email invoice already been resolved. 

I suggest getting in touch with our Customer Care team. They have the tools to pull out your account in secure mode and help you continue to work with them through these processes until the issue is resolved. 

Here's how: 

1. Go to the Help icon in the top right-hand corner. 
2. Press the Contact Us button. 
3. Enter a brief description of the problem and hit Let's Talk. 
4. Select how you want to connect with us.

Be sure to review their support hours, so you'll know when agents are available.  

Please keep me posted on how the call goes by adding a reply in this thread. I'd like to make sure this resolved for you. Take care and stay safe.

This issue of bounced email errors despite the customer having viewed the invoice is still happening, almost four years after this thread was created!

This is a huge issue for us. We send out over 100 invoices a month and each invoice goes to 3+ recipients. When this then comes back with a delivery error it’s difficult to tell which email was the issue and whether the system is picking up an out of office or auto reply message as most clients have this on to confirm receipt! We need to see these actual bounce back emails to understand what is going on. An auto reply could indicate someone has left or that we have made a typo in an email but with most receiving a bounce back it’s impossible to tell. We chase payment via Outlook and we are getting a lot of clients saying they didn’t receive the original email despite doing a reply all so the email addresses are correct. This is causing cashflow issues as we are not getting paid until we chase payment. Our alternative is to download each invoice and issue via Outlook but this is not efficient. We used to do this when we were on Sage. One of the reasons for going to Quickbooks was for efficiency but looks like we are going to have to go back in time and do more manual work. I may therefore need to recruit more staff as this will take more time. Frustrated is an understatement especially when a member has quite rightly pointed out that this issue has been going on for years! Sales invoicing is the most important part of a business - it’s how we get our income! Please prioritise this Quickbooks and improve these delivery errors by giving us some kind of inbox to read what the error actually is! Either within QB or to our email linked to the account. 

We are experiencing the same problem and have called QB multiple times - this has been an issue for MONTHS. They claim to have an open ticket and that technicians are working on the problem, but when I ask for details or to speak to a manager or someone on the tech team they cannot accommodate.  This is beyond frustrating. I have cleared all caches on all browsers and have scrupulously gone through all clients contacts to check for spelling errors, etc.  I've also removed any BCC and CC to ensure there is no confusion.  When I check the sent/view history it seems to be showing "viewed" when it was ME who viewed the invoice, not the client.  I have sent separate e-mails to the same e-mail addresses through my regular e-mail application and they are all working properly through my normal application.  I am now sitting on hold (for 35 minutes now) and customer service STILL cannot get a manager on the phone.  I am tolerant, but this is outrageous.  I think it is time to research a new invoicing service provider.

I have received the same response. Finally got to talk to a support person who assured me that QBO technicians were working on the issue, but now over a year later, I still have this issue. If there were a competitive product out there that could do what QBO does, I'd dump them in a minute. What's worse is the outrageous fees they charge while ignoring such a crucial issue. If we can't have confidence that our invoices are sent to our clients, what good is the product? I now download the invoice and send it through regular email. I just can't trust QBO anymore. Shameful. 

It really is shameful and is affecting cashflow as invoices are getting paid late because we are unaware the client hasn’t received them. I can’t download and email from outlook 100+ invoices a month without getting another member of staff to do that admin. I now do chases via email rather than a statement through Quickbooks because if they didn’t get the invoice they won’t get the statement. Quickbooks was meant to be more efficient! 

I can see how it takes a lot of work for you just to make sure you'll be able to send invoices, LHarris89.

For now, there's an ongoing issue when a customer sends out invoices to his client and they are not receiving them. Our product team is working closely to fix the issue as soon as possible. In the meantime,  you can continue downloading invoices as PDFs and send them manually from the email provider direct. 

Aside from that, if you haven't contacted us about this issue, I recommend reaching out to our support team so they can add you to the list of affected users. This way, you'll be updated once the issue is fixed. Here's how to reach them:

1. Click the (?) Help icon and enter Talk to a human (then type it again when prompted).
2. When asked by the bot, enter your concern.
3. Select I still need a human, then proceed with Contact us or Get help from a human.
4. Choose either Chat or Callback.

Moreover, QuickBooks automatically downloads the latest transaction once you connect your bank. To learn more on how you can add and match them with those you've already entered in QuickBooks, I've added this article for your reference: Categorize and Match Online Bank Transactions In QuickBooks Online.

You can always drop a reply below if you have any concerns about invoices. I'll always be right here to further assist you.