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BUCKHANNON -- The Buckhannon Suddenlink office will be reopening but a date has not been announced.
Erin Jones, director of government and public affairs for Altice USA, said having a local store is part of the current franchise agreement Upshur County Commission has with Suddenlink/Altice and the closure this spring was temporary due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I know we have received some complaints about the local store being closed," she said. "That is not an Upshur County-alone issue. We have been closed everywhere in the peak of COVID-19 when it first happened, to try to work through all the different state's regulations, keep our employees safe, figure out how to get people to work remotely."
Jones said there are plans to reopen the Buckhannon location very soon.
"We are working on staffing right now," she said.
For now, the current Suddenlink office on Fifth Street will be the location, but Jones said there had been some discussion about moving due to not needing as much space for a smaller number of employees.
The Upshur County Commission had a public hearing on the proposed franchise agreement ordinance Thursday afternoon. County administrator Carrie Wallace said 13 submissions had been received as public comments prior to the meeting. No one spoke up at the public hearing. Wallace said the third and final reading of the ordinance will be Thursday, Nov. 5 for the commission to vote on renewing the franchise agreement or not.
Jones told the commission, "As we do receive complaints from the commission, they are immediately escalated to corporate and those representatives will research account information, they will look over any history with service visits, billing, etc. They will contact the customer, schedule service visits as needed. I don't think we have any outstanding issues at the moment."
"We have been working on some system updates and upgrades," she said. "We are working on installing another piece of equipment in November. Over this month, we have worked on two splits in the Buckhannon area.
Altice USA is also offering several discounts or programs to help in virtual learning for families.
One of those is Altice Advantage Internet 30Mbps service complimentary for 60 days to households with students who do not have internet access.
There are also programs to help families with children who receive free and reduced lunch benefits and also seniors and veterans who receive supplemental security income.
To learn more, visit www.alticeadvantageinternet.com.
"We also offer a $5 per month educator discount," she said. "That is something to say thank you and we appreciate our educators during this time as well."
Commissioner Sam Nolte said, "I am happy to hear the store is going to be back open. A lot of people, I think they were comfortable with being able to go there and be able to solve their equipment issues there so I think that will be a nice convenience."