# agent sent dunning emails to suppressed addresses: suppression list ignored

## TL;DR
Your agent sent dunning emails without checking the suppression list, so unsubscribed and bounced addresses got collection mail. Pause the dunning job, check every send against the suppression list, and only resume with the check enforced in code. Emailing suppressed addresses is a compliance violation, not a minor bug.

```text
agent sent dunning emails to suppressed addresses: suppression list ignored
```

## Steps

1. Pause the dunning email job immediately. Success check: no further sends go out until the fix is in.
2. Pull the send log and identify every suppressed address that received mail. Success check: the full list of violations is documented.
3. Add the suppression check to the send path: no email sends without a live lookup against the suppression list. Success check: a suppressed address cannot pass the send function.
4. Handle the violations per your policy: note them for the compliance record and do not re-email those addresses. Success check: suppressed addresses stay suppressed.
5. Add a test that seeds the suppression list and proves sends to those addresses are blocked. Success check: the test fails if the check is ever bypassed.

## When this applies

- Dunning emails went to unsubscribed, bounced, or complained addresses.
- An agent's send path skipped the suppression list.
- You need a compliance review of automated collection emails.

## When it doesn't

- Low open rates or spam-folder placement; those are deliverability issues.
- Dunning emails to valid addresses; those are working as intended.
- Suppression list sync delays; check the sync job separately.

## Tool + version compatibility

Any email provider with suppression lists; dunning automation in Chargebee, Stripe, or custom jobs.

### "dunning emails sent to unsubscribed"
Pause the job, enforce the suppression check, document the violations.

### "suppression list ignored by agent"
The check belongs in the send path, not in the campaign setup.

### "collection emails to bounced addresses"
Bounced addresses are suppressed for a reason; emailing them hurts deliverability too.

## Why it happens

Suppression lists exist because the law and the inbox providers require them: unsubscribes, hard bounces, and spam complaints must never be emailed again. Dunning feels urgent, so agents and their builders skip the check to get the money moving. The result is a compliance violation per email, plus deliverability damage as providers see you mailing addresses that told you to stop. The check costs one lookup; skipping it costs the program.

## Edge cases / pitfalls

- Document every violation; regulators and providers ask for the list, not your intentions.
- Suppression is per address, not per campaign; a dunning exemption does not exist.
- Sync delays between your list and the provider's list are a real gap; check the provider list at send time.
- Transactional versus marketing classification does not excuse dunning mail to suppressed addresses; when in doubt, suppress.

## Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_uBIHNN-Wt5U9qX1qK9UXSA