So, I got it working, flawlessly. Perfect combination. Try it a wlaforums.com and here’s how I did it. You can choose to skip whatever I did or call me crazy.
Before you start, and I don’t know if this helps, but my mail is hosted at Bluehost. I never used my actual email address anywhere except for where to return emails from customers. Where the process asks about outgoing email, I entered box.XXX.bluehost.com which is my outgoing email SERVER and NOT my outgoing email address. I’m quite sure this has an effect on Mandrill’s success.
STEP 1
A. I deactivated and deleted all my Mandrill from WordPress. (I don’t know if this helped, but what the hell, it only takes a minute.)
STEP 2
A. I download the very small and light plugin Postman SMPT
B. I activated the plugin and went to settings. I clicked on the blue “Wizard” button. There are about 5-or-6 very straightforward buttons. DO NOT change anything, just fill in the empty boxes.
Make sure you check your conductivity.
Step 3
A. I downloaded and installed Mandrill as though it was brand new.
B. I got a brand new Activation Key and entered it where it is required.
Boom, it worked like a charm. Where Mandrill hated all other SMPT plugins, it does a beautiful waltz with Postman SMPT.
Holla at me if you have questions.