Drain Solvers The Pros

Brandon S.

I'd like to post an update. A few days ago I received a letter in the mail. It was a hand written letter from Cheryl who I ascertain to be the owner. She apologized for the way I was treated and was ""embarrassed for her company"". To my surprise there was a check in there with the full reimbursement of what I was charged. I hope the management shakeup she referred to takes care of their customers in the future.

Steve C.

So here is the rundown:

I called Drain Solvers at 7:00pm and told them that my main line was clogged. I said I want to understand how to make it so it does not happen again. They guy shows up and shows me a price sheet and says he will clean out the main line for free and charge me $338 for the camera to have a look. So far so good. He then spends 3 hours in my house and in the end left the roots in the main line (all he did was unplug the clog. He cleaned out nothing). He also offered me only one solution to keeping my main line clear: A $12,000 repair. Offered no other solutions. Of course at this point I have to get second opinions as this is a major amount of money.

I call in another company. They offer me an option that requires a maintenance to be done every 6 months to clean out the roots that are in the line in a single location about 40 feet out. He also stated that the reason the previous plumber said was the main cause and dictated the need for the entire main line to be replaced was not an issue at all. This visit cost me $360 for a complete clean out of the line including the roots and the camera being done before and after the cleaning including a DVD of the video shot by the camera for future reference. Obviously a far better value than Drain Solvers charged me for.

At this point I called Drain Solvers to communicate my frustrations that I paid $338 for something that was only half done. The line was never cleaned and because I was not given all the options I had to call in someone else to get all the options. The person I talked to said he understood and that he would get me a refund.

And... this is where is gets bad.

He called me back the next day and said that I was a liar and that there would be no refund and hung up. I was pretty frustrated by this but had to get back to work. Later the owner called me and left a very nasty message. He called again and proceeded to use a massive amount of profanity telling me that I should ""Be an American about this"" and that ""He understand that I can't understand this being from Boulder and all"". He then proceeded to tell me he was firing staff because of me and that ""it was my f***ing fault"" and ""do I want that sh*t on my conscience?"" At this point I am shocked beyond belief. The next bit really got me. He offered to refund half the money if I would modify my Yelp review.

I have decided that it is more important for you all to know the truth about this company so everyone can be careful. In the end I believe the owner was so angry because he is tired of people calling and complaining about the work done by his employees. Unfortunately he seems to lack the customer services skills to handle these complaints.

I would absolutely NOT use Drain Solvers EVER if I were you. I know I will NEVER call again.

Megan H.

Avoid this company at all costs! They charged $89 for a service call when most other companies seem to provide free estimates for drain cleaning. After I waited around for three hours, the ""technician"" told me that his equipment wouldn't fit down our basement stairs so he couldn't do the work today. Then he quoted me $1200 to come back and clean out three lines! We've had the main line snaked before for under $200, and the stairs were certainly not an issue. I complained that they should have asked some questions about where the problem was located if their equipment can't fit down stairs, but there was obviously no way out of paying the service fee. I indicated on the phone that I would be paying cash, but the guy had no change so I had to pay the $90 bucks FOR NOTHING with a credit card. Now I am $90 poorer and back to square one. Call around.

Paul R.

Terrible company, botched the job, dishonest, overpriced, propose unneeded repairs... watch out for DainSolvers. They over charge. They did not complete the work. They try to scare you into doing extra work that is not needed, and they steer additional work to their buddies. (We wonder if they get referral fees or kickbacks.) Based on our direct experience with DrainSolvers, we believe they are outright dishonest. They charge 2-3-4 times as much as regular plumbers, ($389 for a drain clean, without a camera DVD, compared with other plumbers the next day who charged $89 for root cleaning to finish the work that DrainSolvers did not complete, and also gave us a DVD to show it's clean)... Our DrainSolvers guy made up work that did not need to be done, and estimated $11,000 in repairs that we did not need, and he would not provide a camera DVD to back up his diagnosis. We called the company and gave them a chance to make good, but they refused to provide a DVD to back up their work proposal. Then we called in two other plumbers to get other opinions, and they both agreed the work DrainSolvers proposed was not needed, and cleaned our drain and gave us a DVD to show their work, for much less money. DrainSolvers also placed their advertising in our home without our verbal agreement, a huge sticker on our water heater, and another one on the water shut off valve. Aggressive marketing, false diagnosis, overpriced, dishonest... what else do you need to know? Do not call them, do not let them into your home.

Susan F.

The one-star ratings are completely accurate; we are lodging a complaint with the BBB because of our experience with this company. They charged us over $500 to do a simple, isolated snake of a single drain (NOTE: not the main sewer line, just an arterial line). He claimed he needed a second technician, returned over 2 hours later and cleared the drain in about 10 minutes. It was then another 2 hours of them pressuring us and telling us that unless we follow their recommendations and explore having the main sewer line replaced, they would not guarantee their work.

Their sales tactics involved fear-mongering, intimidation and outright lies to scare people into buying overpriced and unnecessary services. These guys are going to get sued... I just wish I had the time, money, and patience to do it. I finally forced them to leave and was prepared to call the police because they kept insisting more was wrong.

After their ten minute snake job, the clog is gone and our plumbing works fine. They are liars. Please don't use them!!!!! We wasted an entire day and a whole lot of money that should have gone to an honest tradesmen. This company gives the trade a bad name and reputation-- these guys are nothing short of crooks!

I've gotten off a used car lot with less pressure.

David J.

Wow! really expensive (and overpriced). I had a kitchen sink that clogged, but I just didn't have time to get into it. I checked the P-trap and line back to wall, but found they were clear. I also checked all the other drains--they ran fine. This was the only clogged sink and assumed the clog couldn't have been very far down the line. I had to leave and asked my wife to go ahead and call a drain cleaner. So, I wasn't there when he arrived. Their tech was well spoken, calm and friendly. He immediately said the problem would require $338 in fees to fix, in addition to the $45 trip fee. How he figured it would require a snake all the way to the main line, I'll never know, but he ""diagnosed"" the complexity without using any tools. By the time I talked to him on phone he said it was too late since he already had the snake out 25ft! (but there isn't that far between the next sink line!) My wife had to sign all sorts of things and had to agree each point on their contract. My wife, sensing an argument said we could use the money in our emergency fund and I agreed to talk to his manager and see what's really going on. To be fair, he did notice a pipe that wasn't draining back properly, but this wasn't the issue with the clogged sink. I tried to negotiate thinking $318 for 45 minutes of services was way too much, but they said they'd take off $45 only. Talked to other plumbers who said a whole house main could be snaked for $150. Too bad the tech was a nice guy and working for an overpriced company preying on those in need. Oh, and he gave my wife a box of Girl Scout cookies (the most expensive cookies we ever bought).

Josh H.

Total scam! Charged me almost $400 for 30 minutes of work to clean hair out of a drain. They DO NOT honor their website deals or coupons!! Even if they say they do, they will find some excuse to tell you why they can't give you a discount they have already promised to give. Their customer service is no help either. They argued with me over the phone for over an hour over a few bucks. What a RIP OFF!

Troy S.

Excellent service. I am surprised at the one star ratings, all the other review sites have 4 and 5 stars. They also have an A+ BBB rating. Will definitely used them again!!

Jeff Y.

Deceptive pricing and advertise. Ad says $99 drain cleaning... No hidden prices and no extra charges. Once they arrive there is an $89 charge for an ""access fee"" to come into the house if there is not a clean out (many houses do not have clean outs). Then there is another $89 fee to pull a toilet. Most other companies in town will pull a toiled for $25 - $30.

Total cost $277 - I own many rental properties and have had over 25 drains cleaned in the past year and never spent more the $145. Shop around

Ronit N.

I had a great experience with Drain Solvers, they were fast to come out, and they wanted to help. Will use them again, no question about it.