Broadband transfer fee.

BardellRJ

Hi,
I have recently changed broadband provider, without a hitch, to BT. I had been with the previous provider [intially called Newnet, now Timico] for 12 years on an open-ended contract for broadband only. Now they are billing me £40 + VAT for a "broadband transfer fee" something I've never seen mentioned in broadband help sites [including this one]. BT said they would take care of the changeover, should they pay this charge?
BardellRJ

littleboo

Did BT agree to pay any fees associated with leaving your existing provider? Some providers do limited offers which would include that, but otherwise any leaving fees are down to you

BardellRJ

I'm not sure, but I am intending to ask them about it.
It seems a big charge for what seems, to me anyway, a bit like flicking a switch. I'm surprised there's not more [or, indeed, any] information about this on broadband info websites - plenty about contract termination charges, but not this..

Neil_Jones

Timico appears to be a business ISP, or at least they offer services to business, that and a few other things.

Not sure if your transferring from a business line to a residential line, which may be why there is a fee.  Business contracts tend to want to charge you if you join, if you leave, if you scratch your nose, etc, but business anything is a minefield.

BardellRJ

When I joined it was called Newnet and open to individual users like me. I wasn't asked to re-sign to new conditions when Timico took over. 

JJ_Egan

Newnet could well have had the charges in your original T&C .

iniltous

BT ( for example ) don’t charge a fee for leaving them , either by migrating to another Openreach based provider , or just ceasing service ( including joining a non OR provider ) but AFAIK it’s upto individual company’s if they charge or not , BT were heavily criticised for charging this cease fee a few years ago , so dropped the charge, smaller company’s don’t get the same level of media criticism , so pretty much do what they want ( within the rules and their own T&C’s
There could be some physical work to do, done by Openreach , depending on how Timico provide their services to you ( LLU /WLR ) ,  but the OR wholesale charge is small in comparison to the £40 you are being charged,  but providers don’t have to charge you what OR charge them.
If BT didn’t offer to pay any charges you may face from your old provider , as part of the changeover , they don’t have any obligation to do so, you could try challenging Timico but as you are leaving them, there is no incentive for them to do anything for you.
As far as why not more info on this, it’s likely that the bigger players don’t charge for this anymore , hence the relative silence on it , if only niche company’s still charge for this 

BardellRJ

Thanks for all the comments.
A bit of frantic phoning found a solution and, as often seems to happen [to me, at least], I had to go round the houses to find an answer that was right under my nose. 
An online chat with a BT man got me an email address for the "Switching Team", who I then contacted, but the automated reply suggested they could only deal with customers taking part in the "switcher's offer" which, as far as I was aware, I wasn't part of. Suitably deflated, I then rang a BT advisor who was sympathetic, but pessimistic about my chances of getting them to pay, he'd never heard of broadband transfer fees either. Following that, I rang Timico, more to let off steam than in expectation of them rescinding the charge, they agreed to raise a query about it.
Soon after that, I got an email from an actual person on the Switching Team; they had decided that I was eligible for a credit to cover the charge, and my problem has apparently been solved.
There are pages somewhere on the BT website about the Switching Team but I failed to find either of them from the BT menu. I discovered them only via a links on the ST emails, something of a closed circle!