ARS / Rescue Rooter Nashville

Unclog a Drain

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unknown

They did a nice job of the installation. They were prompt and efficient. They cleaned up their mess. I was promised an automatic thermostat and they did not bring it with them. It has been two years since and I still do not have the thermostat. They also promised me two years of free service and have only been out once in that time.

They did a great job.

I was a nightmare. Thank goodness for Energy Rite and the group from E3Innovate. They came and found all the problems and we got it fixed. They ARS never did come and service the unit for the next year. Total HVAC is now doing the work for me and I am happy with them. They came and set the thermostat so that it controls the humidity which you have to have a code number to get into to it to set it. Now the house is not too humid and all is well.

On labor day, I noticed a smell in my house and tracked it to sewage backing up into my crawlspace. It was clear the main sewage line out of the house was blocked so I called ARS because I had had a positive experience with them in the past with main line cleaning (2008). Doug arrived promptly and worked tirelessly outside in the rain in an attempt to clear the main line. He was unsucessful. After approx 2 horus of effort, he told me the line could not be cleared, it needed to be replaced. I agreed and he went to the truck to work up a quote. I was in shock when he came back to tell me it would be $8400.00 to replace the 70' line. This was open digging, no obstructions. I was in a bind though, I had a wife and newborn inside and the water could not be used at all in the house. It was labor day evening, and I didn't have time for quotes. This was all pretty obvious to Doug, and I feel in retrospect that it played into the astronomical quote. I wasn't forced to sign, but I did, and that's all my own fault, a decision I surely regret. Doug showed up with an assistant according to schedule 2 days later and began work. It was a big job to be sure and they seemed to me to be doing it right. I got a call that they had discovered an old septic tank when digging in the yard. They had accidentally damaged it with the backhoe while digging and because it was now structurally compromised, it would need to be collapsed and filled. Fine. Then they have the nerve to ask me to pay more for this additional work - another $800! I couldn't believe it. I told him no, after shelling out $8400 for 2 days of work on the sewer line, I didn't have any money left to pay for collapsing and filling the tank they had damaged. So he calls back later and tells me they are going to do it for "free" like they were doing me some huge favor. The job was done on time in just 2 days (I was able to use my water again after only one). All in all the job appeared to be done very well. They replaced the section of fence they had removed and seeded and strawed the trench they dug. A couple weeks later, after the straw started to desintegrate/pack down/blow away, I noticed that the area where they had filled in the old septic tank was very uneven. Now the yard was not perfectly flat to begin with, but this was much worse than before. I called Doug and told him. He said he would come look at at. After not hearing back, I called him again the next week. He said he saw it and a) it was not that bad and b) because this was the "free" part of the work, I could not expect it to be perfect and they couldn't justify coming back out to fix it. I finally got him to agree to just bring a pickup load of waste dirt from another project. That never happened, and that was the last I heard from Doug. I now will be hiring someone to come level my yard. This is not to say there ware not any positive aspects to my experience with ARS. Their responsivness (before payment), professionalism, punctuality and workmanship (save the uneven fill) were all good. They even laid out the leftover rock from the fill to form a basic driveway for me (something I really needed) so they didn't have to haul it away. This was all very nice, but unfortunatly the whole experience was tainted by the ultra high cost and the abandoning of the job after the check was recieved. The more folks I talked to about the job and the price I paid, the more I realized I was taken advantage of. I paid about double what I should have, and that's 4 grand I will never get back. For that reason, I would not use ARS again.

It took 9 months to have it installed correctly. They have sense had a complete turnover in their staff. Once everything was hooked up correctly, everything has been maintained well. They did give us an additional free year of service to make up for the difficulties we experienced in the beginning. They are very customer service minded and trying very hard to recover from the previous staff.

I contacted Home Depot to get a quote for the purchase and install of a new Central Air split-unit. Home Depot sent out a salesman from ARS, who said they were Home Depot's preferred contractor for HVAC services. I accepted their quote because I wanted the financing with no interest promotion offered by Home Depot, and I had favorable experiences with three previous (non-HVAC) installs purchased through Home Depot. The install was scheduled for June 7. I had been promised two install techs and told to expect a 6 to 7 hour install. One tech showed up, explaining that his partner was on vacation. After 11 hours, with 90+ degree temps inside the house, the installer left with the unit not working, stating a repair tech would have to come out in the morning to troubleshoot the issue. Additionally, my utility room door no longer had clearance to close. I had specifically explained to both the salesman and the install tech about the need to maintain clearance so that other appliances that sit in the back of the utility room could be removed if needed. Both told me the unit I purchased was smaller in size than the existing unit and that clearance would not be a problem. I asked the tech what happened to the clearance and he replied, "I don't know, I thought I took care of that." Instead of replacing the existing duct running from the unit to the main line in the attic, the install tech had reused the existing duct, pulling it a couple of inches down from the ceiling to meet the shorter unit. This resulted in a small insulation gap at the ceiling. The existing connector was also oversized for the smaller unit. The install tech tapped up the overlap. The next morning, a repair tech traced the problem to wires touching behind the thermostat, causing the outside unit to stick in heat mode. He also found the unit was 7 lbs. low on freon. The install tech was unavailable to explain the low freon level, so the tech conducted a leak test. He assured me that no leak was found, he had added the necessary freon, and the unit should cool my house down to 72 degrees (then at 86) within 3 or 4 hours. The unit had only cooled to 82 degrees by that evening. I called the 24/7 emergency service and was told that no tech would be available untl the following afternoon. I left complaints by voice mail for both the salesman and the local ARS office. The next morning, the local office told me the after-hours call service must have "misunderstood my issue." What is to misunderstand about needing emergency service because my air unit is not cooling? A tech was dispatched that morning. He found the unit still 1 lb. low on freon. He conducted another leak test and assured me that no leak was found. He claimed it was difficult to accurately charge the system in the heat of the summer. Contradicting the tech from the day before, he told me that it was "normal" for a house to take 12 hours to cool from 86 to 72. What he failed to acknowledge was the fact that it cooled to 82 degrees, then stayed there until the outside temperature dropped below 82 degrees late that night. By that afternoon, the temperature in the utility room and adjacent kitchen was again hitting 81 degrees and the unit was running non-stop. The next day, Friday (my day off), I called ARS to specifically request a repair tech be sent out that afternoon so he could witness the high temp issue. ARS said they did not consider that an emergency, and I would have to wait until Monday afternoon. This caused me to re-arrange my work schedule for the third time in a week. That weekend, having noticed a pattern in when and how the temps were rising, and reasoning that there must be something wrong with the ducts servicing those two rooms, I went into the attic. I immediately found a 2-foot section leading to the kitchen that had numerous holes, presumably from mice over the winter. I made a temporary repair with duct tape. On Monday, I contacted ARS and spoke to the install manager. I asked him if the install techs were supposed to inspect my existing air ducts, as promised by the salesman. He replied, "Yes." I told him what I had found, and provided a brief summary of the frustration I had experienced since the install, including a new discovery ...the new digital thermostat was more sensitive than the original non-digital model, and it was picking up the 81 degree utility room temp through the wall, instead of the 70 degree air entering the return vent directly below the thermostat. I asked if this could be moved to another wall. The install manager promised to come out with with two install techs to address all of my issues. We scheduled the visit for that Friday. On Friday, now 10 days post-install, the original install tech showed up, along with his partner. The install manger was a no-show. The techs had arrived without first calling with an arrival time as promised. They also claimed they were not sure why they had been sent back out, "something about a duct issue," and that I would have to "fill them in." The techs were hostile from the outset. They claimed the thermostat could not be moved due to code restrictions. I have since had three other HVAC companies tell me it could be moved to not one, but two other walls that are in the same path of return air. For the door clearance issue, they pushed and rocked the unit as if it might move back a few inches. It's taped to a stationary return air box that is flush with the wall. How is it supposed to move? They then explained that the unit, while smaller in overall size, was actually deeper than the original unit. They offered to have a contractor come out and move my water heater and pipes, which sit near the inside air unit, so that the unit could be turned sideways. They offered to have a contractor come out and shave two inches off the lower side of my door. I declined both offers, citing the impracticality of moving the pipes and the ugliness of a 2 inch gap at the bottom side of the door. I was also growing frustrated with what I perceived was a blatant attempt to treat me like an idiot for complaining about their work. The techs ignored the gap at the ceiling and the sloppy use of the oversized connector. The techs proceeded to the attic, promising to repair the damaged section and inspect the remaining duct system. While repairing the duct, I heard a loud crack. I rushed to the area of the air unit but did not immediately see anything wrong. The techs quickly exited the attic, saying they were done, and promptly left my home. It was then that I noticed a crack in my ceiling, directly under the area where the techs had been. The next day, I went up to the attic to put out mice bait. While returning from the far end of the attic, my flashlight illuminated a suspicious area on a duct leading to the bedroom. I inspected it and found several small leaks. My utility room and kitchen were also still heating up to 77 degrees, a 5-degree improvement, but still not acceptable. After further inspections, I made repairs myself to three other sections of duct, including additional leaks to the ducts running to both the utility room and the kitchen. Clearly, ARS had failed for the second time to inspect the existing duct system as promised. I also made repairs to the gap at the ceiling, which had been allowing 120 degree (afternoon) air from the attic to seep into the utility room. Upon reflection of the install experience to date, coupled with the hostile attitude of the install techs, I was fearful of allowing them back into my home to address these additional issues. I did call ARS to ask about my warranty and guarantee paperwork. They told me it took 30 days and I would receive them by mail. Around the 30-day mark, I called ARS to report that I had not received my paperwork. I was told that they could "only request the information," that it "came from a third party," and that they could not help me. I asked about the information I needed to file my rebates and they said that "only the salesman could provide that information" and I would have to contact him directly. I left a VM for the salesman, requesting the rebate inforrmation. Several days later, after no return call or message from the salesman, I sent him an E-mail with a read receipt. I promptly received the read receipt confirmation, but never a reply or phone call with the requested rebate information. On July 21, I submitted a complaint to both the ARS corporate offices in Memphis, and the Home Depot corporate offices in Atlanta. The next day, Scott Brinkley, general manager for ARS in Tennessee, called me. He said he lived about 20 minutes away and wanted to come by the next morning to address these issues in person. Michael Rahl, from Home Depot's customer care division, called me 30 minutes later. I informed him that Mr. Brinkley was coming out the next morning. Mr. Brinkely arrived Saturday morning. He called the work "sloppy, even ugly," but did not offer to do anything. He asked me what I wanted. I told him I feared letting his techs back in my home and that I would let him of the hook for the addtional repairs if I could just get my warranty and rebate information. By E-mail, July 27, Mr. Brinkley promised the information was being mailed to me, and that the salesman would contact me with the rebate information. A week later, I told Home Depot that I wanted the requested information by that Saturday or I would request a full refund per the ARS 2-year full refund guarantee if I am dissatisfied with the unit or their service. The information never came. I was told twice by Mr. Rahl that Home Depot would get me my refund. Today, Aug. 24, I was informed that neither Home Depot nor ARS would honor their 2-year refund guarantee, even though it is still being advertised on their website. I have also now received quotes from three other HVAC providers and discovered that ARS overcharged me by as much as $1000.

The service tech came out and looked at the drain. He then quoted me a price to roto root the drain that was quite high. Although taken aback I agreed since I needed to get it cleared up and did not have extra time to try someone else. He said the warranty was for 30 days and I had him write it on the receipt at the end. The tech did the job and cleared the drain using a motorized roto rooter - took about 30 - 40 minutes. I feel the $367 price tag was high to the point of gouging - my fault I didn't have to accept it but I needed to move on. If you call ARS Rooter for this type work be prepared to negotiate a decent price!

The service technician was punctual and performed routine service on the two HVAC units that appeared to be good. The thing that put me off was the aggressive selling tactics on expensive contracts and expensive services that I didn't want. The company advertised on their website a routine HVAC service call for $69. Seemed like a reasonable price to me and I asked them to come out and perform service on two units. However, this company apparently instructs their techs to be pushy in trying to sell extra services once they arrive. I found it irritating. If you deal with these guys be prepared for their sales pitch!

This experience has been terrible---from April 8, 2010 until today. I will never use these people again. The new company will honor the Goodman warranty on parts and whatever labor costs I incur will be worth not having to deal with ARS again. It took me 16 months to understand that ARS assumes they will get very little money from me in the next eight and one half years and will make my getting service as difficult as possible.

They are A all the way around. They are fast, very professional, and honest. It was a very good experience. They had everything installed in one day, including a gas line

The representative was polite and the final estimate was close to the one I eventually accepted but I was kind of put off by being given first a tremendously high estimate then having it cut in half. This seemed like a sales tactic to me, plus other "sales language" entered into the interaction. I just felt that either I was being "sold" or the outfit was not as knowledgeable as the one I went with.

While everything about the experience was good, I would shop around for price next time. No matter how good you are, $491 for 1/2 hour to inspect and clean a drain line seems excessive, especially in this area.

They were probably the most affordable and the most reasonable. They were probably 20% lower than their competitors. They were very honest and very respective. They were willing to work with me.

Went to Home Depot in April to have an evaluation done on the upstairs of my home as it's regularly 10+ degrees warmer than downstairs. They sent a technician out that very day to evaluate and gave an estimate. He was very nice and seemed knowledgeable. I told them I would call back in May to schedule when budget allowed; I was told it would be no problem, that anytime was fine. I called back three weeks later and nobody at the company could help me. After speaking with 4 different people who were entirely incapable of assisting me, I was told that a gentleman named "Kurt" (whom I now presume to simply not exist), would call me back to schedule the service. No call back. Next week, same runaround, no record or recollection of my first call...Kurt will call me back...ha! I call back again...evidently the guy who came out to my house to give me a quote had been fired, and because of the flood they have been slammed. OK, understandable, but a little contradictory...firing personnel when you're the busiest you've ever been? Right. So I'm waiting for the call...nothing. I call Home Depot, speak to the assistant manager; he's on it and will have them call me immediately. Nothing that day. I call Home Depot the next day and speak with Tim the store manager...he will talk to the head of ARS personally and have them schedule me a new service call...Lori from ARS calls me, but she can't schedule the service call, only the mysterious Kurt can...he'll call me..right. I call Lori back on Friday before Memorial Day...she assures me that Kurt will call me back on Tuesday...hmm...so busy that they take off for a holiday? Needless to say, Kurt doesn't call. I call Lori back Tuesday June 1...Kurt will call me later that day...nope. I call Home Depot back and speak with Tim the mgr again...John, the head guy at ARS (whom I incidentally have already spoken to 3 times over the three week period), calls me back a little later and assures me, after more flood workload excuses, that Kurt will call to schedule...nothing. So forget it. Here's what I THINK happened...the guy who came out to my house didn't try to up-sell me a new HVAC in his quote...maybe that's why he was fired? He seemed honest; he told me my system was adequate and that I just needed proper ventilation in my attic, and that ARS could do the job for under $1k, and that was my quote...$950 to put in a powered attic fan with a thermostat switch, side vents for airflow, and a seasonal manual damper system in the ductwork in the basement to direct a little more pressure upstairs in the summertime. Seems logical and reasonable...but evidently not worth the effort for ARS / Home Depot. The appropriate customer service is definitely not worth the effort at that price. I'm guessing if I were to get another tech to come out from them I'd get the typical up-sell on a separate pricey unit. Anyway, don't waste your time with ARS / Home Depot, especially if they tell you Kurt will call you back.

The were late due to number of appointments, but called and kept me up to date on when they would actually get there and apologized for delay. Checked both outside and inside for performance and showed me results.

They showed up when they were supposed to, performed services well and promptly, explained how our new filter should work, and left things in good condition.

We first contacted Home Depot about doing the work since we had an existing credit account and could pay for the new unit with their "Twelve Months Same As Cash" deal. We were then contacted by an ARS receptionist the same day to set up an appointment with Eric Binkley, ARS Installation Manager, who promptly came out to our house, assessed our needs, worked with us on price, gave us two good discounts, and arranged an installation date within three days. The men who installed the new unit arrived promptly on a very cold January morning, had the old unit disconnected and in their truck in no time, and had the new unit installed, up and running perfectly in a matter of a couple of hours. They even checked on our existing humidifier under the crawl space, determined it was not draining properly, and fixed it without charging us extra! They did not have a new filter for the humidifier on their truck so Eric said he would order one and bring it out after it came in and installl it himself. ARS offers the first year of maintenance servicing free of charge. Thereafter they offer a yearly maintenance agreement with their customers to come out to service the unit twice a year for a very reasonable annual maintenance fee.

Initially, they lost our appointment. After several phone calls and much confusion, they did make time in their schedule to hook up the sink on the day they were initially supposed to. The plumber was nice and professional, however, he hooked up the hot / cold backwards.

They were easy to work with and they kept their word. They are a big, mainstream type company, but they were still personable, professional, and punctual. I have no complaints. I did shop around some and they were competitive in terms of pricing. From start to finish, they were focused on our needs and followed through. They were reliable and I thought they were an excellent company to do business with.

Service Express came out promptly to fix the faucet on our shower. Overall, I would give them a B. I was satisfied and would recommend them.

ARS American Residential Service advertised a flat rate that they confirmed when I talked with them. Upon job completion the price was higher. The auger use is charged at an hourly rate which was not disclosed to me. I would not use them again.