Migration Away Charge

Hi Folks,

New user here!

I work for a MSP and have had a client receive a 'Migration Away' charge on their final bill from their Broadband provider. They have been out of contract for a while and we have not heard of a charge like this being levied up until this point.

I have advised the customer to contact the Provider again and ask them to break down or explain this charge as it is around £130 Ex VAT.

Has anyone else heard of this term 'Migration Away' charge or can shed any light on why or what this is?

Only heard of it in respect of migrating away before a mimimum term.

I'd probably counter them with an invoice for them wasting my time...

What does the contract they signed say?

There is a clause as follows:

Separate to the amounts agreed on your order form, pass on any necessary charges on from us, our suppliers and Openreach in relation to any connection or cease charges. Or where necessary add charges from XXXX in relation to the maintenance of your solution or equipment.
These include but are not limited to new line provides, DDI number provides, DDI porting charges, general porting charges, migration charges, feature line charges, bulk order charges, line transfer charges, install charges, rejection charges, migrate away charges, ceased line charges, maintenance charges, care level charges, IDA barring charges and router assurance.

It references 'migrate away charges' but eludes to what this actually means. It just seems to me like a rubbish charge for the sake of charging - Would love to know where the figure comes from and like I say, we are involved or at least in the loop of these sorts of migrations frequently and this is the first time we have seen a charge like this.

I'm not a lawyer but the implication is that they have been charged by their provider for you leaving so are passing this on, but since the wording is that they are passing the charges on you would be entitled to take a look at what their actual costs are to ensure this isn't profiteering.

For what it's worth there's a BTw price list here https://www.btwholesale.com/assets/documents/help-an... that states migrations are £11 and presumably paid by the gaining CP, and a cease would only be £32.

Thanks for your response, that's very interesting and I was thinking around the same lines. The link did not work but don't worry, I can search for the mentioned document online. As you say, migrations/ceases would usually be relatively small cost but this one jumped out, being well over £100

Is the migration OpenReach to OpenReach or is it OpenReach to an altnet?

I'm wondering if this is a leased line, or a FTTPoD line ?