Jquery $.ajax/$.post cannot find mvc controller method

I have tried several different ways to try and call an MVC 4 controller method almost all of them have been 404s.

ive also looked at many different posts and websites trying to get it to work but i have had no success my controller looks like this

public class AjaxController : Controller
{

    public ActionResult AjaxContactForm()
    {
        Data.DataUtilities.ForwardCustomerEmail();
        var pause = "";
        var result = "";
        return Json(result);
    }

}

the path of the controller is Portfolio(root)\Controllers\AjaxController.cs

almost every url that i have tried results in a 404

this is what i have currently

var params = {
             conName: contactName,
             conEmail: contactEmail,
             conMessage: contactMessage
             };
$.ajax({
    url: '<%:Url.Action("AjaxContactForm","AjaxController") %>',
    type: "post",
    success: function () {

    }
  });

ive tried

'<%:Url.Action("AjaxContactForm","Controller/AjaxController") %>'
'<%:Url.Action("AjaxContactForm","/Controller/AjaxController") %>'
'<%:Url.Action("AjaxContactForm","/Controllers/HomeController.cs") %>'
'/AjaxController/AjaxContactForm'
'Controller/AjaxController/AjaxContactForm'
'/Controller/AjaxController/AjaxContactForm'

ive done all these as well using a $.post but i can never hit the method.

what am i doing wrong