It was not possible to send you an email to acknowledge receipt.
For technical reasons, it we were not able to confirm receipt per email.

Werde Deinen ersten vorgeschlagenen Satz nehmen, der ist bzgl. der Gründe neutral - dankeschön:-)

ok. Kleine Korrektur am zweiten Satz:
For technical reasons, we were not able to confirm receipt per email.

"could" is both past tense and subjunctive for "can" in English

I don't think 'could' is that bad either, but something else might be better. 'Unable' is okay, but a past tense verb might be clearer, e.g.,

(We were) unable to send confirmation by e-mail
E-mail confirmation (was) not possible/successful

The technical term may be 'bounced,' that is, that the e-mail was returned automatically as undeliverable, because the address is invalid or inaccessible. If that's the case, maybe just something like

E-mail confirmation failed

The original isn't very clear, since it sounds like the sending of the e-mail failed, rather than its receipt. (The secretary tried and tried to push the Send button, but did not have the strength?) Maybe you should suggest that they rephrase it.


Other notes: please use 'by,' not 'per.'

And please distinguish between mail and e-mail; mail means in an envelope, via the post office.

What's wrong with her original:

"A confirmation mail could not be sent to you."

Just change mail to e-mail.

could not does not sound subjunctive to English speakers unless it's in a subjunctive context... Even then, most people wouldn't realize that is was actually a different word originally.

@authors 3, 4, 5, and 6:

Came across your helpful comments only now - many thanks to all of you, and have a great year 2011 :-)