They take time away from exploration and slow the party's approach to the planned set-piece encounters the DM wants to run (i.e. the cool stuff).
This one is a preference and shouldn't be ignored. If you don't want to allow random encounters, don't. If you're not running an old school style of game where exploration matters then random encounters won't fit most occasions, but don't rule them out completely.
They require opening books to get the stats for the monsters, and digging out minis (for those who use them).
When preparing for the game, make sure to decide what creatures might be wandering around in your location or dungeon. Write down the stats for those creatures and have them and the minis for them on hand during play so getting them onto the table is quickly accomplished, Have hit points predetermined and briefly note a two or three round plan of action for those creatures. Limit the number of possible creature types that can be encountered.
They take focus away in a game run more for story.
Give thought ahead of time about how a random encounter might fit the situation in the scenario. Not all random encounters have to actually be random. Maybe the bad guys are looking for the PCs or expecting trouble. If the leader of the enemy is actively out to get the characters, then this is part of the story. You can key a "random" encounter into the map effectively making it a set piece encounter and then use a random roll to see which of your limited types of monsters show up. You can even pre-roll the critters in advance.
They might not make sense in the location's ecology.
The party has just run into a group of Hobgoblins in the dungeon where nothing else has indicated their presence. Nothing has been disturbed, no traps triggered, no signs of looted rooms, no other dead creatures, etc. They could be exploring the dungeon just like the player characters, but you need to know where they came in and adjust the areas they passed through accordingly. Or maybe they're an illusion. Maybe they are hired mercenaries tasked with patrolling the dungeon. You can of course change the random table included in an adventure to make more sense.
Optionally the random encounter might not be monsters. Maybe it's a sound, smell, taste, touch, or sight event. This helps make things interesting without dragging out a time consuming battle.
Whatever the case may be for not liking random encounters, at least give a little thought to including encounters that seem random or are at least slightly random.
Plan your so-called random encounters ahead of time. Decide when and where they can happen in the event the PCs are making too much noise or taking too much time. Roll dice behind the screen if you use one, ignore the roll, and just plop down your "random" encounter and play.
A random encounter doesn't necessarily mean combat. Sometimes characters or the monsters might want to talk. This is an opportunity to provide info about the dungeon or even mislead the adventurers into heading for one of your cool set-piece encounter areas.
The point here is that you can build encounters into your scenarios and make them seem random, or even include a little bit of randomness, all without slowing yourself down too much. By determining what situations call for a possible encounter and ignoring the time keeping aspect, you eliminate most of the problems random encounters can cause.
Of course if you're running Undermountain then all random encounters make sense.
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