Bob Oates Sewer Rooter & Plumbing LLC

Doug Ingram was the supervisor and he answered all of our questions. They were prompt in coming. Everything was scheduled quickly and done quickly. They were courteous to us and also our neighbors. We had no complaints and we were very pleased.

I called Bob Oates Plumbing initially to fix a clogged drain. The plumber was thorough and while the charge seemed to be high, we felt it was fair for a weekend emergency job. The day after the plumber fixed the clogged kitchen drain, the cast iron pipes in the basement began leaking. I called to schedule an appointment with the same plumber for the next week day (not a weekend) for July 9, 2012. The plumber identified an old corroded cast-iron section of pipe and recommended replacing it with new PVC pipe. The plumber replaced approximately three to four feet of pipe and made new connections with the upstairs tub and bathroom sink drain. The cost for this work was $2600 including tax. Feeling that the price was quite high, I contacted Bob Oates for an explanation. Considering a few PVC pipes were used for the job, a few hours of labor, plus tax, I calculated the cost to be $400+ for labor. I asked the representative over the phone for an itemized bill for the job. I was informed that Bob Oates does not itemize bills, that Bob Oates bids on jobs and the costs cannot be broken down into parts and labor. There were few parts that were used in this job: just a few feet of PVC pipe and some connectors from the old pipes to new ones. Even though I expressed this concern, Bob Oates could neither explain the costs nor provide me with an itemized the bill. To be fair, they did refund $500, their reason being the plumber had not communicated clearly about the bidding process. After the refund, the charge works out to be $320 per hour, which seems exorbitant. Moreover, Bob Oates does not itemize their bill, leading me to believe they are price gouging some of their customers. I regret contacting Bob Oates Plumbing in the first place and cannot recommend them to anyone. I have a picture of the work completed but it does not appear that there is any way to upload photographs.

The service is not the greatest but they are better than their competitors. The plumbers in this area all seem to be very busy and in this area their service is as good as it gets. If they say they are going to be there they will be there.

They were great! They were timely and did a good job.

Came and explained what they would do and why. Brought in back hoe which sat on front lawn on top of plywood . Dug huge holes. Ripped hedges out of ground so that there was no way they would survive even though I had requested that they be dug up, and we had no time to do it ourselves. Added on additional work due to hole in line not discovered at first which added about $4600 for one extra day. Did good job of repaving section of driveway but left hand prints on side of house.

The company provided prompt service and professional workmanship. We were able to use an Angie's list discount which helped to reduce the original bill. We did not know the hose bib was an issue, but were made aware of this problem. Fernando was courteous and prompt.

They showed up fairly on time but quickly tried to up sell me on a job that was 2.5k to 4.5k. After completing the snake of the drain, which is what they were called out for, they mentioned we needed a high pressure clearing which would be an add'l $549.00 and would be a 2 hour job. I thought the pricing was excessive and asked if they could do better. After a quick call to HQ they said they could do the job for $489.00. I made (1) call to another Angie's List plumber and they quoted me $375.00 for the same 2 hour job. Since they were already on site I negotiated a $425.00 price. They did the work, but it was not a 2 hour flush, in fact from set up, completion of work, and clean up, they were only on the job for 45 minutes. Was this really worth $425.00 for 45 minutes of blowing high pressure water down a tube? There is no rocket science or extremely expensive equipment to complete this job. After a couple discussions with management and ownership, I was made to feel ungrateful for having such a great company show up on time and charge me excessive money for something I could have done by 1 of many companies. I wish I would have done more homework on some other companies before calling this one.

Competent, friendly, reasonable price.

Great experience with this company from start to finish.

I called at 6:30 in the morning - my water had backed up into my shower in the basement. Plumber showed up early - yeah! and was very pleasant. Showed me what the camera was showing - said I didn't really need the roots cleared, but problem was with the kitchen and shower lines. I had them all done while he was here. Hopefully I won't need rooting again for a few years.

Dispatch people were nice, showed up when they said they would and on the same day that we called. Would not give an estimate over the phone only on site. I guess they rely on people not saying "NO" once they are there. Their bid came in high compared to the small mom and pop operations but on par with the larger companies. We declined service since things were not urgent. We

We had problems in November during a heavy rain where the garage drain was not draining. We had them come over to power through a plugged drain. Or so we thought. They scoped and thought the garage pipe may not have been connected to the main sewer drain they completed in April. So they dug it up. Then they found they had connected it improperly. They fixed the problem - for no charge. It was awesome that they admitted a mistake and fixed the problem for no charge. This kind of honesty is refreshing and not all that common. We recommend them to anyone with external drain problems.

The problem was noticed on a Sunday. I promptly logged onto Angus list to see what my options were. I was happy to find that the first, Bob Oates, had great reviews. I called and caught him working on another job. I explained that I had had a similar problem with roots a few years back. He suggested it was probably the same thing and that I call him first thing in the morning (7am) and set up something. This was a cost savings to me and it was not an emergent situation, but urgent. He advised me what I should and shouldn't do for the rest of the day. I called first thing on Monday morning. Sure enough, he answered and remembered me. He was still arranging the day's schedule's and said he would call me back within 30 minutes - and he did :). Bob said that he would have a technician coming within the hour. Hmm..? really you say? REALLY someone came within the hour. Jeremy was pleasant and didn't mind all my questions and let me watch. He explained what he was doing and showed me where the problem(s) were via the camera. He showed me where the large snare was at and explained that he needed to use the more powerful equipment. Well, he got rid of the large snare and found two more behind that. After the debris was removed, he showed me via the camera how things looked. It appears that my clay pipes are nice and clean now and that at the very end, one problem of aggregate accumulating, is happening. No big problem now. I am also happy that I have been educated on what I need to do to keep this line clear. I plan on calling Bob Oates annually to come out and do a PMI on the line and also add some root killer at the same time to avoid this kind of mess. The first time this happened, about 9 years ago, I used a different company out of desperation (and no Angie's List) and did not receive the service I received today. I have been gun shy of using businesses that I know nothing about, but I can thank all the other reviewers that took the time to write something on Angie's List. It made my decision easy and the event less painful. And by the way, the clean up was good and the prep work to prevent carpet damage was in place before the work started. Total amount of time spent here was about 3 hours. Thanks Jeremy.

Caution - lots of hidden fees. They offer a $175 deal to blade the sewer then run a camera. However if they run the camera first to see if you even need the blade, and then run the blade it is nearly double. They quoted $175 for the service (but tried to charge $195), then wanted $150 to removed a toilet (I did it in 5 minutes), and then tried to charge me $95 ot show me where the blockage is (5 minutes work), and another $20 for his paper booties. Also, beware that they will only honor the price (and what they do for the price) if they can complete the whole job in 60 minutes. This is not disclosed on the site or when you call.

They told me thy would show up between 2-3 and they actually were able to come out by 1245. They fixed the leak in 15 minutes and were out of there. They were just wonderful, very pleasant and jovial. They only charged 54.75 which is wonderful as well. The young man's name that came out here was Willy and he was great.

We had sewage backup into our basement and called Bob Oats Sewer for a quote. They were not available to come out the same day (Sunday) so we decided to use another company. Someone from Bob Oats Sewer followed up on Monday to ensure that the issue was resolved. We didn't end up using Bob Oats, but I appreciated their professionalism and follow through and I would certainly use them for a quote in the future.

Contacted Bob Oates via the Angie's List site. I had an email response the next morning. A technician showed up as promised. I had mentioned to the company that how much I spent would be related to what was discovered about a leak I had in the area of my kitchen sink.I had several other small repairs I needed checked if dollars permitted. I will be honest...at first I was a bit disappointed. The fellow that came to the house turned out to be a fairly nice guy but I was put off initially when he came into the house without covering up his big boots or asking if it was ok to walk into the house with boots on...then when I described the problem at the sink, it seemed like I was coming up with all the possibilities of what was causing the leak and ideas for its repair: one of which was caulk...the tech didn't seem too thrilled or interested. Just my initial impression. When the caulk did appear to fix the sink problem, I decided there was time and money left (based on their hourly prices), that I could afford the tech to take a look at a basement drain. In the course of that discussion, it was realized that my water heater should be replaced. It was 12 years old and the tech showed me where there was rust inside. He also told me that instant hot tanks and water heater tanks should be drained annually. No one had ever told me this. We also discussed the pros and cons of the instant hot water heaters. This guy patiently waited while I called my parents to ask for some help on the payment. That took awhile. Soon, he returned with a new heater, took my old one away and snaked the drain that had originally sparked the conversation. The next day, the company called me to see how everything went. I even made a call to the tech to discuss how to turn the heat down on the new device. He was more than willing to swing by my house and make sure that everything was "good to go". Despite the initial bad impression, the overall experience was really quite good and I could confidently suggest that other folks use this company. I also want to say that the price and quality ratings I provided above (both were B) were based on the fact that I had done NO research on water heater prices nor water heater companies at the point I made the decision to make the purchase. I don't honestly know if an AO Smith unit is a good one, though after I had their product installed, I looked them up on the internet. It seems like a very reputable company. I just didn't feel that I could give a rating of excellent when I really didnt know. I am hoping that Bob Oates is a honest company that sold me a terrific product, right? In addition, I gave the rating of B (GOOD vs A /Excellent) in the area of professionalism due to that first impression made by the tech upon arrival at my home. But to be fair, before that, after that, and all the other contacts that I had with the company were great!

I called Bob Oates plumbing on Friday looking for same-day service. They were not able to accommodate same day service, but were able to squeeze me in the following day, so we scheduled them for some time between 12 and 2pm. The plumber (Rod) arrived around 2 pm and assessed our situation, and noted it would be fairly easy. He snaked the pipe and confirmed the clog was cleared. He put down a mat to ensure no mess was made, and was respectful of our space. The only comment I would add is that our plumber was extremely chatty, which is very personable and nice, but did result in a slightly longer visit than necessary. We paid $150 for the drain cleaning and a $20 truck surcharge, plus tax. The plumber also noted that they were going to start charging extra for Saturdays at some point in the future.

They were punctual and they were available. The plumber that we got wasn’t as professional and as thorough. We had some mistakes that had to be constantly redone. It caused some delay in the project and caused extra running around for me. They got everything done and they were responsive. He was always there on time.

The sewer line blockage was snaked and cleared in a professional and responsive manner. The field technician was competent. We agreed with the technician's recommendation to video inspect the pipe. After watching the (expensive) video camera inspection process live and observing what appeared to be a small area of potentially damaged pipe, we were told that the main office would need to produce the DVD, and that we could receive a phone call soon from a manager. We requested a copy of the DVD the same day but were told this was not possible. After several days, we had not received a call and so we called the company. The manager said there was pipe damage that needed repair, and that several different (very expensive) pipe repair / replacement options were available. The company clearly wanted to sell additional services, and the conversation had all the hallmarks of talking to a care sales person (impatience, pressure tactics, playing on fears of further problems, etc). We said we wanted to consider options and requested a copy of the DVD, and the manager told us that it would be sent the next day. After a week went by, the DVD had not arrived and we called again and were told that the DVD would be sent right away. We finally got the DVD a few days later. We made a phone call to another company and were told that small areas of damage are common in old sewer pipes, and given that the problem had not recurred in the weeks following the service call, they would recommend waiting to see if expensive repairs were truly warranted. If the sewer does eventually back up again, we'll get another estimate from a different company.

I used the big deal with them. The person who came to do it was great. He even helped me move a very heavy couch in the garage without complaining. They had a video camera and the technician could get it in only 10 feet. They told me that there was a break in the sewer and that it was 7 feet down and it would be $3000. They said they could not video beyond that break. I had to pay them for the videotaping that they had done. I paid them $3000 to dig down that 7 feet and put the cleanout in and then they would videotape the rest of the sewer. I did not like the sound of that and so I called a different company. The other company was able to videotape the entire length of the line for free and it was 4 feet down. The technician who came was great. They cost more, did an inadequate job and gave me inaccurate information. It was a lot cheaper with the other company. They need to upgrade their equipment.

I called them on a Friday night, and they arrived first thing Saturday morning. They didn't charge any additional fee for coming out on the weekend. I think they did a really good job. I really liked their service, and I plan on hiring them again in the future.

The first time came out was on New Years Eve for a clogged drain, and the bill was very reasonable. I remember it being around $50.00. Most recently, they replaced a pipe and part to fix a leak. Again, I think the price was reasonable.

The plumber who came over was very, very helpful. He did a great job at a good price. I was told I was getting an introductory price, and then shown a standard pricing list which made me a little weary. I’m not sure if costs for future work would be as reasonable.

Their work turned out just fine, and everything is still in working order. The pipe was located 10 feet underground at the house, and they had to dig an additional hole where the pipe was broken. They were able to save a Japanese maple tree, which was located directly above the broken pipe. Also, they put a clean out access at both the house and sidewalk. The job took about one week. At the spot where they had to connect to the house, there was a thick slab of concrete sticking out. They had to dig underneath this slab to make the connection. None of us expected this additional work, but Bob Oates stayed completely true to their bid. Overall, I think they’re topnotch.