RESOLVED - so this is the response I got from MailChimp:
[Thank you for contacting Support. We can certainly understand your concern. It is recommended to not use a generic email such as contact@. Instead use an address more in the likes of [email protected], or [email protected]. Sometimes using contact@, info@, sales@ will not push through delivery for an initial domain verification.
Also, it may be a good idea to whitelist MailChimp first. Here are our current IP ranges. Have your IT set these to your server.
72.26.195.64/27
74.63.47.96/27
173.231.138.192/27
173.231.139.0/24
173.231.176.0/21
173.231.184.0/21
205.201.128.0/20
198.2.128.0/18
If you have any further questions, please let us know. We are happy to help]
Their first point actually resolved the issue. I wished I could have kept contact@ but instead I replaced it with myname@ and it now works.
[Thank you for contacting Support. We can certainly understand your concern. It is recommended to not use a generic email such as contact@. Instead use an address more in the likes of [email protected], or [email protected]. Sometimes using contact@, info@, sales@ will not push through delivery for an initial domain verification. Also, it may be a good idea to whitelist MailChimp first. Here are our current IP ranges. Have your IT set these to your server. 72.26.195.64/27 74.63.47.96/27 173.231.138.192/27 173.231.139.0/24 173.231.176.0/21 173.231.184.0/21 205.201.128.0/20 198.2.128.0/18 If you have any further questions, please let us know. We are happy to help]
Their first point actually resolved the issue. I wished I could have kept contact@ but instead I replaced it with myname@ and it now works.