Drain Doctor

Pat W.

My wife called the Drain Doctor to find a leak behind the washer. A technician came to showed us the leak was at one of the host connection. He further said: he can't fix it. For that he charged us $95 just for finding the leak.

Even though I am a wheelchair user, my wife and I fixed the leaking connection with some teflon tape after he left. Be ware how you define the job before you call them if you do. I wouldn't.

Tobias R.

Receptionist was rude! Recieved a call that was missed, recalled the exact (408) number and the lady besides being heck of rude lied to me about which and whom had called me so I called back to make sure, true enough it was the drain doctor. Will never use the service again thanks drain doctor

Paige G.

Called for service to unclog a slow draining shower. Plumber came out said he had to run a snake from the roof down. We questioned why he couldn't remove the drain cover in the shower and run the snake, he said no I have to go from the roof. Ok, asked the price he said $350.00....are you kidding me?! I showed him the front door! We have used this company before for the same issue and they went through the shower drain...no problem! This did happen on New Year's Day and I asked if high price was because of holiday service he said no that's the regular price!!! In the end went to Home Depot bought a 25 foot snake and a pair of gloves, snaked the drain from shower drain....cleared the clog for $30.00 You guys lost a repeat customer and I will tell everyone I know to stay away from you guys!!!! Happy New Year!!!!

Joseph G.

Oh boy, a negative review, you've really got to go above and beyond for one of these from me nowadays.

We had a pretty bad experience with a technician who came out to give us a ""free estimate"".
He used predatory, dishonest & deceptive business practices. He tried to use tricks to make my mom pay $300 to literally unscrew and rescrew a flexible pipe behind our clothes washer, then was rude and outwardly butthurt after she said no.

Let's get into it.
We had a leak in the hose behind the washer, and my mom(an elderly woman) saw that this business does free estimates! Why not, right? The guy came, checked out the issue, and it turns out in the rubber hose connecting the water to the washing machine, there is a hole!
To do this, he shut off water for the whole house from the street and removed the drywall behind the washer. Those two actions were smoke and mirrors from a dishonest technician to attempt to make an elderly lady believe this is a really complicated job.

He quoted my mom $300 to repair this, saying that was a ""cheap price"". My mom quickly understood how ridiculous of a price that was, and said no. He then instantly told my mom that he could do $200. Still too much for the work required. He then acted very very outwardly annoyed and rude to my mom, how unprofessional. Just because you couldn't trick somebody.

Want me to tell you why this is so ridiculous? All he had to do after figuring out the issue was:
1. Unscrew the old hose, remove it.
2. Screw on a new hose.
The faucet to turn the water off is literally right above the machine. He could have just twisted it to cut the water supply on the respective leaking piping. Going to the street box to cut the water supply off is deception.
Still have no idea why this dude found it necessary to remove the drywall from the wall. The icing on the cake is that this dude literally removed the drywall and NEVER PUT IT BACK.
My mom had to have me(I am currently temporarily physically disabled from recent surgery, and she is a 60 year old elderly woman also disabled and coming from recent surgery) come to help literally reinstall the drywall back on the wall after my guy took it off for no reason, then left it.
(I've attached images of 1. the turnable faucet that could have been turned to cut the water, which is on the now-reinstalled drywall. and 2. the hose that needed to be changed, which is now changed.)

It is not so much a ""free estimate"" as much it's a ""free estimate then nearly required service at ridiculous rate"".

Why am I forgiving enough to give 2 stars and not 1 star? I...guess he did come out and do a free estimate. To which my mom learned the reason for her problem, despite her not agreeing to go through with the actual service. So I must painfully commend that for being helpful I guess.
(Even though, again, the guy literally took the wall off and didn't reinstall it)

My dad is in a similarly repair business, gives estimates, and is much more transparent about what he does, for an overly reasonable cost of service. He is able to run an honest business, so why is it so hard for other businesses to not turn to using deception to make money off of vulnerable people? Also, just be a nice person, really, especially when you represent a business. It is very unprofessional to act like that. I just can't respect it.
And don't be so mad, you're just going to scam some other elderly woman later to make up for this anyway, so you can smile about that at least!


Edit: I read some other critical reviews of this business and it seems consistent that this business uses their ""free estimate"" opportunities to leverage people into feeling obligated into ridiculously priced services and take advantage of customers.
If the guy today is the same one that did literally the same thing to other people leaving those reviews, I would steer clear of this business as it seems this is their method.
If you are somebody who might appear as ""easy to trick"", stay even more the hell away, since you are the prey for a business like this.

Me Y.

Preface. I wasn't in the office when the toilets backed up so someone in the office called them. I usually use Fifteen Dollars Plumbing, who was very fair in their pricing as well as great workmanship.

They ended up charging us $595 (discounted by $100) for one hour of work. Fifteen Dollars charged us $200 the last time for the same thing.
Young presented the quote for payment after the work was done without any signature, which I should have said something. It was my fault for not calling the owner at that moment. It was definitely our company's mistake for not looking at the quote prior to the work. I did call and try to reason with the owner afterwards, but it got nowhere since he felt it was a fair price. FOLKS...We are ALL in the wrong business. I understand small businesses have to make money but this is outrages. I own a small business and have been around for 20+ years and I have never ""XXXX"" my customers. I have now remove them our vendor list.
Remember.. Repeat and happy customers go a long way.

Christine C.

At 7:30 in the morning today, my toilet was clogged, not flushing and hissing. I called drain doctor and Erick, the plumber, called and arrived ten minutes later. Drain doctor is based in San Jose so this was especially fast!
Erick was fast, pleasant and professional. He diagnosed the problem and let me know exactly what the issues were with my toilet. I have a condo that's a bit old so it was definitely time for a new toilet! He removed my old toilet and installed a new one that day and was done by 11:30 AM. As a homeowner, I have to deal with home repairs. However, Erick made the experience of home repair efficient and pleasant. I don't always write Yelp reviews but I am more than happy to write this one. If you have any plumbing issues I definitely recommend Drain Doctors! Additionally, Erick is a great plumber. Thank you Drain Doctors!

Eric E.

They took grandma to the cleaners!

Drain Doctor came out to replace an outdoor water spigot that was leaking. They did a good job of replacing the spigot and fixing the leak. The problem is this was only a 15 minute job and they charged her $255! Seems like highway robbery of my 84 year old mom!

Alberta B.

We had a plumbing emergency at 11 o'clock at night .. toilets stopping up.. water coming from underneath and tub backing up.. wanted to wait til the morning but once my husband said no using the toilets I got on the phone looking for someone to come ASAP! After looking online I came across the backscratcher with the advertisement for The Drain Doctor.. called and John answered right away and said he'd be here in 30 min.. came out, cleared out all of the ""flushable"" baby wipes from the clean out and we were back in business!

David R.

Drain Doctor used to be a cut above the rest. Now, there is no difference between Drain Doctor and the rest. No worse, no better. $350 is way too much to clear a sewer lateral. Especially when I can buy a bladder for $20 and do it myself. Hauling the sewer rooter around to clear drains is theater to justify the $350.

Joseph H.

We recently encountered a major problem with our old galvanized water lines. Called Drain Doctor and requested a next day appointment. Mr. Song arrived early to analyze the problem. In brief, he removed the old pipe which had disintegrated over a period of 60 years and replaced it with 1-inch diameter copper of the highest quality. Project required extensive excavation in the front lawn, all the way from the city main to our house with numerous shut off valves, T's, plus a capability for future extension. Briefly, the entire system was brought up to code. The lawn that was removed was replaced and there is no sign that Mr. Song and his crew had ever been here. The work, e.g., layout and joints, in my opinion, was of the highest caliber; the system is working now better than ever. The cost was very reasonable and the work was completed seamlessly, in a minimum amount of time. In spite of the challenge of working around a broken system, the water was only off a few minutes over a period of 3 long days!!!!!!!!

I am happy to recommend Mr. Song, his team and Drain Doctor for serious plumbing jobs. They are polite, efficient and extremely talented!.