ARS / Rescue Rooter

Frank S.

An unbelievable scam. They were recommended by the HOA of my complex and I made the huge mistake of not checking up on them before I the work done. It was some simple plumbing issues and they claimed to charge $150 for something that I could get done in an hours time with $30 of supplies from home depot. One problem let to another and in the end, they had to shut off the water to my entire building to resolve the issue. Absolutely ridiculous.

Philip H.

A terrible business. Prices that are 3-4x the going rate with hidden charges thrown in for good measure. This business is not worth your consideration.

James L.

ARS is an absolute scam. They tried to charge me $1300 for a plumbing part that actually cost $83. DO NOT EVER use ARS! This is my second bad experiece with ARS (you'd think I'd learn after the 1st time). The last job to fix a broken drain cost $500 for a part that I later found for $8. These are the fees for just the parts, not even including the outrageous hourly fees. I repeat, stay away from ARS.

Ray G.

I woke up on a sunday morning and there was no hot water! A friend referred me to ARS, I called them and spoke to the operator who took my information. I got a call back in 30 minutes, the person offered to come by, inspect and give a free, no obligation quote which I gladly accepted. He showed up, explained the process and determined that the pilot was off. At this point, he explained the options available to fix and the process of elimination and the cost involved. In a couple of steps he identified the component that was broken and replaced it. This basically fixed the problem. Then he inspected a few other things and offered improvements. To be fair, he was upselling but was completely honest about it, instead of trying a con job. I did not go for the upsell. All in all, I got my problem fixed on a sunday morning and it was a pleasure to work with such a thorough professional.

To put things in perspective, I called one of their competitors who would charge $200 just to drive down on a sunday and a minimum $300 for the work. He wanted $500 before even looking at the damn heater. What ARS charged me was a fraction of that. That's as good as it gets!

karen c.

I called ARS for the annual maintenance on furnace and air conditioning unit. To put it simply, ARS gave us a choice of a $3,000 repair or $10,000 for new units. The furnace isnt broken but is 13 years old. I think this pricing is crazy and I am checking other places to call.

Bonitadi S.

Polite man but outrageous price!!!!!!!
This is the reason plumbers get a bad reputation.
Then the idea of"" well this is our next best price/standard rate"" or ""we can lower this or that/value rate""
What is wrong with here is my hourly charge(upfront) and here are the parts fees?
The idea of lets run the highest price by to see if you will pay(sucker) if you put up a stink the price goes down and down until it is still high but not the going market!
example: price pfister 3 handle trim kit $292.52 the kit is 45.00 at home depot. This means he is getting over 200.00 to install -it took us
about 10 minutes last time we did it our selves!
I like to write positive reviews but I am upset that this is even legal.

Julia G.

ARS hires freelance plumbers. When you call, someone arrives quickly. On one occasion the plumber's cost estimate was reasonable for the job. On one I spent $350 for a $60 repair; the part cost $40, labor lasted 10 minutes. On another job, plumber added items into estimate that I found out later weren't necessary, adding over $250 to the total bill. The work has always been fine but I recommend haggling over the price before signing the estimate and be ready to let them walk if they don't lower the price substantially. Once you sign the estimate you've committed to pay that amount, period. Live and learn...and share lessons with others.

A J.

I live in Sorrento Valley (the date that this happened is not the posted date). I believe this happened when my husband was out of town in July 2008 in Vegas.
This evening I came home to my garage full of water. I tried to sweep out the water as quickly as I could more water would gather up. After stressing out I called my mother and right away she told me to call the fire department. She said they have pumps to dry out the water. So I called the fire department to rescue me. They showed up fifteen minutes later, with the sirens blaring (imagine me wishing I was in Hawaii so my neighbors weren't out there gawking at my situation). Luckily it was almost dusk and I think they were too busy with their TV's to come outside. After the fire department shut my gas, and hot water off they said I'd need to replace my water heater which was 9 years old.

I called Home Depot, WOW! I couldn't believe the price on those units (over $500!!). In addition the employee in that department mentioned that there were also ""other"" fees associated. I was told that I would need to get a permit, yes even if I'm just replacing it, Then there was a disposal fee, and a labor fee... in other words I could expect about $400 in addition to the purchase. Not to mention parts that they don't reuse so that means more charges...
I hung up and let my finger do the looking in the internet for help.

This is when I came across these reviews and decided to call. I had to hit the 3 for the transfer since it was outside of normal hours. The person answering said the business name and then asked if I could hold. She had a young female voice to that of a teenager, I assumed that she had more personal things to talk about rather than taking my call first. After a while on hold I gave up and came to the conclusion that they had no
intention of taking my call.
I figured they would return my call but that didn't happen either.
FORGET CALLING ARS PLUMBING...

I ended up pricing these units around and finally bought it at Lowes in Mission Valley since they had some kind of special that Home Depot wouldn't beat. They offered installation (at a cost, of course) and I also had to pay for the city permit. YES, the city will send you a letter in the mail to set up the appointment about a month later to check the technician's work out. After that they will tell you either it passed or it didn't and sign off on it before they leave the premise.

This technician that Lowe's contracts out with was one of the best! I had initially ordered the wrong unit size and he ended up taking it back and getting me the one I needed. He was patient and dealt with the whole situation like a saint. Make sure you go out and read what it says on the unit before you go pricing them to order one! Don't just assume they're all 50 gallon tanks! Some don't have enough clearance in the space provided.
You may want to measure the space/opening too just to verify the new unit will fit.
I was really happy with the job he did. He suggested that I buy the water pan to put below the unit too (don't get cheap). After the city inspector came I passed with flying colors.
The total cost of the unit, parts, work, etc was about $730 OTD at Lowes.

Good luck to those of you with your water heaters nearing their end. I wish you the best (and have a good credit card ready)!

Andrew T.

I called on Tuesday to make an appointment for Wed morning. The person that set the appointment specifically said 8am and that's what I wanted, the first appointment in the morning so we could get the problem fixed and I could be on my way to work. I waited at home until 8:20 and left. At 8:40, they called me and said the plumber was on the way. I told them I thought the appointment was 8am, that it was too late and to have a supervisor call me. The supervisor called me around 9am and said the appointment was for 8-9am and I said no it wasn't, it was specifically for 8am. The supervisor all but told me it was my fault for getting the appointment wrong. They wanted to reschedule and offer 10% off my next service, I told them I'd go with a company that can set & keep appointments and my time was worth more than 10% off.

DO NOT USE THEM.

Wife made an appt today (23Mar17) for them to check a drain. She called around 8:30 and they said between 9-11. Then they called at 10:30 and said they'd call back in an hour because they were running behind. They called her around 11:30 and said they'd be here at 4pm. At 4:25 they called and said they're on their way. It's nice to see their consistent after all of these years.

V R.

They charge $200 just to snake a drain. Market rate for snaking a drain is closer to around $70.

They will try to upsell to you like crazy. Why? It probably has something to do with the upsell quotas of ""Scouring - 20% of calls"" they have posted up in their office.

If you pass on their upsells and they snake your drain, it just might not be enough to get rid of the clog and so you end up having to buy the upsold service anyways. It wouldn't have anything to do with those quotas, would it?

My advice? Save your money and use a reputable plumber. If they come to your house and say it costs any more than $90 to snake your pipes, laugh for a few seconds and then put on a serious face and tell them to get the hell out. I'm pretty sure all Rescue Rooters in San Diego are the same. In fact, based on some yelp reviews, it seems that any plumbing service with a business name that ends in ""Rooter"" should be avoided like the plague.