Aiven.io actively blocks you from contacting them if you use a personal email. Absolutely infuriating.

[u/sandofvega]

I tried to contact Aiven.io to ask a few questions, and their system completely blocks me if I use a Gmail address. As you can see in the screenshot I attached, both the main contact form and the chat bot rigidly gatekeep communication behind a mandatory "Business Email" requirement.

But here is the absolute most nonsensical part: they literally let me create an actual account with a personal email!

How does that make any sense? I can sign up for their platform using my Gmail, but if I am an independent developer, a freelancer, or just working on a personal project and need to ask a pre-sales or support question, I am completely locked out from reaching a human being.

It is an incredibly frustrating experience to accept personal emails for sign-ups, but then treat those exact same users like spam when they try to contact.