Bob Oates Sewer Rooter & Plumbing LLC

We have a consistent problem with the sewer backing up for the north half of our condo building. Original clean-out was inside a ground-floor unit. They suggested and implemented the installation of an exterior clean-out port and are now able to service our building as needed without the unit owner being present.

We had a very bad experience with him. We spent $275 to have him come and look at the situation. We spent money with him for nothing and he never followed through. We would absolutely never call him again.

The technician arrived on time to do the work, and let me watch the "filming" over his shoulder. He pointed out items of interest and was good at explaining what we saw. He also did a great job at letting me know what other services were available, without making it seem pressured at all. I did end up spending a little extra money to get a digital copy of the filming, and also asked for an estimate for cleaning and future repair. While I won't need to use those items immediately, it's nice to have them for the future!

The repairs went well. The proposal we received clearly showed what would be done and why. Despite our being overseas in Europe we managed to coordinate with Rob at Bob Oates to make the arrangements. We felt confident, even if thousands of miles away, the work would be done well, and it was.

I called them and got the problem repaired in the same day! They were wonderful! I would recommend him highly. I was very pleased. They told me that the Toto had a lifetime warranty. I was happy to pay the labor—which was half of what I had been quoted by another company.

Our sewer became closed off by roots. All the rain from our downspouts could not go through so was coming into our house through the basement shower. We had bailed and carried pails outside for two hours when Konrad showed up and cleared the problem within minutes, then cleared the whole drain so it wouldn't come back any time soon. We would definitely use this service again. It is a family owned and responsible business.

Our basement toilets and showers were all backed up, so I called Bob Oates Sewer Rooter & Plumbing last evening. They didn't have anyone who could make that evening because they were busy at a hospital so I said they could come in the morning. John was very friendly and got right to work about 8:30am. He scoped the sewer to confirm there was a blockage, then roto rooted the sewer, finding roots about 128 feet. The sewer was clear, and John recommended a scour jet of the main line which we'll probably do if the neighbor's agree.

They were incredibly responsive. From the time I called to the truck pulling in the driveway was less than two hours. He knew the issue quickly, ran his camera and found the problem in less than an hour. I was at work and my wife was running out the door. He handled the situation very respectfully and professionally. Knowledgeable, responsive, professional.

Called them on a Saturday. Several other highly rated plumbing services don't work on Saturday. They said they'd be out in an hour, and they were. I thought I had a main drain issue, but Mark looked at it, and then looked at my individual drains. turns out my bathtub was backing some other things up. He cleared that up, and everything is now flowing great. Cost me a bit less than originally quoted too. Fantastic service. Fantastic Value

Purchased a Groupon for toilet. Called to get information on the model number, but office personnel didn't know. Service rep was prompt in showing up. I understand their reasoning for trying to up sell product when they get here; but thought his presentation could have been a little more professional. In the end I was given the wrong information but was able to straighten it out with the owner.

Service man arrived gave me an estimate and after requesting the Angies List discount I gave him the approval to proceed. He spent an hour cleaning the drain successfully. Happy with the effort and results.

Bob Oates was professional and did great work. I called on Monday 12/3/12 to try to schedule an appointment as soon as possible (before the holidays) and Bob Oates was willing to send someone out the same day. I was not prepared for such prompt service so scheduled it for the next day. On the day of the appointment, their office called to remind me of the appointment and to confirm that their person was coming. They provided me his name. He came as promised and installed my toilet in half the time they estimated. He cleaned up after he finished and asked if I needed anything else. He was courteous and I am very pleased with his work.

How did the job go...terrible. We still have a leaking tank and are out $77. How this company comes up with an A rating on Angies List is unbelievable. I picked this plumbing solely on the Angies List reviews. Update 2/27: Bob Oates plumbing did show up at my office, I do have an invoice from him and for the exact charges that I described in my initial review. I am glad Bob Oates agrees with my initial review, that his "charges for a simple toilet fix were ridiculous." I will be contacting Bob Oates personally so we can receive our $77 returned to us. FYI for all you Angie's List readers, we had another plumber fix our toilet for $40.

They came quickly and I was happy with their quality of work, however, after they installed my toilet sound like it leaks, the sound comes every few minutes. I called them, but got no response. I'll have my brother in law check it out since I haven't heard from Bob Oates.

It was a coupon special. The only concern I had was initially when I secured the appointment, I gave them information to bill the $99 on a credit card. Before the plumber left and after he had completed the work, he asked me for the same information so I was kind of puzzled and assume they haven't double billed me. There might be some communication gap in their company. Overall my impression was that they were professional and prompt. They gave a fair assessment on what I had to deal with.

Great. Plumber arrived at scheduled time , was competent and there were no addons.

The plumber (Mark) was on time and performed the work in a reasonable time frame and was professional, considerate and courteous. He provided an estimate for the additional installations and stood by it. He ran into a minor problem with the water line to the water heater -- he informed me of the problem, then went to Home Depot to pick up the materials needed to resolve the problem. He cleaned up after each service was performed. Overall, this was a very positive experience, and I'm glad I was able to get my 13 year old water heater replaced at a most reasonable cost.

The plumber showed up one week early for the appointment. I give them positive points for showing up right on time as far as the clock goes, even though a week early. They should have called ahead, though, to confirm they were coming and then I could have told them that they were off by one week. In any case, I let the work proceed since I didn't have to be there for the actual job - and I left for work. They called me within an hour or two to tell me that they had encountered roots and couldn't break through with their mechanical blade. I was told that they would need to get their high pressure water-jet cleaning equipment and that it would cost $900 for two hours and some ridiculous amount per hour after that. Since it didn't occur to me right away to call around for competitive pricing I said go ahead. The Oates estimator also started talking to me about needing major sewer line repair work done and what my options would be. They also told me that I would need to tear down my fence arbor (built by me last summer) and part of my fence. The cost of the job was estimated to be somewhere between 8-13 thousand dollars. At that point I started realizing that I would need to get estimates from some other companies and that I should do so immediately, including the initial line clearing. So I called O'Neill and Best and (without saying what Oates was asking for the hydro-jet job) one of them quoted me less than half the price for the same job. I called Oates back and said forget it, I'll have someone else do the work. They left me a DVD with two minutes of video. This morning I had one of the other plumbing companies come out to clean out the line and they were able to clear it without any problem using only their mechanical blade equipment. Their assessment of the line is that it is in pretty good shape, the roots that were coming in were not a cause for major concern since it had taken seven years for them to grow in to this point, and that I should have the line scoped and cleaned again in another year or two to see how quickly the problem is actually progressing. In effect, all I got from the Angie's List deal with Oates was two minutes of video and a little under a week of great anxiety. I would have rated this a total failure but Oates was professional and friendly and they did attempt to clean the line and they did provide a video.

I've used them off and on for a few years. They do a great job.

Our order date was October 22, 2012. We had no issues with scheduling, they were supposed to come today but we got a call this morning to tell us that they don’t service our area and to call Angie's List for a refund. It was really frustrating because they waited until the last minute to call me and I took the day off to be home while they did the work.

They did a great job and gave us a killer deal.

Mark, the technician in charge and his assistant could not have been more careful, polite or respectful They arrived on schedule and we were called just before they arrived. They vacuumed the area before and after the new toilet installations and took away the old ones. No fuss, no muss for us. They did a very high quality job of installing and checking things before they left. I would be very happy to recommend this company and I would definitely use their services again when I do any type of plumbing related installation or service they provide.

All they did was route a camer down the line and take a video. That showed lots of roots, and toilet paper attached to the rough inside of the pipe. That visit was about $250. That didn't solve my inside sewer problem, so I called again the next day. They sent out another person that jetted the line and took another video that went a bit farther down the line. That cost over $600, and still didn't fix the problem. Their estimate to fix the sewer line wa $15,000! I couldn't believe it. They were figuring from my cleanout outside to across the stree to the city sewer. Burien's responsibility starts from where my sewer ends on my property. They didn't know Burien's policy regarding sewer replacedment. I asked for more bids.

I was very happy with the service. The crew was excellent, they answered all my questions and addressed all my concerns. They completed work on time and on budget. I would definitely use them again and highly recommend them to anyone needing sewer and drain work!

Took about one-half hour. No problems.