CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio — The new year just began, and it’s already giving some local businesses, homeowners and renters a big headache due to a mass Spectrum service outage in Cleveland Heights.
“It’s hard when you have these larger corporations and they just don’t really have any retribution or things that they can do or offer to make it any better,” said Nicole Gillota Brichacek, the owner of Gypsy Beans & Baking Co. in Cleveland.
Friday wasn’t an easy day for Brichacek due to down technology systems. Still, Brichacek said she managed to get by despite the service outage.
“We’re able to record transactions, but nothing is actually processing real time like we’re used to, we have no analytics of the day, what’s been going on,” said Brichacek.
Spectrum announced that customers in the Cleveland area are experiencing service disruptions after a plow truck hit a utility pole at an intersection on South Taylor Road in Cleveland Heights on Friday, damaging fiber lines, according to Spokesperson Mike Hogan.
Hogan said Spectrum teams responded immediately and are diligently working to make necessary repairs to restore service.
The area ranges from Cleveland Heights to Tremont.
The City of Cleveland Heights said repairs at the intersection where the utility pole was hit will take up to 19 hours.
“They talk us into bundling everything together, so we bundled everything. Our phone, our internet and our cable and it’s down. Everything’s down right now, so we’re cash only until we’re up and running back on the Internet: Spectrum,” said Jason Herron, the owner of Headquarters Bar and Grill in Brooklyn.
Herron thanks his customers for their patience. But as a new business, he said having down service is a tough pill to swallow, especially when it happens on a Friday night.
“I feel bad for our bartenders who now have to tell the customers we’re cash only until this gets settled because a lot of people obviously use debit cards. 70% of our business is debit and credit cards,” said Herron.
Both local businesses are hopeful service will be restored sooner rather than later.
It is unclear exactly how many customers have been affected, but several businesses posted about some form of service issue:
News 5 is working to learn more information.
