ARS / Rescue Rooter Seattle

It went well. Could not be shown the clog they found because camera would go black. Guessed it to be roots in the line directly under the concrete in the laundry room. After digging out the pipe and replacing a section they installed a clean out. Technician could not show me debris of the clog but did mention there was paper towels in the mess. Area was not properly cleaned. A very nice job on ensuring the clean out top would be damaged by appliances in the laundry room but cleaning was poor. Cementing job was very rough, uneven and seemed rushed. Once the emergency of the clog was complete the rest of the job of finishing a clean out, back fill, and total completion was delayed days due to other jobs. They did offer a way of financing the 5000.00 and that was very helpful. I would recommend them for their quick response to the emergency but would strongly recommend a watchful eye, question everything, and keep them on task for a completion of the job.

After looking at the problem, he told me there were two options. He said the best thing to do would be a pressure cleaning .... for nearly $500. Or he could cable it for over $300 (don't remember the exact cost quoted). I had a coupon for a drain cleaning special for $88. Well, he said, you don't have a "cleanout" so I have to charge twice that. I had seen that mentioned in the coupon's small print, but the only kind of "cleanout" I was familiar with was one on the outside of the house, and I knew I had that so hadn't thought it applied to me. Had I known that he was going to charge me 2x the price just to remove the p-trap and extension, I would have removed them myself before he arrived (mine are plastic piping & it takes about 30 seconds to remove them, I've done it several times in the last 2 days). I could understand an upcharge for metal that takes tools to loosen etc., but honestly? I almost told him to stand aside, I would do it myself, but whatever. He cleared the drain on the first try with the cable - said it usually takes several tries. Found a piece of saran wrap deep in the pipes. He said overall my pipes were in good shape. Sure am glad I didn't get sucked into that pressure cleaning. So overall the job got done efficiently, he came right in the middle of the 4-hour window, and I paid less than the full (quoted) price for the service. But I still felt like 1) his trying to upsell me to the pressure cleaning, and 2) getting charged twice the coupon price for an extra minute of work that I could have easily done myself, was a tad ridiculous. Forewarned is forearmed, I might use them in the future for something similar - but would not use them for a bigger job, I'd be afraid that there would be all sorts of unexpected upcharges. I should also mention that when I originally called to schedule, the call center gal claimed the latest window she could offer me was 4-8pm. I cannot get home before 6pm, and said so, and said hey you're supposed to be a 24/7 service what gives? but she insisted - even after talking to her manager (she claimed) that that was the best she could do. When I spoke with the manager myself, suddenly they could schedule at any time (though the 4-hour window is a little hard to work with, their main competitors also with an RR offer 2-hour windows). So don't believe what the call center folks tell you necessarily.

The service was excellent. The service technician, Chad, was experienced, knowledgeable, and gave us options. I was very comfortable with him and everything went great.

They did a great job. Very quick to come out and very quick to get a new one to me. I like their professionalism.

Okay. I have been satisfied with them. Prompt and really courteous. Knew what they were doing.

I think it's okay. It was quite costly. When you have a leak you never know what's really going on.

Had a clog in the toilet. They came and removed it. The service technicians were friendly and knowledgeable and quick.

This was a life-changingly bad experience, which has ended with me short-selling my house of 8 years. My story is here: http://rescuerooterreviews.com/

It was supposed to be a two day job, and it took over a month. They would make appointments, and not show or call. They left a huge mess as well. It took way too long to finish this work.

Contractor showed up on time for camera inspection of line. The inspection indicated root intrusion into pipe under finished basement floor. Discussed options with plumber who was courteous and knowledgable and agreed to liner install as the preferable solution to the problem, got written estimate and everything was ok to this point. The technician showed up the following day to prepare for the liner installation by cleaning out the roots using a high pressure sewer jet. He was alone and arrived late, I specifically asked about how he intended to keep the jet from causing flush water to flow up through drains in the house he indicated he had materials and was experienced in making sure that it wouldn't be a problem. While upstairs I heard him working the line and then suddenly heard rushing water. I ran downstairs into the bathroom and there was about an inch of water on the floor and the tech was still outside running the machine, I went out and advised him there was a flooding problem and he went up and shut down the machine and grabbed a wet vac and removed the flush water. I went back upstairs as he removed the water and after awhile I heard the jetting resume. He finished work with the high pressure machine and told me the liner crew was running late and would not arrive until about 7pm (originally scheduled for 1pm then moved to 4pm). Liner crew arrived a little after 7pm and were courteous and efficient, they finished at about 9pm. I did receive a call from their business asking if I was satisfied and I told them no and why I was not a happy customer. Beside the fact that the price paid should have bought premium service, which I don't feel was provided, the specific problems with this contractor were. 1. The clean up after flooding of bathroom and bathroom fixtures was minimally performed, leaving me with about 3 hours worth of clean up time after they left. 2. They always showed up but seemed to have difficulty being on time. 3. I asked several times if I would get copies of pre and post project videos of pipeline and was assured I would get them, but have received nothing to date.

They are our go-to plumbers! We have been using them for three years. We signed up for a maintenance plan. They come out almost immediately when we call. They are polite and go out of their way to make sure things are good. While they are here they look at other things too to make sure everything is good. They don't just rush in and rush out.

My neighbor and I share a Sewer line in my driveway. The break was at the deepest part of the drive, 12 ft. down and it was dumping sewage into my neighbor's down stairs toilet. This was discovered at 5PM in the afternoon. The neighbors called another plumber but they could not start the repair until the next morning. I asked for a second opinion and Rescue Rooter was called. They came right out and even matched price etc. so my neighbors did not have to pay and extra service charge. They do not charge for evaluation of your problem. They started that evening and had a temporary connect done so we could use the toilets and water by 4AM. You have not lived until you have a backhoe in your drive at 2 AM and it is pouring rain. They worked all night and had the permanent repair done the following afternoon. They also inspected the total line from our houses for more roots. They also inspected the line from and break to the city hookup (yes, you are responsible for that too) and we elected to have it coated with a silicon sleeve after they ground the roots out. It creates a new lining for your sewer pipe. After all was done and the inspector came and approved all the work the hole was refilled and they came the next day with a load of gravel (no charge) to help with the ground settle. All members of the Rescue Rooter team were knowledgeable and very polite. I would use them again, in fact I did when I needed a toilet repair. They not only repaired my toilet but checked water pressure etc.

No proplems worked quickley and was very helpful.

The price was reasonable and the explained things very well.

2:30 A.M, one of the toilets is clogged and I can't get it cleared. After insisting on an upfront price quote, we agreed on the service and that they would send someone out first thing that morning. Max came out and cleared the toilet. Though he didn't see anything unusual or reason why the clog, he made some good suggestions. Everything was fine until two weeks later when the toilet clogged again and we could not get it cleared. My wife called them and they came out again within two hours. Two techs this time, they cleared the toilet, changed the wax ring, replaced the floor bolts and checked the rest of the house with a fine tooth comb and made some suggestions. There was NO charge for the second trip where they spent 6 man-hours to make the job right. Within the hour, their customer service called to make sure all was okay. We would highly recommend and use them again. Very happy.

Initial team performed a camera line inspection for drainage in back yard. At no extra cost checked sewage drain pipe and found a crack. Team lead/supervisor came in to re-run the camera line and locate the break. All of this went fine and as planned. However afterwards, we were given a bid for the work to repair. The job was priced at between $7000-$10000 -- well over $100 per foot of line. Sought bids from two other companies for equivalent service. Both bids came under $2000 and one was from an Angie's List A-rated service. I used one of these alternates services after checking references and am satisfied with the results. Bottom line for rating: -B for most categories as they did the inspection work as planned - B for cost of line inspection - D for professionalism due to upselling to a costly repair at 200% more than competition.

I marked Rescue Rooter Seattle - 9226 so I wouldn't use them again. I was very unhappy with them. They were very expensive. They charged for a sink trap at an extra USD 125, I would not recommend them at all. That is not all that they charge, that was an extra charge that they added to clearing a drain. They didn't guarantee their work and it clogged back up a month or so later. When I complained about the bill being to be too high, they didn't respond to it. The work wasn't satisfactory and it was overpriced.

We initially called at 5:30 pm on a Wednesday night because the washing machine backed up into the bathtub and toilet began to bubble. They came quickly (within 90 minutes) as promised. Technician Daniel and project coordinator Aaron both arrived and assessed the situation: we didn't have a clean out so they would need to pull the toilet, cable (snake) the line and use a scope to check for problems/damage. The initial estimate was $480. When they did all this they found a large root ball in the line just outside the house and a break in the line maybe 40 or 50 feet down. Aaron offered a few options: A. we could have them stop after cabling the line for the $480; B. fix the cause of the blockage by having the root ball removed and that part of the line replaced for about $3500; or C. take care of all problems (root ball and fixing downstream break) by having them replace the root ball section of pipe and line the 4" side sewer downstream 50 feet for $8300. Although Aaron advocated for option C, we chose option B (with the knowledge that we'll need to get other estimates and deal with the other break later on). Daniel came back the next morning and dug out about 5 feet of line from where it left the house. He replaced that section of line because the original builder of the house had used several ball joints to complete a 90 degree turn in the line instead of having one solid curved piece of pipe, which allowed roots to get in between the ball joints. However Daniel discovered that there was a problem with the angle of the pipe so that the pipe had to go slightly upward to connect with the downstream part of the sewer line. This wouldn't pass the permit inspection so something needed to be done. We would need to take out a concrete pad and dig another 5' of line in hopes of finding a part that was lower in elevation than the part coming out of the house. Aaron recommended going back to the original option C for an additional $4300. We had to ask about a second option of just digging out the additional 5' of line for $1750. We chose to do the cheaper option. Daniel came back again, removed the concrete slab and dug out the pipe to discover that the elevation issue was still there. After talking with Aaron, they said they would need to change the elevation of the pipe coming out of the house. Aaron called in another plumber to go into the crawl space and replace the pipe to make that change. They then made some adjustments to the pipe Daniel had installed. This passed inspection on Tuesday morning and they refilled the trench. Rescue Rooter also had someone replace the concrete pad they'd removed to do the work. All of this work was done without additional charge. In the end we spent about $5600 for the repairs. Although we felt like Aaron was a bit focused on upselling Option C and we had to ask about other options, he was fine with our decision not to do that. Everyone we worked with was friendly and professional.

Benjamin arrived within the window promised and went immediately to work. After a thorough inspection of my system, he went into specific detail as to what was wrong and what was needed to repair it. He removed the leaking piece of piping and went down to Home Depot himself to get the exact parts needed. He replaced the leaky pipe with like-for-like parts, pressure/leak checked the repair and verified with both myself and my S.O. that there were no leaks. He then thoroughly snaked the kitchen drain, bathroom sink drain and bathtub, taking everything completely apart and putting it all back together again to make sure it was all done right the first time. He thoroughly cleaned up after himself, making sure there was no dirt and debris left to deal with. Admittedly, it took a little longer than I expected, but considering the quality of work and professionalism, this was not a problem, and I would not hesitate to use his company again.

It worked out great. They were very knowledgable and fast to respond.

They were greatly overpriced on the toilet so we didn't go with them for that. The guy told us a lot of things that we learned were subsequently untrue. Because of that it really impacted our decision and we ended up spending more money than we wanted to. Fortunately it wasn't with them. Specifically we had a toilet that the float had broken on; he told us that it was too old to be repaired so we ended up ordering a new toilet. He quoted us upwards of $800. We ended up getting it ordered and installed for less than $400. When the guy installed it, he said that we could have fixed it and that we just needed a new float tower. Clearly the guy was trying to scrape up additional business at our expense.

What I liked about them, is they came out and did an inspection and determined no work needed done. They did not charge me for the inspection, and for that I will hire them when I need a service completed.

They are honest and efficient in doing what needs to be done and not going overboard. They looked over the entire house and we only needed one thing done. They were good about doing what they did do and doing it on time.

I very much respected the young man who came out and sized up the job. I though he was very creditable. Then he had to turn it over to his supervisor. I lost respect for the company, because the supervisor came in at a very high price compared to what I got it done at. When I told him that they weren't competitive, he immediately took a $1000 off; all he had to do was go out to his truck and come back 5 minutes later. So I felt like they weren't charging me according to the work and the material cost. They were just charging me; maybe I would be ignorant enough and I would just pay it. I thought that they were talking advantage of me; I was not happy with them. I was very happy with the young man who did the assessment of the work, but not happy with the company when they quoted a price that was almost twice as much as what I got it done for. They left me with the impression that they were trying to take advantage of my ignorance. They were responsive and punctual. The supervisor tarnished the company's name, so I thought that was unprofessional. I would say that the supervisor failed in his job, but the plumber himself excelled in his work. I would not use them again in the future.

Around noon on a holiday, during a snow storm, our septic system backed up causing raw sewage to spill out of a toilet all over my laundry room. My regular plumber wasn't able to get out as he was busy and our septic company determined it was most likely a clog between the tank and our home. Both suggested a call a roto rooter company. The first company I called (Roto Rooter) never showed up and, when I called them to find out why, I was told they had me scheduled for Friday (5 days from then!). So I called Rescue Rooter. The call was answered promptly and I discussed the problem I was having quite thoroughly. Specifically discussed that we were on septic. They assured me someone would be out in approximately two hours. The technician showed up timely and then expresses surprise that we are on a septic system, instead believing us to be on city sewer. He then explains that, because we are on a septic system, he needs a camera, which he doesn't have on him. It is with another tech. Then he whips out a brochure about their "maintenance plan" that I can purchase that can go towards reducing the cost of this service. It felt very slick and slimy. Now he explains that because we are on a septic system, he needs to snake from the septic tank towards the house. This will require digging up the tank lid which he explains has a minimum charge of $656!!!!! Excuse me? My tank lid lies a few inches below the sod and I explain it will take me less than 20 minutes to dig up the darn thing up. I expressed my outrage at the obscene charge and was told it was a set price and was good up to 1 foot of digging. Then he tells me "that's why we like to have the tank lid exposed when we show up." Excuse me?! Why wasn't I told that when I called for service in the first place as it was VERY CLEAR that I was on septic?! He also informed me that it would cost $396 to snake the line "even if the clog was right at the tank or 60' in." At this point I was pretty furious. I refused to pay the $656 and, instead, grabbed a shovel and went out in the snow in the dark and dug up my own tank lid while he watched. I get the lid off and then he tells me "it's the wrong tank." So I start digging to find the other tank lid. Having trouble finding this one and he starts helping me dig. Then my husband shows up and he starts digging. About this time the technician says he will need to start charging us or he'll have to leave. I tell him to go ahead and leave and I'll call when we have the tank exposed. I also tell him to have his boss call me if he gets any grief for not being paid anything because I'll be happy to explain how furious I am at the ridiculous, obscene charge for digging up my septic lid. And how outrageous it was that I wasn't told this when I first called for service. Anyway, he leaves, we uncover the lid, pull it off and discover the clog is right at the tank. Poked the clog with a stick and the clog breaks up, problem solved. Saved ourselves over $1,000. I found this company to be like dealing with a slick, slimy used car salesman. Never again. Update July 10th 2012: Just saw the response from the company regarding my report. Just wanted to point out that I was NEVER contacted by anyone at the company regarding my complaints and would have returned calls to them if I had. I'd have been more than happy to discuss my experience with them.