American Rooter

I was able to get an appointment on the same day I called. They called to tell me they were in route and they arrived early. The tech, TJ, was very cordial and professional. He correctly diagnosed my problem and corrected it without difficulty. He presented an honest scenario for the possibility of future problems but didn't try to upsell more expensive services at this time. I was very pleased with the work.

Everything went well. I had three opportunities to explain my situation before the work was started. The situation involved a mysterious recurring problem with my 103 year old house's main sewer pipe starting to leak again - both from the first joint or two of the cast iron sewer pipe inside the basement, and also from where the floor meets the wall - about a foot or two from where the pipe exits through the wall. I initially hoped to have the pipe "roto rooted" (which did the trick the last time this problem occurred, 8 years earlier), AND have the pipe scoped-out with a camera this time so as to actually see what the problem(s) might be. Not surprisingly, it turns out that in order to properly scope-out a clogged pipe with a camera, it has to be "roto rooted" first, which cost about $199 - and was successful (just like 8 years ago) in that I currently have no more leaks. Being on a very tight budget at this time, I consulted with the serviceman, and we decided that since the problem was (at least temporarily) solved (again), there was no *immediate* need to have the pipe scoped-out with a camera... especially not for the additional $280 or so dollars it was going to cost. I could either wait until finances were better, or wait until the problem happened again, and scope it out after cleaning THAT time. It was rather pointless to scope it out right now (other than to satisfy my extreme curiosity), since finances dictated that WHATEVER the problem actually was, I wasn't planning on paying the "lots of money" (at this time), that it would cost to dig out sewer pipe from under my house & property to have it repaired or replaced. So - that's a long-winded way of saying that the serviceman didn't try to rip me off by convincing me to have the scoping done right away, at extra cost. The serviceman was neat, professional, listened, took care to do the work cleanly (i.e.; without messing up my basement), and so on. The *only* negative I can see, and it's partially my own fault for not pushing the issue, is that once we un-did the blockage between the outdoor clean-out pipe and the house, I never insisted that he clean from the clean-out pipe down to the road as well. Obviously there was no blockage there which had been restricting my water flow (since cleaning out the UPPER half of the pipe fixed the blockage). But since the work would've been included in the price, I ought have insisted that we clean the lower portion of the pipe anyway... just to help eliminate any partial blockages (roots or whatever) which might have developed since the last time the pipe was cleaned. All in all, I was very pleased with the company, the serviceman, the cost, and the results. Their punctuality was a little off (the "2pm-4pm" timeslot for doing my work didn't actually *start* until about 3:30/3:45pm, but they did attempt to call and explain that they were running behind. It worked for me this time, though had I been on a tight schedule, that could've been a problem. I have the impression though, that they *do* attempt to be on-time and keep the customer informed regarding any delays that might occur. I guess one other nit, which turned out not to be an issue after all, is that I had been assured that the truck coming out to my place would have the necessary camera on it. It turns out that the the serviceman who came out to my house did NOT have the camera on his truck. Had I really wanted to have the pipe scoped-out there & then, they would not have been able to do it at that time. We would have had to re-schedule to have the scoping done separately. Again - I'm very pleased with them overall. I think sometimes it's a reasonable tradeoff to have things like a slightly late start, and to not have all the originally-expected equipment, when in turn you're getting VERY prompt service and turnaround. (I had called them initially around 7pm on a Friday night, explained that it wasn't a "I need you NOW" type of emergency, and still they managed to show up that following Monday afternoon... which was only three calendar days (1 working-day) later.