1. Did the action itself complete?
Before blaming mail or schedules, check that the thing you expected was accepted. For a form: is the entry saved in the form plugin, and did the visitor see a success message? For a scheduled post: is it listed as scheduled or as "Missed schedule"? If the form shows an error or saves nothing, the fault is in the form or a plugin conflict and not in sending.
- Form entry saved or not.
- Scheduled post status.
- Any error text on the page.
2. Was the follow-up attempted?
A form notification is attempted by WordPress through its mail wrapper; a scheduled post is attempted by the built-in scheduler on a page load. Read the guides on each: the mail path explains the default sender and how a failure can be logged, and the scheduler guide explains why a quiet site runs tasks late and what a disabled trigger does.
- Mail path guide.
- Scheduler guide.
3. Did it arrive or run, and when?
Look at times. A message that arrives in junk is a trust problem; a message that arrives late is a delay in a queue or service; one that never arrives may be blocked or rejected. A post that publishes only when someone visits is the visit-triggered design at work. Timestamps separate these cases better than guesses do.
- Record sent and received times.
- Record when the scheduled time was and when the task ran.
4. Check the settings people forget
For forms: the From address domain, the same address in From and To, a condition that blocks the notification, and a queue option that delays sending. For schedules: a switch that disables the built-in trigger with nothing in its place, a cache layer, and a host that blocks the site calling itself.
- Form plugin notification settings.
- The configuration file and the host's scheduler.
5. Choose the fix and the follow-up
If sending is at fault, the form sending job sets up authenticated sending for up to three forms (published test price GBP 175). If scheduling is at fault, the scheduler job sets up a real trigger and proves it with three harmless scheduled test events, not public posts (GBP 195). To find a silent failure at the next monthly test (up to a month later, not the moment it happens), a monthly form check (GBP 95 a month) tests the forms end to end with a marked test. Prices are untested proposals and payment follows the agreed checks.
- One-off fix first, a monthly check after.
Sources and limits
- WordPress plugin handbook: Cron Checked 2026-10-11.
- WP-Cron runs due tasks on page loads and is not exact.
- WordPress developer handbook: Mail Checked 2026-10-11.
- WordPress hands mail to a library and delivery depends on the server and authentication records.