email camapigns won't submit once the email verification gets sent

I created an automation for an email campaign to send a freebie to my subscribers. I have set the email list and the rules 'every time a new subscriber subscribes to x list, send them this email to download the freebie'. every time I test, I get an email confirming my subscription. I confirm my subscription, then I expect to receive my email to download my freebie. I never receive an email from the campaign, even if the campaign is active. I get asked to confirm my subscription, even if I test with the same email address. I don't want this experience for my customer so please let me know if this happened to you before and how did you fix it.

rocsi