I am furious right now. Vimeo has made a mistake, and as a result, the SQLServerFast Execution Plan Video Training is currently not available for viewing.

Vimeo’s announcement

Four days ago, I got a notification from Vimeo. They have decided to shut down their VOD service, which is where my videos are hosted. And even though I paid for an annual subscription that run until March 28, 2027, they will actually fully shut down the service on November 21 already, after a gradual downgrade of service that already starts August 22.

I instantly opened a ticket for two main questions:

1. Anyone who purchased access to my videos has paid for lifelong access. I don’t want anyone to have to pay again after I move my videos to another platform. So I will need a list of customers and their purchases, so I can make sure to grant them access to the videos they already paid for on the new platform.
   The response to this has been that they can’t share customer details because of privacy reasons, not even under these circumstances. But they did promise that they will send an email to my customers with additional information. However, they have so far refused to include my email address in that mail, even though I explicitly permitted them to. I hope that will change after my last response.
2. Since they do not offer me the services I paid for, and caused me lots of extra work by breaching their contractual obligations, I asked about a refund. (Yes, you read that right, they do not even automatically offer refunds to customers whose contract they cut short!)
   We settled on a refund amount, and I was promised that my account would remain unaffected and my access uninterrupted until the end of their VOD service. So I accepted the offer yesterday.
   And now, today, I get emails saying that my account has been downgraded to the free tier, and hence my videos are unlisted.
   I obviously immediately opened a new ticket, at the highest urgency level. But since my account is now officially free tier, I probably also no longer get priority access to Customer Support. So I have no idea how long it will take before Vimeo restores my account and restores access to my videos again.

Current situation

So, at this time, none of my videos are available. Neither the free videos of the basic level of block 1, nor the paid videos that many of you have paid money for.

I deeply apologize for that. I understand that this can be very annoying, especially if you had planned to watch those videos at this time. Fixing the issue is unfortunately not in my hands. We will all have to wait until Vimeo Customer Support handles my ticket and repairs the damage they have done.

Going forward

In the coming weeks, I will select a new platform where I can host and sell my videos. I will then have to configure my account, reupload all of my videos and caption files, set properties as needed, and fix all embed and purchase links on my pages. That will take some time, so I do ask for your patience.

Depending on what the new platform does and does not support, some things might change. I can’t predict that yet. This might be a change for the better, or for the worse. In the latter case, once more, please accept my apologies.

And for the record, the new platform will definitely not be Vimeo’s own replacement service, that one of their Customer Service agents recommended me. Not because of the mistake that was made in handling my refund. As annoying as that is, making mistakes is human, and I still have hope that they will fix this mess soon(ish). I don’t ditch a company for a single mistake.

But their management made a decision to shut down a service without honoring existing contracts. That means that this is a management that does not care about contractual obligations. They then also decided not to automatically refund affected customers, but only refund those who scream about it in a ticket. That means that this management values money, even if it is effectively illegally gained, over customer service.

I will never enter a contract with a company that now has a proven record of breaching their contracts and screwing over their customers.

What if you already purchased my videos?

When you bought access, regardless of whether is was just a single video, one level, or multiple levels, I promised you lifetime access. Unlike Vimeo, I like to keep my promises.

But I have a problem here. Due to privacy considerations, Vimeo has never shared details of the buyers with me. So I don’t know who the buyers are! And even under these unusual circumstances of the service being shut down, Vimeo still refuses to share these details with me.

So here is what we’ll do instead. Anyone who has ever purchased one or more of my videos, please send me an email at videos@sqlserverfast.com. Please include a list of titles owned, and proof of purchase for all of them. I will accept the following as proof of purchase: (1) a screenshot from Vimeo’s website showing an overview of videos owned or an overview of purchases; (2) a screenshot of you watching the video (once Vimeo has fixed their mistake); and (3) a screenshot or scan of a bank account statement, PayPal statement, or credit card statement that shows your purchase.

I apologize for the extra effort I am putting you through. I wish it could be avoided, but Vimeo has forced my hand in this.

Which is why I am furious right now.