ARS / Rescue Rooter

Colin H.

I heard their ad on the radio and decided to give them a call after my toilets and showers backed up. I figured 88 bucks was a great deal. After the first of 3 guys showed up, he told me that my house was built without clean outs. Ok, that sucks. So he says he's going to have to take off the toilet and auger it from there. Ok... Sounds like progress. Except it's going to be something like 267 (might've been more, but at least that). Holy smokes, that seemed like quite a jump from just 88 bucks. I mean, you're still shoving the same tool into a pipe right? It's cheaper to take the toilet off yourself, which I did in all of 4 minutes. That brought the price down to 217. Except he couldn't get his cable past the intersection of the pipes. So, he called another guy to come out and help him. They bring in the second guy's auger. Same problem, they can't get it in. They give up and say they will have to call another guy to come over to get it from the roof...they forgot they lent another guy their ladder. So, 2 hours later, the third guy comes out with a 7 foot ladder, gets on the roof, and augers the roof pipe...problem solved in 10 minutes. Except it's 300 bucks to have them get on the one story roof, and 20 for supplies. They said if I wanted clean outs installed, it would 1500. I'm not sure if that's a good deal or not. They said yesterday that we get a complimentary camera down the pipe done with out service, so we waited around his morning (Saturday). They called and said that because we don't have clean outs, they'll have to get on the roof....and by the way sir that's not complimentary...and it's more money than using the auger! 387 bucks. They refused to come out and give me the complimentary camera they had promised. Poorly organized company. The workers were nice and friendly though. Refusing to honor your workers' promise...bad, bad form. One of the guys knocked over the toilet, and now there is a chipped tile in my shower that wasn't there before. Thanks for making me get back on yelp for the first time in a year just to tell everyone about your bad customer service.

Jason J.

The staff was polite and efficient but the price was terrible. They quoted $940 for a water heater I found at Lowe's for $270, $300 for a drain pan I bought at Lowe's for $15, and $190 for a permit which Lowe's arranged for $100. Long story short, I am paying Lowe's almost exactly half of what I would have paid ARS for labor and materials.

Christy K.

We had some plumbing issues with our office, and we called ARS for an estimate. They told us the estimate was free, and came in and took a look. After giving us the quote, they were supposed to start repairs the next day. Instead of doing anything, they spent 2 hours, charging us $150/hour to give us another estimate. We found the worker "cooling off" in his car, instead of working. We told him to leave immediately and paid for his time there, but would definitely not recommend this company. Feel definitely cheated.

Michael K.

Needed some help installing an oven and also a gas shut off valve behind my oven. The man that came over was very friendly and knowledgeable, I would give him five stars. The job was done in less than an hour and my new oven works great! He also helped me in moving around the old oven. Furthermore, he came on time even though it was bad weather.

Gets knocked down 2 stars for two big reasons.

One is the price, definitely an expensive service, shop around if you can.

Second is bad over the phone customer service reps, they don't let you talk and constantly cut you off, I talked to two and they both acted the same. They are just trying to rush you off the phone and get you locked into a field visit with a technician ASAP. If I was a VP in the customer care department at ARS, I would put out some different scripts for the call center reps or put a training session together.

Janice J.

I called ARS Rescue Rooter of Dallas because I was looking for a plumbing company that could demo the first row of tile in my shower and replace my shower pan. I was assured that they could provide that service. The plumber, Adam, gave an estimate of $1,350.00 which included removing the first row of tile and wall board, installing the new shower pan, city inspection, and the shower pan leak test. The test was done on the same day the estimate was given and the price of $150.00 was included in the total cost. I was told I could not purchase the pan from Home Depot because they were not an ASR supplier and the pan would not be under warranty. Therefore, I trusted him to provide the correct size and color comparable to the size and color being replaced. The work was finally scheduled for 5/17/2014 with a window of 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. ARS called on the morning of 5/17/2014 to let me know the plumber would be late. Adam showed up after 2:00 p.m. looking tired. I asked him if he would rather come back the following Monday because I wanted the job done right. He assured me that he was able to do a good job. Well, He botched the demo job and did just enough to rip the pan out. He said another plumber would delivered the shower pan. The pan was delivered and the two of them installed it. The plumber who delivered the pan was bouncing around in the pan, while Adam was using plastic shims to make the pan level. He said my concrete floor was not level. The Pan that was removed was level! The depth of the pan was not the same as the one removed and I was told they did not make the 64" width anymore. Adam said the City Inspector would call him with a window of 5 minutes to one hour and I should make sure someone was at the house because the inspector would not wait. He left and I walked out with him to move my car in front of the house to wait for the inspector. Before I could park my car, He came back with the City Inspector in tow and told me he saw his truck and flagged him down. Really? Hindsight. I should have been suspicious when he sent me a email a few days before the work was to be done and informed that he could not find the beige pan I requested. He said His supplier only had white and bisque. I chose bisque. Per a subsequent phone conversation, he said his supplier only had white and he tried to special order a bisque one from the Home Depot, but it would take three weeks to special order. Mind you, this is the same company he said I could not purchase from because of warranty issues. When the tile company showed up on 5/20/2014 they could not place the backer board on the lip of the pan because the pan needed to be pushed against the wood and not be butted up against the baker board that should have been remove along with the tile. The Tile guy agreed to fix the botched demo job. While he was doing that, I called ARS and asked them to send Adam back to make the adjustments to the pan to push it back and square it on all sides. He came back making excuses and said I needed a framer. The General Manager of the tile company talked to Adam on speaker phone and explained to him that he needed to square the pan on all sides. Adam agreed and the tile guy left promising to return on 5/24/2014. Adam notched, sawed, hammered and remove wood; Instead of starting from scratch, he kicked, pounded, banged, wiggled, and shimmed, and chiseled that shower pan so much I was worried that it might be damaged and expressed that to him. He said, " you should see what we do to tubs!" He should have started from scratch and called the city back to inspect. His attempt to square up the shower pan was not successful. The tile company returned to completed the job today, 5/24/2014, and we have the same problem. The shower pan is not installed correctly. ARS Rescue Rooter of Dallas, TX. 1768 Empire Central 214/972-503-8000, In my opinion, stole $1350.00 from me. I will be checking my options to right this wrong. I smell a rat! Your plumber couldn't even do it right the SECOND TIME. I am very Irate!

Karin E.

The estimate was 100% thorough and 100% hassle free & 100% pressure free.

I called a couple of months later to modify the original request; they were able to give me a new quote while I was still on the phone. The work was performed the next day.

There was a bit of a misunderstanding when the work was initially performed - but the management staff got the problem resolved WITHIN 1 HOUR not only to my satisfaction - but exceeding my initial expectations.

I will definitely use them again!!!!

Karin Bradford
Arlington, TX
karin.bradford@live.com

David P.

I don't know why the other reviews (all negative) are not listed too. Had a kitchen/laundry drain clog. Called using the $88 special-plumber calls and says he won't honor it because it's a rental house. Drain was cleared and then 1 week later- clogged again. They came back out under warranty and the guy calls and starts talking about getting on the roof for $400 like I've seen in other posts and pressure washing for for $350 more. He said he could get his line all the way out to the main(125 ft). I asked him to look at the cleanout in the yard and the rest of the house was draining fine and water was running to the main sewer. My question-If you could get your line out to the cleanout in the back, why wouldn't water run from this drain. That's when he back tracked and said I had major problems with years and years of grease buildup and he couldn't get his line through.LIAR! Then he reiterated the roof and pressure wash and said I would probably need a camera put in for another $350 to see what was going on. I said if I was going to pay that much, I might as well have a new line run. Then he gets in a huff and says he won't be back and the prior work is not warranted.

Guess what. Called another plumber and within 1 1/2 hours the drain was cleared. There was some grease and gunk buildup but it was only about 12 feet down the line and he had the proper tools and know how to clear it.

Ars is obviously a bunch of crooks or at best inept in the skill of plumbing. Better to get a real plumber.

Rex R.

Terrible experience! Beware, this company is out to get as much of your money as possible. Their plumbers must be instructed to up sell. I called ARS because they were offering a $99 drain cleaning special. When the plumber arrived (before starting any work) he mentioned that he may have to go on the roof and access the vent to clear the drain. Of course going on the roof(single story) was not included in the special and it would increase the cost to $400. I asked that he try to clear the drain line from the clean outs on the ground because I wanted it done for $99. Also, the drain had been successfully cleaned before from the ground and I knew that $100 - $120 was a normal price. The plumber made one unsuccessful attempt to clean the drain and started selling me on the roof again. I declined and asked if he would try again. He agreed and made a better attempt but still could not clear the drain. At that point I was told that I would have to pay $99 and leave the drain clogged or agree to the upcharge and have it cleaned from the roof. Since it was a rent house I really didn't have much of choice so I agreed. After I gave the go ahead it took just under 5 minutes for him to clear the drain!! In this case, it was actually much easier to access the drain from roof. He knew from previous experience that it was an easy fix from the roof but the company policy is focused on getting more money when possible. Why not just fix it for the advertised price and move on to the next customer? He probably could have made two more calls in the 1.5 hours he spent wasting my time. Treat your customers right and they'll call back. The only thing good that came from this is at least I know who not to recommend for plumbing.

Marc R.

Wish I could give zero stars. They are slow and they are dishonest.

I was locked into using ARS because they were the only provider that my extended warranty company uses. After waiting for 5 days for our appointment to come, ARS came out and verified the water heater needed to be replaced and called GE to activate the replacement process. Then they CLAIMED to have contacted the extended warranty company and that the "extra" materials to replace the water heater would not be covered and I needed to pay $250 out of pocket. I called the warranty company, and they said that was not true, and that in fact it might be 24 hours before their claims department processed the request to give approval to ARS. So why is ARS trying to charge me $250? I escalated the issue with the warranty company and will not be using ARS for this, or any other future job.

Lisa V.

Sadly, although their installation was good, their follow-through after selling me a new system has been pretty poor. I can't get anyone locally to call me back to answer questions---"someone will call you back" is their standard answer to every phone call I've made.

UPDATED 9/30/2014: This place sold me a home service plan over the phone, while one of their guys was repairing my old HVAC system, telling me I would receive a discount on the repair in progress, plus two checkup visits in the spring and fall, to get the heater or a/c ready for the change in weather. They never called to schedule either appointment, and when I called to inquire about my spring checkup, they told me they were booked for the next six weeks. I still haven't had my fall checkup, and my year is about to expire.

Also, my year of service ended with last month's payment, but when I checked this month's credit card bill, sure enough, they've continued to charge me. I called to get it corrected, and was told someone would call back. Same old song: nobody called. I called again two weeks later, and was told the person who took care of that was out of the office, and would call me back. Big surprise: no call. I finally called my credit card company, and filed a billing dispute to get the extra money they'd charged me back, and to block them from charging me again.