ARS / Rescue Rooter Laurel

It went okay. They sent one plumber. It was a 5 minute job, clearing drain disposal. They service was still expensive even though I had the $100 credit. I wouldn't use them again in the future because they're too expensive.

- Day 1: Guy comes in to estimate the work and when he sees the job is not a 5min fix, he starts complaining about how to access the space (it?s a crawl space) right in front of another contractor who?s been working on that space (insulating it) for the past 3 days. He then decides it?s a two-man job when I see no reason for it whatsoever. Anyways, then he calls his boss then whines to him again then finally calls our home warranty to see what can get covered and they hear all the whining and complaining (they can?t understand why it?s so hard and it?s a 2-man job either) and that?s all ok since they decided to cover all that he requested. Still thinking it?s probably just a Sales tactic so I let it go, just want to get the thing fixed and done with. From the first minute I knew I was dealing with both lazy and incompetent folks but I thought this was only one guy, the whole company can't be like that, right?! Keep reading? - Day 4 (Appointment #1): Waiting at home during a work day and I get a call at the appointment time that it?s been cancelled, rescheduled to 3 days later. - Day 7 (Appointment #2): Waiting at home again during a work day and guess what? I get a call that the appointment has been cancelled yet again, rescheduled to 2 days later. - Day 9 (Appointment #3): Waiting at home again during a work day, I even called them to let me know when they?re coming and no one shows up and no one calls to tell me when they?re coming? Finally, call the home warranty to ensure they don?t show their faces ever again at my doorstep and get back any fee paid to them. Now I?m 2 weeks later and nothing has been fixed; next I?m getting in touch with the home warranty management to ensure they get removed from their list of contractors for good. If you ever hear of them, do yourself a favor and avoid them at all costs, you've been warned!

They were punctual, efficient, everything went very smooth.

It's not something I really use on a regular basis. It's only when my heat pump has problems. I called the man. They could get me in a reasonable time and they could fix the problem quickly. I would use them in the future.

Plumber arrived on time as scheduled. Very professional. Looked at the sink and faucet gave us a diagnosis. Offered us a price for replacement as well as a price for install only . He was thorough in his assessment and offered us several options & estimates. He was honest and tried to work with us on prices. We didn't use his services because were unable to fit into our budget. We would use him in the future and would recommend him to friends.

The technician came on time and performed a detailed inspection of my A/C system and sheduled preventative maintenance. He was honest and polite and gave me a list of recommendations to improve system performance. Overall, I was satisfied with their service and would use them again.

My toilet leaked. I called they replaced my toilet, 2 months later the leak came through the ceiling I. To the living room. I called another plumber. They said the gasket was not replaced. This small fix cost me over $1,000 in repairs to the walls and ceiling.

We had a horrible experience with ARS. In August 2013 we purchased a Carrier system. We also purchased a one-year service plan. On Thursday July 31, 2014 we had a service call scheduled for the morning. An ARS technician arrived by 10am. We showed him the unit and he said ?You got the Cadillac version. No, you purchased the Mercedes?. The comment was telling. As he was servicing the unit, he broke it. We don?t know what he did. But, he was not there to fix the unit, it was working fine. He was there only on a service call to make sure the unit was running well. At this point I was coming back from the airport with my two nieces who were visiting Washington for the first time and staying with us for 5 days. We got to the house, and I spoke to the technician about the problem. He thought it was the transformer. That day he was at our house until about 3 or 4 and he was unable to fix what he had broken. The house was getting hotter and hotter. The technician told us his supervisor would be able to come out with the part and fix what he had broken. He gave us a choice of having someone come that night or the next day. We chose that night, although that meant we had to go to dinner early with the girls. We made it home to meet his boss, the new technician at the house. Again, the first one told us his boss would be there that evening with the part. When the new technician showed up at about 7:30pm, the first thing he said was ?what?s the problem?? No one had communicated to him what the problem was. He looked at the unit and could not get it fixed. He said he would be back the next morning at 8am. He was not there at 8am so I called ARS at 8:30. I was told by the operator that he would be there between 8 and 1. They told me they had had a meeting that morning, but the technician was sent on another job. I was furious. This was my nieces? first day on their first visit and one of us had to stay home in a hot house because of a problem their technician created on a unit that cost us over $10,000 and was less than one year old. Jim stayed at the house as I took the girls out. No one showed up. There was no technician to wait for. Jim called on Friday at 1pm since no one had shown up. The person at ARS said they didn't have the part. This was completely different from what we were told before. It is completely different from what the technician told us later. Jim had been waiting at the house all day. He said to the person at ARS "wouldn't it be good customer service to let us know you didn?t have the part". There was silence on the phone. Never did anyone apologize. The technician finally showed up at 3pm. Jim missed the entire day with the kids. He said he had had the part since that morning, but the dispatcher sent him on another job. He was here until about 5:30. He was on the phone with Carrier the entire time. He was certain it was more than the transformer. It became very obvious to us at this point that ARS can sell expensive units, but that their technicians don?t have a clue as to how to service these expensive machines they sell their customers. As the technician was leaving, he called the office, and Jim spoke to a person on the phone. She promised someone would call first thing in the morning on Saturday. Night two, no air conditioning in a hot house. Went to CVS and bought a fan for the girls? room. We searched for a hotel room my nieces, but there was nothing at that point under $300/night. Saturday, day 3, no air conditioning. I want to stress again that we spent thousands of dollars on a brand new system with ARS and $200 for a service contract. It was the technician that broke the system on the service call. And ARS was completely unresponsive. Finally on Saturday morning I spoke with a customer service agent who seemed to care. He promised that they were trying to get a new part to us. Again, Jim was unable to be with the girls on their sightseeing in Washington because he had to come back to the house for hours. The technician was finally able to repair the system with a new control board late that afternoon. My advice to ARS is to train their technicians on units they sell and service and train their employees in communicating with each other.

The work was done well and in a professional manner,

They never contacted me since May, even after asking Angie's List to try and get them to reach out.

Technician didn't even check water heater or do a thorough plumbing inspection. Appointment was messed up as I had to call and they advised that I wasn't on the schedule. They sent someone out later that afternoon as I requested i would reschedule for another day. Technician arrived dumb founded as to what to do and mentioned he was asked to come but wasn't sure of what needed to be done.

They were unable to perform the work because our water heater did not qualify. They looked around and said everything looked good.

This company called me to schedule an estimate we set it for 4:00pm and they never showed up or called to say they were not going to make it. They just lost out on a possible customer!

I called ARS because I had little water pressure in my hot water faucets. The ARS plumber, Art, arrived promptly, correctly diagnosed the problem, explained the problem to me and my home warranty company as well as obtained authorization for repairs. (This is no easy task!) Art displayed a "whatever it takes" attitude toward the problem He was very careful to make sure the job was completed correctly. He double checked to make sure there were no leaks before he left and took extraordinary efforts to keep my home clean.

There was a little bit of scheduling confusion initially, which was quite frustrating, but the service technician that eventually came out was very good. The scheduling issue was a failure of management, but the quality of work was outstanding.

This job went very well. Contractor was on schedule, courteous, patient and explained everything he was doing. As complicated the job was in reinstalling toilet and fixing everything else along with it I give contractor an A.

The technician was fabulous and showed up on time. He was pleasant, professional and answered all of my questions. The pricing was by the project rather than by the hour which was not clear in the deal. To replace one faucet ended up costing $400.

I initially contacted this company on May 14th, 2014. I got no response and contacted them again on May 30,2014. I got an email response late that evening advising they had no record of my initial contact. On June 3, 2014 I exchanged emails with a Manager/Supervisor and we were able to conclude that what I needed done would cost about $2,000.00, which I thought to be excessive. I decided not to have this company do the work, at least until I could obtain more information. I contacted the local water company and the person I spoke with confirmed my belief that this price was considerably higher than average. I contacted two other plumbers who provided estimates over the phone. Both were less than the original quote. At the same time, I purchased another deal from Angie's List for an irrigation system tune-up. As it turned out, they are able to do the plumbing work and provide the irrigation system repairs and start-up for almost half of the high end quote and about $450.00 less than the lowest quote I got. I was not happy that the initial contact with the original company was certainly not what I would expect and neither was their price. Even though the deal was purchased in May, my first contact was not until early June and I therefore maintain that my refund request is with the 30 day refund window.

Company informed me that it would be an additional $59.99 to come out to even look at my job. Getting refund on big deal.

Unfortunately I quite often found the service people, although very very pleasant, to be inexperienced and lacking knowledge. They would quite often be on the phone with someone else with more experience for help. Appointments were more often than not late or missed entirely without phone calls. We switched out service this year to another company.

They did not show the first time the appt was scheduled and I waited all day. Then, they came the next day and told me the price to install two toilets (that I already purchased and had on the premises) would be $1000.00 Are you kidding me!!!!!!!

They responded the next day and performed the work in a timely manner. I was very pleased.

I'm not sure where to start. First, I had made an appointment for a Saturday. It was confirmed twice. On that Saturday, I called again and the service was confirmed. I asked if they had a general idea of when the technician would come and they put me on hold to check. Another rep got on the phone to say that they don't have my appointment scheduled. I was livid especially since it was confirmed twice. Apparently, the appointment goes through the national call center and for whatever reason it was communicated to the local office (Laurel, MD). I asked when we could reschedule and I was told not for at least 10 days. That's how busy they were. I asked to speak to a manager and was told there is no manager available on the weekend. Skip ahead a couple of days later to leaving a message with a manager, being transferred to Blue Dot??? (someone said there was a partnership???), and leaving a message with a corporate office. I was on the phone with another rep who confirmed the earliest available was 5/28. I explained I was going to be off on 5/23 and I really didn't want to take off work on another day. He said, "done....May 23rd between 2pm-6pm". Really? Why all the back and forth? and being told nothing was available until May 23rd. Fast forward to 5/23. I call at 4:45 pm because they are supposed to call a half hour before arrival and they are supposed to be there before 6pm. I was told I was next and it would be around 5:30. Ok....I'll take that. 6pm comes and I call again and they begin apologizing. It will probably be closer to 6:45. IF YOU WERE GOING TO BE LATE, WHY WOULDN'T YOU CALL THE CUSTOMER! I said what if there is work to be done and he said no worries if they discover anything they can do it, they have a lot of the equipment on the truck. The guy finally arrives at 6:45. He looks exhausted and ready to start his weekend. Yes, he yawned a few times. He checks the AC unit and gives me recommendations of $600 worth of work. Ok...can you do it now? "oh no...it's too late to do it now". At that point, I kept my mouth shut. Because that's not what they told me on the phone. Basically, we have decided, after another inspection, to get a new AC unit installed. To be quite honest, I was not comfortable asking them to do it. After that experience, I just don't have any confidence in asking them company to install a new AC unit. The salesman that came out, Ed, was very polite, very professional, but there was no way I could possibly trust this company to do a good quality installation. The C for professionalism is only for Ed Hauser and that's because he was much better than anyone else I spoke to at that company.

It?s not gone well so far. I?ve made four appointments with them, and they?ve still not been able to come out. They said that they?ll call about an hour before they come out to our 8:00 appointment, but they did not. I called them about 8:10 and they said they?re on the way. However, I told them I couldn?t wait any longer at 8:30. I?m really hoping that this works out because they were nice enough on the phone. They need to be consistent with scheduling -- if I only get a window for calls regarding scheduling, they should only get a window as well.

Second weekend in May, my A/C system failed. A very friendly and competent repair tech from ARS came out on 5/13 for a pre-scheduled maintenance app't. John Q. troubleshot it to the compressor, and given the 22-year age of the unit, it made more sense to go new. The sales advisor, John M., was able to come out that afternoon to give me an estimate, and I had him throw in replacing the water heater as well since it was the same age and co-located. I took a couple more days getting three more estimates from competitors, and chose ARS to do the job based on several factors: installing Carrier A/C - furnace equipment, the ability to come out a couple days later for the install, the best price, and 24-month 0% financing through my Home Depot card. The competitors needed at least a week and a half before they could start (one of them 3 weeks). The competitor offering Trane equipment could do 48 month 0% financing, but they subcontract the water heater installs, so that part was substantially higher. ARS had the best overall deal, and John M. did an excellent job explaining the logic of his equipment selection choices relative to the other estimates before I made the final selection with him. The install crew of Jose S., John S., and Marlon S. completed everything in approx 7 hours and left a clean job site and professional looking install. They were patient with my questions, and thorough in their explanation of the operation of the systems. Very happy customer!