Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Water Cleanup

NOTE: This review is for the Round Rock location. We don't know why it put San Antonio, and we can't change it. The sewer was backing up in our office, so we called about 3:00pm and they said they would be out within two hours. They arrived a little before 5pm, two men, and cleared the drain promptly. They also scoped the drain with their camera and found an open joint about 40-ft down the line. This was great information for us. The workmen were neat, courteous and efficient. They were onsite for no more than 45-minutes total. The bill was $597. Unfortunately, the staff member who requested the service was not in the office at the time of service, and the staff who were there did not know the charge was too high. When we called their office, we were told the charge was by the job, not by the hour; and that they had to use the special, more costly (though obviously quick and easy) jet method.... They said the charge would have been the same whether it took them one hour or six hours....They also said "we get a lot of calls from customers who don't understand our pricing..." No kidding. We were just glad we had the $40 coupon.... UPDATE: After some discussion, the local office did refund us $150 off the final price, bringing the cost of the drain cleaning and locating the leak to $400. We feel that is still somewhat excessive, but they did concede a little.

Please read above. I would highly recommend not using roto rooter for your plumbing needs.

UPDATE 11/19/14: I received a call from the manager (Jim) regarding this experience with his company. He apologized and told me that the plumber's understanding of the price was not accurate and, unfortunately, he misinformed me. Any hourly charge from Roto-Rooter would always include repair and Roto-rooter strives to be competitive and reasonable with pricing. This information is consistent with my past experiences with Roto-rooter. I appreciate that this company takes customer concerns seriously and monitors ratings/feedbacks in an effort to provide better service. Thank you, Jim, for the call! As I said over the phone, I am will give Roto-rooter another chance in the future. After assessing my yard (I had a slow water leak in the front, close to the water meter), the plumber tells me he will charge $150 an hour to locate the source of the leak. Because digging is involved, he says it will take at least 2 hours, maybe 4 hours. He also informs me that price WILL NOT include repair of the leak. So, I'm looking at $300-$600 just to locate the leak, no repairs involved. I tell the plumber that the price seems a little high and I'm going to get bids from other companies. At that point, he tells me he'll charge me a flat rate of $600 to locate and repair the leak - as long as the leak is close to the meter. If the leak happened to be farther up the line, he would not honor the flat rate price. I appreciate that digging in the ground is a ton of work and no one (not even plumbers) like to engage in that kind of labor. But I felt like I was being price gouged and/or that the plumber just didn't want to do the work. I ended up hiring another company (A rated from Angie's List) who sent 2 guys out. The guys jumped right out of the truck, pumped out the water from the meter, started digging to locate the leak (it was a cracked PVC pipe right at the meter) - in about an hour they had completed the job, cleaned up everything and charged me $156.00 total. I'm very disappointed in this experience with Roto-Rooter. I took time off work to meet the plumber and I just feel my time was wasted. I had used them before, which is why I called for this job, but I won't use them again.

This is the second time i have used Roto Rooter for plumbing services. Both times have been extremely positive. While nobody wants to deal with plumbing issues, Roto Rooter and their team in San Antonio provide extremely professional and quality services. This week we had Randell Nunn. He explained the process and was very efficient. In addition, he was very friendly towards our pet dog. Assuming the prices continue to be reasonable, we will always use Roto Rooter for our plumbing issues. Thanks!

Had a water spot on our ceiling in the dining room. The repairman said he needed to cut a hole in the ceiling to find it, did so, and found the leak right away - it was directly under the toilet in our upstairs bathroom. Just needed a new wax ring and the problem was fixed! They (Roto-Rooter) showed up on time, diagnosed the problem quickly, were open and honest about the plan and repair, and stuck to what they said they needed to do. Would DEFINITELY hire again!!!

I would use Roto - Rooter again when I need a plumber. I called in my request at 5pm, was told a plumber would be at my house within an hour. Del arrived at 5:35pm.He even had shoe covers over his work shoes when he entered the house! He was very polite, professional and helpful. I am extremely pleased with the service I received.

The work was completed in a very timely manner. Jeffrey installed the new disposal that I purchased at Home Depot. He was quick and efficient and explained what he was doing. He was very neat and polite. I would use Roto Rooter again.

It went very well. The Plumber was very nice and professional.

Job was completed in one hour, service rep was very professional, I agreed to his quote and the work was performed. Quote was over 300.00, After wards I complained in a local survey that it was extremely expensive for an hours work. The local office gave us a $150.00 credit and said we were charged commercial rates. I will probably use them again but really question the price prior to any work being completed, I suggest anyone locally that uses them to do the same.

The plumber, Kenney Freabe, was very professional and provided excellent feedback.

When Roto Rooter first came to my home it was my understanding that the AC drain had been cleared as it was what was causing my bathroom sink to be clogged. I was shown the sludge from the AC drain and was told there was a 6 month warranty on work. We subsequently began having other leaking issues in the home and when we had an inspection were told it was due to the same AC drain issues. We were advised to have Roto Rooter to come out and recheck line and clear it since they had worked on the issue previously. Again, they came out and performed work and we were not billed as it was covered under that warranty. Yesterday our AC thermostat was not working (which means no AC) and when we called CPS tech support were told that it's a fail safe (??) mode that is tripped when the AC line is not draining correctly. I won't lie, my husband spoke to CPS energy so I don't know specifics other than it's the AC drain again. We called Roto Rooter to see if this was again covered by that warranty. We were told yes and they came out today. Today the technician was now telling me he would have to charge me for fixing the problem. I asked him if it was not covered and he said no as it's a different issue. I reminded him they have done this two times now and he said it was a courtesy they did it at all. Some sort of strange technicality because the fact I originally called about a clogged bathroom sink (this was my first call about a month ago). Even though I have in writing the problem was AC drain, that they have cleared that drain twice now, they are now claiming it's a separate issue. Now, I could deal with that by just refusing to do service with them again as I feel misled. If it was indeed a "courtesy" before why was I not told that was the case? As well as the fact that I had in writing (my word isn't enough, I understand) the issue the very first time was the AC drain. If that was the only problem that they were not honoring their original warranty, I could be fine with moving on to another company. However, in the process of trying to figure out the issue today (before they tell me they will charge me for work) they begin performing some checks and asked for a pitcher so they could pour water through the line to check it out. They are upstairs in attic working on the issue and I see my downstairs thermostat now turn off. I wait a bit as I am thinking it'll turn back on as they're still working on it. The technician then comes down & informs me they will charge me to fix issue. I show him what he's just done and he tries fiddling with thermostat. I tell him that's not the issue, it's that fail safe mode connected to the line he was just working on. He says he can fix it but he'll charge me. He just tripped my 2nd thermostat and now I have no air in my house. I call and speak with the manager, Jim, and he tries telling me the same thing Joe just told me. He's being very dismissive of me and generally just rude. I tell him at the very least I need Joe to fix what he just broke. He advises me to have Joe fix the problem and he'll deal with it later. I told him Joe's trying to charge me to fix what he just broke. He stops talking at this point. Unfortunately I had to throw the two technicians out of my home. I have never done this before in my life. I've had work done in my home by many different professionals over my lifetime and I've never come up on this. At this moment I am now sitting with no air in my house due to this AC drain problem. As I mentioned before, even with the technicality with the first call, I could deal with moving on to another company. But the fact that Roto Rooter has now come into my home and caused my 2nd thermostat to not work because of some weird fail safe and not do anything to fix THAT issue is troubling. Jim the manager was dismissive and rude and was of absolutely no help. I've never had problems with them before but after seeing the way they handled this situation I will never do business with them. Joe the technician would not fix a problem he caused (incompetent at best) and Jim the manager was of no help.

Great and helpful technician.

nightmare Plumbing company .. Other companies who bid job want to charge to remove his auger line before they will make repairs. Roto Rooter sent out another tech who says he can make repairs for $750 and without charging me for the removal of their auger cable.......

Can't rate them on their service unless they show up.

What we thought was a simple clean out turned out to be more than what it was. Technician David Hohensee came within 1 hour of the phone call on Saturday morning. He immediately ran a camera through all of our pipes and ran into roots. Well, while running the camera through one of the outside pipes, he noticed the pipe was broken and full of roots as well. He showed us the view from the camera and there it was. Before any work was started he explained everything to us and the cost. The cost seemed a bit steep but for all that he did and the end result, it was all worth it. David had to dig to get to the broken pipe and repair it. And when he repaired the broken pipe, he came and got us to see the end result before burying it. He again checked to be sure that everything was running good. He was here most of the day (5 1/2 hours). He was very professional and courteous and seemed to be on a mission. Every time he came in the house he put on shoe covers. Who does that? I was super impressed. He also gave us some bottles of gunk remover as a monthly maintenance for our pipes. We couldn't be more satisfied with all the work that he did. It was worth the price. Thank you David. And Thank you Angie's List!

The first time we had a very good experience. It's really nice and helpful. The first guy did one of those things where they put a camera in the piping so they could see if there was a blockage and then the socket we had didn't work. He told us the problem would probably persist unless we had the pipes replaced. My husband called again and that guy came and he just pushed those things, just push it through. He didn't use the camera. That's how he did and he charged us actually more than the first guy who did that and then he used the camera just to see if that was all cleared up. The second time was the day after he was on our house. We already knew the first guy had a problem with those pipes. My husband dug it up and there was actually a huge ball in the middle of that pipe that obviously, that guy never got out. I told him he should call them. First of all, why would it cost more when he didn't even do half the stuffs the other guy did. Second of all, it was the very next day but my husband was disappointed. I would not use them again in the future. They charged us a lot more money than the first time we used them and they didn't effectively fix the situation. The first the company knew of this was when I left this review and they've refunded the money for that service. I feel like it's fair to say that they made it right and that Jim would've made it right if we contacted them before.

I had a clogged drain that is actually a reoccurring problem that I can usually take care of myself. I was not able to this time. Apparently this drain is somehow connected to my AC drain and the two were starting to affect each other. I had a leaking AC unit due to the back up because it was draining into my sink drain. The sludge buildup was what was causing the slow drain. The technician was able to clean out all the sludge and flush it clean. Came out within an hour of me calling and was very helpful in explaining what was causing the backup.

I was going to do a complete remodel in my hall bathroom. I had a shower and a tub with a shower and what I was going to do was rip the shower and tub out and make a big shower. What I wound up doing was redoing the plumbing in the shower and we never used the tub so it was being used as a cat box and the sand got into the drain and clogged it completely up. I was getting them to clean that out and I waned them to change the hose at the bottom of the tub that pretty much corroded. I bought a piece and another company told me it was the wrong piece and that it wouldn't work. The guy that came out from Roter Rooter was excellent. He told me that the drain plug that I bought was the right piece and he fixed it up, changed the faucets in the shower and that was it. It costed me $2000 for everything that he did and he was excellent in every way.

So after waiting for for 5 hrs. The guy gets here and tells me it's going to cost $265 dollars to install the faucet (confident that it would take less than an hour), I told him thanks but no thanks. He asks if a $40 coupon would help - I said no. I will get a handy man to install it.

Very pleased with everything The job in front of me ran long but they called to update me and it was no problem.

He made it look easy!!! Very professional and came on time!!!

I was not happy with them at all. They told me that that would be an additional charge and the coupon price would not cover that expense. I told my wife and she told them don't worry about it and she mentioned to them a leak from my water heater and he fixed that but I don't believe that little leak fix was worth the $300 that I paid them. I would be cautious of what you're getting for the service they're offering. Others need to know what they need done and what the typical cost is to get it done. Because to replace a faucet and fix a leak couldn't cost $300. They had the option to come to me and tell me the cost is going to be more or we can't do this for that amount. They have every right to adjust their pricing but the hard part is not knowing up front before they come out what the cost of the service would be. If I had known that replacing the faucet would eventually cost more than $300 I would never have bought the coupon. That's probably on me because I should have called in advanced but I was assuming that replacing a faucet wouldn't be $300.

The initial call said they would come do a free estimate, but would be able to come out that afternoon. When they arrived, i was told the would have to run a test on the water heater to indicate which element was out and that would be around $100, so the estimate was not free, but the price was rolled into the service when I decided to have it done. The tech was knowledgeable and worked quickly and worked with me on the price, giving me the best possible price for the service. Overall I was happy with the service.

He was great! I hovered over the guy the whole time and he answered all of my unknowledgeable plumbing questions. He was super knowledgeable and patient. He even tried to see if the issue was inside the walls to see if we could get our warranty to cover it...sadly no. I bought a deal from Angie's List and it was completely worth it!

They recommended a toilet replacement but I didn't proceed with that offer.