Bob Oates Sewer Rooter & Plumbing LLC

First try didn't work out because the provider got an emergency call that put them behind schedule and I could not wait. We rescheduled for another day and the provider's rep (Jeremy?) arrived on time, was fast, professional and totally knew what he was doing. He gave me advice on how to prevent the roots from regrowing quickly, and I was back at work on time. It was a completely satisfying experience. I've since recommended this provider to others who need the same service.

Technician showed up on time and was professional. Walked me through what he planned to do and completed the work in a timely manner. Job took less than the quoted two hours but I was still charged for the two hours.

Guy kept "mentioning" $99 Angies List coupon. You are really not getting the full service sewer drain inspection. Asked for more $ to see further into the drain once an obstruction was found. Unhappy with his attitude and approach.

The appointment was scheduled for around 4:30 and they were supposed to call when they were leaving from my place. The plumber showed up at 5;30 without a call. Not great but it is the end of the day so I somewhat understand. He spend 10-15 minutes looking around under the sink and said it would cast approx $900 to install the inline 3 gallon hot water heater. Said that he would process the quote and that the office would call the next day - asking for my email address. That was Monday - it's now Saturday - never heard - guess they don't need or want my business. The feeling is mutual.

We had been trying to troubleshoot a leak from our bathroom to our garage. We had been having water drip down into the garage but couldn't figure out where it was coming from. We did everything we could think of and it kept leaking so we called Bob Oates. They sent someone to our house that day and he figured it out in minutes and had it fixed within the hour. Our bathtub had been improperly set and so the drain didn't have the proper fittings around it. The leak was only noticeable after we bathed (vs showered) so he fixed it without taking the tub out (thank goodness), reset the drain and our leak was gone. They didn't charge us any emergency call fees, they called me several times to let me know the technician was on the way, he was very friendly and professional and didn't waste any time solving our problem.

It was fine. They came out at the right time. He was pleasant guy. My memory is fuzzy to remember anything about the experience.

We recently had a leak in our second bathroom. After taking a shower, the kitchen was flooded and we weren't sure of the level of damage, or where the leak had occurred. We called Bob Oates to come out and find our leak. Mark, one of their plumbers, came out on October 27th and saw where the kitchen had flooded through the ceiling from the bathroom. Quite literally, his first action was to cut a large 2x2 hole in our ceiling. He didn't run the shower, didn't snake the pipes, just cut an opening. After he didn't see anything there, he took a look at the shower and couldn't find anything even after running the water. He handed my boyfriend an invoice for $225 and mentioned that there might be a gap between the tub and the floor and if we wanted to see if that was the problem, we could pour a cup of water down and see if that was it. Later that night, we did exactly that and lo and behold, we found the leak. I then called every day to try and get ahold of someone. I've spoken with Suzanne, who has repeatedly assured me she'd speak to the owner. I've spoken with the owner's daughter, who finally put me in touch with the plumbing manager, Rick. He came out on November 3rd, took photos of the damage and assured me he'd speak with the owner and get back to me. I've called them to find out what is happening and told them I felt they should refund the $225, or at least a partial refund, for finding nothing and causing around $1500 worth of damage in the process. It's now the 20th and I have yet to hear a word from them. I've since called MaxCare, who came out and fixed our ceiling as well as they could. My homeowners deductible is $1000 and the estimates for repair are around $1500. So $225 for a plumber who came out and put a hole in my ceiling without finding a leak and $1000 to fix the damage they caused. A company that is not communicative and doesn't follow through on their promises. By the way, we fixed the gap by the tub. We caulked it ourselves, since we wanted to be able to use that bathroom. Updated: 1/1/2015 - I was told by the senior plumber that I would be contacted. It never happened. I was assured, even after I called again, someone would call me back after he discussed it with the owner. Still to this day, no communication. If things go bad, don't expect a call from this company. Expect excuses. I can respect a man who "stands behind the work" - I do not respect a man who doesn't follow through on the promises of the people who work for him. Also, the plumber didn't determine the leak was due to waterproofing...we did. My boyfriend and I and a whole mess of towels after the plumber left and said, "you might check the floor by pouring a cup of water down the side." This is after he accepted our $225. No one thought to check that first?? Sloppy and thoughtless. Also the hole was not 12 inches. It was 2 feet wide by 2 feet long. I never expected this company to repair the sheet rock or tiling. We fixed the tub ourselves and paid for the sheetrock to be repaired. I expected a supposedly reputable company to follow through on promises that were made to me during a service. That didn't happen. I had an extremely poor customer service with this company and have yet to hear from the owner, as promised. The answer to this review was the first communication I've had from this man. Pathetic. A potential customer shouldn't expect anything different. Read the reviews and judge for yourself...if you have a poor customer experience or a problem, write a review. Clearly, it is the only way you'll ever hear from him.

I had an appointment scheduled for between 10am and Noon, at 12:15 I called to ask if the plumber was still coming. I was told they were running late, but on the way and should be at my location in 15-20 minutes. I called back at 1:00 (45 minutes later) to ask where the plumber was, and I was told the same thing "15 to 20 minutes away". At that point I canceled the service. I never received any sort of courtesy call to say the plumber was running late. The person I spoke to was considerate and polite, but couldn't give me any specific answer on when the plumber would be there and why they were late. I would hope that a 2hr appt window would be enough time to allow for any unforeseen problems at the job before mine, and at the very least I expect to receive a call to let me know that they would be late. I will not be using this company again, because they don't seem to value my time.

It was fine. They told us the access to the city was going to fail and that would be a difficult and expensive problem. I felt they were trying to alarm us. We had the CD they gave to us analyzed it and didn't get the work done. I suggested that the neighbors were attached to another side sewer illegally but they questioned it. But it was discovered that that was the case. I was put off by their manner. The work they did was very good. I would think twice about contacting them again.

They were great. They were very careful, clean, and personable. They were here when they said they would be. They got the job done quickly. They are our go-to plumbers now. They are close to my house.

It was average. It took them a long time to finish. It was very complicated. Two plumbers came out.

Everything was fine. I don't remember a bad experience.

It went fine (answered while driving). Here's a longer description of what the provider did. I had a couple of downspout drains that I was worried could be partially blocked. The drains are over 30 years old and constructed out of the old 4" cement pipe sections. The provider sent a video camera down the pipes and then called me out to view the pictures. You could clearly see the pipes had a considerable amount of dirt and debris in them and needed to be cleaned. We had a discussion about cleaning options - he said they did not recommend flushing these pipes from the downspout end as that tended to push the debris down the pipe until it was clogged. They could try clearing from the sewer end, pulling the debris a bit at a time. He also mentioned replacement as something we should consider given the age of the lines. Agreed I would talk to the manager at some point to get further advice about the options.

It was fine. They were very prompt and did a good job. The price was reasonable.

The faucet works great. It was going to be $200. He did everything he needed to do. I was pleased.

It was great. They were on time and knew what they were doing. One plumber came out.

It went very well. Initially things didn?t get hooked up appropriately and the ground was not at the correct level. I called them right back and then the next day they were out to fix it. I also used this company 09/2013 where installed a water heater in the same complex

I was very pleased. I chose Bob Oates for this particular task after reading the detailed reviews on Angies List. I had previously had some sewerline replacement upstream of this segment done by a different provider, and now wanted to make sure that this final run of my side-sewer remained in good shape. I had learned from that earlier project the importance of side-sewer maintenance, and wanted to find a service that I could trust to provide both expert analysis and skilled action if needed.After reading the reviews, I requested Konrad from the Bob Oates team, and he met and exceeded my expectations. Konrad arrived on time, clearly understood my issue, and was quite willing to have me watch his video screen as he worked. He clearly explained what he was seeing as he ran the camera down the line to determine the state of the line before cleaning. This was a stretch of 4-inch concrete piping original to the house, now about 60 years old. He found minor roots, used his cutting blade to cut them out, and then made a DVD of the finished clean pipe. He advised me about on-going things I can do to discourage re-growth. This was an Angie's List coupon job for $195, and I was pleased with the good value. I am especially pleased to have found a company where the owner personally reads and responds to customer reports on Angie's List. The owner is an active part of his team and is committed to providing quality service.

The first day that Bob Oates Plumbing was scheduled, the office called at 8:00am to say the plumber called in sick and can't come. That was unfortunate since I had taken time off work to be home. We rescheduled for the next day for 9:00am. NOT a 2-hour window, but 9:00am, she said. Half an hour later, no plumber, and no call. Not very professional. I had to call the office, and they looked on GPS to see that he was close by. When he finally showed up, there was no apology or even acknowledgement of being late. He said the regulator couldn't be installed without tearing down the whole tile work.Then he suggested replacing the internal worn part of the old regulator, a very small part that cost very little. He charged us $275 for approx. half an hour work. VERY expensive. Several days later, the office called and said the credit card didn't go through-- because the plumber transposed numbers. They are not organized or professional and way too expensive for what you get. Do yourself a favor and try a different company!

Very punctual and did the job as I hoped. Very nice and informative guy.

It was through Angie's List. I like them. They were responsive. The location is close. Their pricing is right. The technician was thorough. We had some confusion about scheduling but when they realized that there was a misunderstanding, they went ahead and sent somebody out.

They advertise they beat everyone's price by 10% and they did beat the second lowest quote I received; however, the job was not finished at that point. We suspected that beyond the point that they completed, the sewer line would probably need to be replaced, since there were two or three breaks in the first 10 ft from the house. We couldn't see beyond a collapse at the the 8-12 ft marker. However, the crew from Bob Oates did complete the first portion of the job. They dug a trench up to 6 ft deep, installed a clean-out, and replace the sewer line. The crew, however, did not show up on the second or third day. They accidentally went to another job site--the owner had the same first name and the house was in the same general area (U District). I was told before the job that I would receive updates throughout the day on the status of the job. I never received a single update. I had to call to ask where the crew was to find out they went to a different job site. I was given a quote for the second half of the job but this time they did not offer to beat anyone else's quote. So at that point, I decided to reassess, request other quotes, and I decided on another company.

Mark suggested taking the faucet apart to see if he could find the leak and tighten whatever necessary before replacing the faucet. This approach worked which was a cost and time savings. He very patiently answered all my questions and went the extra mile in terms of service.

They are very good. The service guy was friendly and efficient. It was everything that I could expect. The price was fair.

I had a large puddle appear in my basement laundry room. It seemed to be getting larger after I ran the dishwasher that morning. The company sent Rick out within a few hours. Rick was able to figure out that while I did have a loose pipe which he fixed, the real problem was a broken French drain where the downspout came down just outside the spot where the leak was happening. Rick helped my son put in place a temporary solution to reroute the downspout until I can get another professional in to repair the French drain. Rick was very nice, thorough and extremely professional. I'll definitely call Bob Oates the next time I need a plumber.