Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Water Cleanup

Deceiving Prices & Service. Do not trust them for the job and for an Estimate.They are the biggest plumbing company in US & Canada and they use this to charge Outrageous estimates. Do NOT consider Roto Rooter. For a simple install of a new Water pressure reduc valve, the plumber asked me to sign a contract to agree on the the $440 estimate BEFORE he did the job. After thinking back this is PURE WRONG. U should never sign a contract for a price before the work is done especially if it is going to just take a few minutes. If the price is too high, there is something wrong. and if something seems wrong, do NOT pay them until u get an explanation. Even if this means paying them later. You will see they were trying to overcharge u by 2x normal amount. Roto will charge the most they can if they think they can get away with it. And for me, they did. I have a decent income, own my own business and would never complain about a few dollars. But we know scam and deception when we see one. Mike Wilson the manager did nothing to give customers satisfaction, and justice, especially when Bobby overcharged us $440 for a $200 job at the most. There are many small claims and lawsuits against this company its uncountable. Even a Class Action Lawsuit against Roto Rooter back in the 2000s because this company consistently charged Americans for unknown fees/parts. Now they are doing the same thing, except for service. They're excuse: If u signed the contract, you agree and have to pay that amount. But do not pay. U can still go into legal action if u do not pay and can prove they overcharged. Neither Mike or technician bobby could explain to me what the charges was for. Mike via email was able to tell me what $100 of the $440 was for, and nothing else... Ridiculous. Obscene price for the work done. Roto, this is why I will never recommend you guys: u charge whatever you want to get the most out of customers who do not know plumbing. You guys charged me $440 for 30 minutes of labor and a part that cost less than $70. Being young and a minority, you guys took advantage and cheated us. Technician Bobby charged us $440 dollars to simply replace an Old pressure reducing valve that took no more than 30 min, parts and fees/parts being less than $100. That could only mean we were charged over $300 for 30 min labor?? Mike tried to get me to accept this fact by telling me it was "quality 30 minutes of labor" Laughable. and again ridiculous. Before he left Bobby also lied in our faces when he told us we were charged $150/hour since the moment he arrived to when he left was 2 hours, he used this as his excuse before he left our home. But i later found out Roto doesn't charge by the hour. There was SO MANY things wrong with this company a& what they did. I didn't even mention that they delayed and were late to our home appt by more than 2+hours.There were No itemization on the receipt, no explanation from Bobby the technician on how he pulled out his estimate and his price. Neither response or help from Manager Mike as well. I later found that the manager's name is actually some guy name Shockley who I never even spoke with. Just too many things wrong with this company, what they do and say. And not even the worse part is all their techs are not even licensed plumbers. Sad.

They were responsive on the phone and came. They called before coming and even came an hour earlier than they thought. The technician was from Ghana and highly trained and professional. He did an excellent job and was delightfully friendly and professional.

I called Saturday around 12:30 and we had someone at our house by 2:00 (maybe a few minutes before). The individual who answered the phone was very nice. We had called around to several other companies but was not able to get anyone to come that day as a reasonable price. The gentleman was very nice and professional. He identified the issue quickly and was able to provide us all the information. A quote was provided to us that day and he returned Monday morning to replace the pipe. He answered all my husbands questions and addressed any concerns we had. He left the area very neat and clean and completed the job in a reasonable amount for time. We would use them again.

They charged me for coming out. The problem was a small Japanese Marple that was planted right beside the clean out that goes down to the drain, to the sewer pipe underneath the house. The roots had invaded the pipe. He did not find this problem so sometimes it would work and sometimes it wouldn't work. I thought it was a little bit high since he did nothing. I was very disappointed. I called them early in the morning and they came later on in the afternoon. He was fairly professional but he failed to diagnose the problem. I'd prefer to use a local service if I possibly can.

The plumber lied to my landlord. He said he was here for an hour and that he talked to the tenant (that would be me) about what he had done. When I told the landlord that he was here for about 15 minutes and did not even come to the door before he left the landlord called Rotorooter but they never called him back. The plumber did NOT check on the plumbing vents and he did NOT fix the problem. I tried flushing one toilet and water erupted upwards before going down. The other toilet would not flush at all and the water rose up like it was going to overflow. I was afraid to try washing clothes or using the dishwasher. I would not recommend this plumber to anyone.

Provider was prompt and professional. Price was given before work was started. I was very pleased with this provider's work.

There was an issue with the kitchen sink, the plumber came out and ran the snake under the sink, he ran into some problems. He went to check the backyard to and found water in the crawl space and its been that way for years. So the plumber told us he wouldn’t be able to open the drain. He came back with an assistant and concluded that there is a pipe that has busted due to rain water. The assistant said they would give an estimate, saying they would have to dig up the floor and take out the pipe. They gave an estimate for $6000 and then another for $3000 if they put another pipe under the house to redirect the water. The assistant noticed that the yard was very damp which was unusual, and said that we may need to call the city due to where our house is situated- the problem may be due to natural decay. We are trying to get in touch with our home owners insurance to see if the problem will be covered by insurance. At first the cost was $209.95 to unclog the sink drain. Because he could not resolve the issue he took the price down to 180.34, he then applied a senior discount bringing the cost to 163.95. The issue was not resolved and we still ended up paying 163.95, which we are not happy about. I called them about why they charged us when the job was not resolved. They haven’t given me an answer about why we were charged even though the job wasn’t resolved.

We interviewed 5 plumbers to do this job. estimates ranged from 60 to 500 dollars. We took Roto Rooters, who ended up having to work over 6 hours to fix the leak. They stuck with their price of $60. The guy could not have been nicer. We tipped him and have used Roto Rooters ever since.

Wonderful experience. Called and they dispatched someone immediately. Arrived in a timely manner and was able to resolve the issue. Worker displayed knowledge of problem and resolution and was very professional and personable.

Had an outside hose faucet repaired with their equipment in 2011 @ a cost of $284.00. This Spring it sprayed water everywhere except in the hose. Called RotoRooter & the plumber took the faucet apart & showed me a bent tiny red gasket-like part. Said they don't do that. Which means to me the part was defective. Said he would have to order a new part & the repair would cost me $284. I hoped he meant $2.84 which looked like what it should cost for the tiny part, but no, $284.00. A. that was my idea of unreasonable & B. Why would I want to replace something that had proved defective in just 2 years even if it weren't $284? I wouldn't & said so. Presented your $30 off certificate printed from Angie's List & was told it didn't apply since I wasn't having the work done, just paying $70 for the estimate. I waited a couple of days for them to call me back & say it was all a mistake & there would be only labor charge. Didn't happen. Never Again!

Below is the letter that I wrote to Mr. Shockley and I never heard back from him or his company... Dear Mr. Shockley, I have tried to work this out with your partner, Brad, but to no avail. After getting the feeling that he no longer wanted to hear from me, I decided to write to you. I first called your office shortly after the work was done with my complaint. Since you are usually away, I have not had the opportunity of speaking with you. Below I will explain my complaint against your company. The commode in my daughter's house was very sluggish so we called your company on June 11, 2012. Your plumber replaced the flapper and snaked the line. He said that he guaranteed the work, which costs a total of $177.96. Two days later, we had to call him again because the problem remained. This time your plumber snaked the outside line. He did work hard to fix the problem. The charge was $414.95, for a total of almost $600.00. After a few days, we realized the problem was still there, but we were afraid to call your company again after spending nearly $600 for nothing. We got the name of a plumber from a septic tank company in the area and he immediately fixed the problem after figuring that the line from underneath the house to the septic needed to be raised, at a cost of $1,850. Your company had offered to replace the line from the septic to the pumping station at a cost of $2,749. After we had someone else to fix it, we realized that had we paid your company the extra $2,749 to replace the line, it still would not have worked. Again, more wasted money. We are happy that we found someone that knew what he was doing, and since your company guarantees its work, I would appreciate it if you would look over the circumstance and reimburse some of the money that we paid. I realize you had to pay your plumber, however, you did not come through with your guarantee and I consider this very bad business when it comes to directing business your way by word of mouth, as in Facebook and Angie?s List.

OK. The problem resolved itself. We had 2 toilets that were backing up. One backed up in the tub. Just before the plumber got here, my husband took a shower and suddenly the toilets went down and flushed ok.

The gentlemen that came quickly determined the problem and solved it by removing the trap and cleaning it thoroughly.

Great. Melvin was very thorough and informative. Did not pressure to add the water meter box, that was to keep from digging 3 and a 1/2 feet to find the valve if we had future problems. He relocated a small bush that was in the way and hauled the excess dirt around back to another flower bed.

OK Went about as expected. They did a good job and cleared the drain.

Everything was done in a timely and professional manner. They explained what would happen, took proper steps to avoid as much dust accumulation as possible; they worked quickly and as quietly as possible. They were polite and courteous. They cleaned up any mess afterwards.

Estimate for PVC kitchen drain clearing was $199.99, but some time was taken up attempting to figure out whether or not to accept an Angie's List coupon (ultimately, despite being within the printed date, it was not). Estimate for a proposed hose bib addition was $650, a good $470 more than my previous estimate from another plumber. To avoid having to pay the $70 diagnostic fee, had the representative go ahead with the drain cleaning. I explained that I had attempted to clear it with both manual and drill-attached power augers to no avail, and was told not to use sodium hydroxide as it is acidic (not according to what I read, which states it is a base). The representative used a power auger through the drain, and borrowed a knife (I have since bought another) to feed it through, rather than detaching the pipe at the trap. The representative said he had cleared the drain, removed the auger, and claimed to have tightened the PVC joints below, and proceeded to charge me $189.99 ($10 Roto-Rooter coupon). Meanwhile, I ran the washer (connected via a Y), and lo and behold, the kitchen sink backed up again. The representative had to call for another drain auger and drainer, while I put a new bowl under the drain that was still leaking. Attempts to fix the drain using the first and second (70-foot?) auger from the washing machine did not work. Listening indicated that the drain pipe went straight down after a bend in the PVC, and connected to an older cast iron pipe. The first representative disconnected the pipes at that junction by crawling into the crawlspace, and as expected, water oozed out and spilled over the basement wall and into the floor drain, covering the plumber with mud. The first auger was apparently able or nearly able to reach the main drain, but was unable to clear the clog. The second plumber had to bring the larger auger into the muddy mess to get there, but they were finally able to clear the obstruction, which was reportedly a plastic bag that may have been previous plumbing or pipe construction-related debris (not sure what the source was--Ross Plumbing had installed the latest PVC pipes in 2009). The representatives more than doubled the bill to $390. So, ultimately, Roto-Rooter was able to fix the issue, which was a relief. The rate was fair considering the amount of time/effort/climbing/crawling/mud involved. But ultimately, the headaches at every turn, necessary or not, left me feeling kind of numb, and I'm sure the representatives won't be clamoring to come back here either . . .

The service person was wonderful. He went above and beyond. It was an emergency because we had no hot water. He came the same day and did some work outside in the cold. He said he wouldn't leave until we had hot water. He was a wonderful guy. The price was fair.

We have used other plumbers in the past but we always come back to Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Drain Services because they know what they are doing. The last service went very well. They did a good job. They solved the problem. They are very professional. I did not realize that all of their service people were plumbers and I just thought that they were ordinary people who they trained to become plumbers. The plumber that did the work at our house told me that they are all certified plumbers and they are contracted plumbers for the company. So that surprised me and they know what they are doing. They are very good. I would surely call them in the future for any plumbing related problems.

I have used Roto-Rooter for years and have never been disappointed in their service. The servicemen are always prompt and complete the work as requested or as needed. I will use them whenever I need this type of service. Dwayne was my serviceman this trip and he explained what he was going to do. He did the job and cleaned up afterward.

I called Roto Rooter at 8 am and by 9.30 a gentleman was out at the property. He diagnosed the problem (roots in the pipes to the septic tank) and set about correcting it. He was courteous and efficient. The lady at the office was also very pleasant and helpful. Two months later the plumbing is still working fine. I believe they provide a three month guarantee of their work though you would need to check that they still do this when you call. The contractor will come to your property and give you an estimate. If you decline the estimate, they will charge you a call out fee, which I seem to remember was somewhere around $70. $270 felt a bit high at 8 am but a) their response was so incredibly quick and b) the service was so good that by the time the gentleman left at around 10.30 am it felt like a fair price. I would definitely call them again if I had similar problems.

I thought their willingness to negotiate meant that it was just the employees fault and at first I thought they were acting in bad faith but in the end they really weren?t.

These people were the nicest guys. They worked really hard and seemed to be willing to do their best. They also came right away and their estimate was the lowest. The only negative is that they didn't do a very good job of replacing our driveway. The most important thing though is that they got the problem fixed.

THEY WERE TO MY HOUSE WITHIN A COUPLE OF HOURS. WHEN THEY WERE DONE THEY CLEANED UP THE MESS OF WATER ON THE FLOOR FOR ME. I CALL ROTO ROOTER FOR MOST OF MY PLUMBING NEEDS.

I WAS QUITE IMPRESSED WITH HOW QUICKLY THE PROBLEM WAS TAKEN CARE OF. THEY WERE QUITE PROFESSIONAL AND EFFICIENT. I THOUGHT THAT THE PRICE WAS EXTREMELY REASONABLE.