ARS / Rescue Rooter

Cindy S.

Warning: sexist and discriminatory practice. I was told by an ARS plumber (Josh) on the phone that he would not come look at my water heater until my husband was home. He said he didn't want to waste his time because I wouldn't be able to make a decision without my husband there. This actually happened. In 2019. I'm still shocked. When I called to complain, they expressed outrage at the situation, but in the end, did nothing to remedy it. They sent out another plumber who gave me a quote $400 higher than their competitor.

James N.

Absolute horrible company. If you use them as installer from Home Depot, they will treat you like dirt. 21 days after my purchase and payment for installation, they still have not shown up to do the work. Terrible.

Ellen G.

Outrageously over priced. This company was sent out to my house to offer a bid on a faulty water heater by Home Depot. They were the first company to come out and wrote out a bid for $2,678.00. Their technician was "surprised" that I was not willing to sign a contract on the spot. (Have we met?) . I politely explained that he was the first estimate we received and that I would be in touch. Well dear reader I am thanking my stars I did not go with this company as they were well over 1k more than three other local companies. What????????

David W.

My A/C unit died, and I called ARS first thing in the morning. They told me they would have a guy over between noon-4pm.

4:30pm rolls around, no word from anyone. I call back and they say it'll be 6-7pm. By 7:30pm, again, no word from anyone, so I call back.

The dispatcher tries to contact the technician but they're not even answering their phone, and they try to reschedule me for the next day. (Note: Trying to sleep through a Texas heat wave with no A/C isn't doable. And we have elderly relatives living with us, who simply can't do that.)

So I ask them to send somebody else -- literally anybody. They tell me that if I wanted somebody tonight, that I'd have to pay extra for the "late night" crew.

Keep in mind: My appointment was for Noon-4pm. They didn't honor their appointment, and now they wanted to --charge me extra--.

To make matters worse, they then rescheduled my appointment to 10pm without asking me, or even notifying me.

I've literally spent the past 8 hours trying to give them business, and I've been lied to and ignored every step of the way.

Canceled everything and called a real repair service.

Saint A.

Bad customer service, they cancel you appointment on the same day at the end of the window you are waiting for them. They could not even provide a quote or communicate that they were not able to install a new drain. They did not even returned my last few calls.

Stay away from this company. I cannot believe the home depot recommend their services.

We originally called them to look at a drainage issue we were having and scheduled a home visit so their expert could look at the problem. I was given a 5 hour window on a Friday. After waiting for almost the 5 hours I decided to call; at that time I was transferred to the dispatcher who told me they were not going to be able to make it and rescheduled for a week after. A week after they cancelled again on the same day and during the supposed service window. The dispatcher this time made an excuse about being really busy and told me that they would be there the next day (she said something along the lines of "take it or leave it"). I was really desperate so decided to reschedule one more time for the next day. This time they showed up and promised me an estimate in a few hours. I did not received anything after a day, so I called them back and I was told to wait 3 extra days... I waited 3 days and called again. This time they said it should be ready soon... Its been a few weeks and several unanswered calls so I gave up and had the work completed by another contractor.

If ARS is unable to do the work and keep their appointments why waste my time?

Patricia N.

I needed to replace my garbage disposal. I selected one on the Home Depot website but I could not find this particular model in the store. In the aisle, they advertised a $99 install.
I ordered one on line and when it arrived I called for the install. I was told that since I did not buy it in the store I would have to deal directly with ARS who is their installer.
I called ARS but because I live in a condo and not a house, they could not do "the Home Depot install" and quoted me $350 to replace the disposal. Ridiculous.

Ursula C.

I requested service to have an intake fan replaced or repaired. I described this intake fan in great detail over the telephone to ARS RescueRooter. When the technician came to my home and looked at the intake fan, he said it was too small of a job for him to do. He also disclosed that the people at ARS taking the phone calls and scheduling are not smart enough to know when a job is too small. So, he left without doing work. After he left, I called ARS RescueRooter requesting a manager to call me back to discuss this . . . tick tock (the manager has not yet responded).


* The moment has passed, ARS RescueRooter; please do not respond now.

Ruth G.

I called this morning (a Saturday in June with a heat index over 100°) when our outdoor ac unit went out. The dispatcher took my information and quoted me the fees involved. Four hours later I called again and they assured me I was next on the list. During this time I received a call from a local phone number but didn't hear anyone on the other end, then the call was disconnected. Well, I should have investigated further, because that was ARS Rescue Rooter. They claim they called twice, my phone log says otherwise. I called them again two hours later to see what the delay was and they informed me my appointment had been cancelled because I didn't answer the phone. So, now I've sat in the heat all day and have to find someone else to come fix my AC at 7PM on a Saturday.

katie k.

U ARE THE WORST COMPANY I HAVE EVER DEALT WITH...at 65 I've dealt with a lot of companies...

We called to have one of your fellows come out and check on her AC unit because it had been leaking from the attic to our deck off of her bedroom down to the first floor patio

He came out last Thursday and said everything was fine. I came home on Tuesday late afternoon and three vents in our home had water pouring out of them.

I called another company to come out and they came out and within two minutes could see that the valve outside by the air conditioner was clogged up. So he sucked all of that out. He also went up to the attic and saw that there was a lot of water in the overflow pan. Your guy had also gone up there and said everything was fine.

I called the Austin office yesterday afternoon told them what was going on. The first woman I spoke with said he was coming out for maintenance check and we don't do repairs on the maintenance checks.... are you kidding me? What exactly does someone do on a maintenance check?

My husband told him exactly what the problem was and showed him where the water was leaking from.

So the initial person I spoke with transferred me to customer care or whatever. That person told me I had to speak with the finance department. So he connected me with the finance department. The finance department Recording said I had to put in one of two numbers. I don't know what they were. So I kept pressing zero, hoping I would get to a live person, but that did not happen. So I called them back.

She connected me to your customer satisfaction person or whatever you call her. Unfortunately she wasn't there. So they told me to call her today and gave me the direct number why they didn't tell her to call me , I don't know..

She called me back to an 1/2 hours after I called her. Unfortunately I had gone outside for a few minutes and missed the fall. So I called her back at 2:40. It is now 10 after seven and I have not heard back from her.

So I called back and asked when she would be in tomorrow, and I was told that she won't be in until Monday.

So on the bill I noticed that there's a number for corporate customer relations so I called that number...of course they said to leave a message and they would call me back on the next business day.

The next business day is Monday. In the meantime I have damage in my home as well as some of my furniture.

I was going to be very kind, but I am coming after you now and I will be posting this review on every Facebook page I have in the Austin area

Addie G.

This is the most unprofessional company I have ever had the displeasure to deal with. I had to wait about a month for an installation date that would work with my schedule. They cancelled my first *PREPAID* appointment after initially calling and saying they would be late. I had to wait almost a month for another installation date that would work. The technician, Steve, showed up 7 hours late, unprepared, and unaware of what he was actually supposed to be doing. Then, he told me I was lucky he was there and that I hadn't paid for the full installation of both a faucet and filter. I told him to get out and called both ARS to let them know that their technician was out of line and unprepared on top of being 7 hours late and Home Depot to get a refund and verify I what I had paid for. Steve called me back, not to apologize but to let me know I was correct and had paid for the full installation of both items and if I would let him back in my home he would do the job he'd already been paid for and given ample opportunity to accomplish. I will never do business with this company again since in my experience they're just in the business of scheduling and missing appointments and trying to scam you out of money by inflating their charges at the time of service. Glad I decided to try them out with a small job so I know not to hire them for my upcoming bathroom and kitchen remodels.
Edit: Steve, who told me on the phone he was a very professional person, called me a "F*cking b*tch," after I closed the front door when I escorted him out of my home. Real professional.

UPDATE: You might see ARS's canned response below. It's worthless to call their customer service line. I did the day of the incident and left a detailed message with my phone number. Still no actual response from them. Definitely not going to waste more of my time calling again.