Outbound Email Ports Blocked, AWS refuses to unblock

I am running the Plesk stack on a Lightsail instance, which was pretty simple to get started and easy to configure sites with. I have gotten my primary domain all set up and began to test the email when I noticed that the outbound mail was stuck in queue. I have so little email that I didn't see the need to run it through SES. After a little research, I see that AWS globally blocks the outbound ports by default and requires users to request them to be opened. I reviewed all of the prerequisite steps and have submitted the form to request they unblock the ports. By all of the articles and directions I read, this seemed like a mere formality. My problem now is that they have denied my request. They have replied to my questions with unhelpful feedback and now just the same response to my last two attempts to get this resolved. The message says:

"Hello,

Thank you for submitting your request to have the email sending limit removed from your account and/or for an rDNS update.

This account, or those linked to it, have been identified as having at least one of the following:
* A history of violations of the AWS Acceptable Use Policy
* A history of being not consistently in good standing with billing
* Not provided a valid/clear use case to warrant sending mail from EC2

Unfortunately, we are unable to process your request at this time, please consider looking into the Simple Email Service. https://aws.amazon.com/ses/

Regards,
AWS Trust & Safety
Amazon Web Services, LLC"

I should note that the first two reasons listed do not apply at all. The account is a couple months old, and on autopay, and I am only just beginning to get the sites migrated over. Additionally, none of my domains have ever been blacklisted for SPAM or any reason. I am moving my hosting from GoDaddy for a few reasons, primarily cost and what I thought would be more freedom to manage my server.

While I don't necessarily mind running my small amount of email through SES, it will not solve all of my issues. Most notably is the fact that I have a few sites that have contact forms which are processed using the email service. And I also found that I cannot get messages from Plesk. This added a few unnecessary challenges when getting the Let'sEncrypt SSL cert set up.

I am not trying to set up a SPAM machine. I don't even do any email marketing from my email address. That is what I have ConstantContact for, and even that mailing list was all "Opt In" users. I follow all of the proper guidelines. I have DMARC and SPF records in place for my domain.

So finally, here is my question. What is my next step to get AWS to open up my email ports so the server can send messages out? How can I escalate the request to someone who is more Customer Support friendly? Has anyone ever gotten an approval after being denied? What can I do?

Thanks.

Edited by: AZMike on Nov 19, 2021 7:40 AM

Edited by: AZMike on Nov 19, 2021 7:54 AM

Edited by: AZMike on Nov 20, 2021 10:42 AM