Gary's Rooter & Plumbing Service

Donna C.

Unfortunately, I can not leave a very good review for this company. Their representative was very friendly and knowledgeable when he came out to give me a bid. I own a business and have 3 catch basins. We were told it would by 275.00 to jet our storm drain lines and then 150.00 per catch basin to clean, if that was needed. This was a Friday night so we discussed when the least intrusive time to come would be. Jeremy (the employee) said that they would come on Monday at Noon. Monday morning we had our 20+ employees move their vehicles from our parking lot. Monday came and went and no one showed up and no phone call was made. We called the company on Tuesday and were informed that Jeremy had called out sick so they couldn't make but they would come on Thursday at Noon. Our employees once again accommodated by moving their vehicles. No one showed up until after 2pm. They cleaned the catch basins without notifying me that they were doing so (we had just authorized the line jetting), I was fine with this because I am sure it needed to be done. Jeremy showed me some concrete that was found in the catch basin and again was very professional. At 3:30 I noticed that the crew was just waiting around and not really working, I went out to investigate and was told they were waiting for the parking lot traffic to clear and that the jetting process would take 20 minutes or so. I explained that traffic was going to increase drastically at 4pm and they should start work immediately to avoid the increase. They finished what they could and said they would come back the next day to finish the 3rd catch basin. I explained when our high traffic times again (this was gone over in the initial meeting. On Friday when they finished I was given an invoice for $1000.00!!!! I was expecting the invoice to be $725.00 (150.00 x 3 + 275.00) instead they charged the 150.00 x 3 and then I was billed for 4 jettings at 137.50 (this was not at all what was quoted). It took over 4 days of phone calls to the company (messages were left) and no return call was ever made. We are still trying to sort out the price difference.

I can not recommend this company.

Ohj T.

Hiring Gary's Rooter Service was likely the worst experience with any business I've ever had. I called them to clear a clogged drain. The worker who showed up had a hurt shoulder, and was cursing a lot about having to work when he tried to call in injured. While he was on the phone with the dispatch, he appeared very angry, cursing a lot. At one point he pulled the phone away from his ear, leaned toward me and said ""this stupid b**ch, man"". I was very weirded out by the complete lack of professionalism, but wasn't going to wait for a different plumber. He wasn't able to life the drain snake, so I offered to carry it for him in and out of my house. I really just wanted to get the job done and have my drain working again. Being injured, it took him a very long time, and I had to help move the snake a number of times. After the ordeal was over, I called the office to see if I could get a discount, since I do a portion of the work I paid for myself. Instead, I was put on hold, and Gary himself got on the phone. He proceeded to yell and cuss me out, and then hung up on me. I called back to try to calm things down, while still pursuing a discount of some kind. He cussed me out even worse (no joke, he was extremely foul), hung up on me again. I tried to call again to talk to someone else, but my number was blocked from calling them. Never in a million years did I think a business owner would cuss out a customer like this, but it happened here at Gary's Ruder service. Run away, folks. These guys are plain scary.

S K.

A hour and 42 minutes late 2 calls to office, no apology, no explanation....$100 charge tacked on that was never discussed (charge removed), crawl space cover not replaced, hole where pipe was not covered although in estimate it was stated that everything would be covered up and capped. Crew did not use drop clothes or pad to set their tools on, just right on wood floor and in and outside with water on their shoes etc. Guys were not informed of what the job was prior to arrival....came ready to fix leak in the wall, that was not task at all. Very, very disappointed. Had referred to coworkers based upon phone conversation with both a technician and the scheduling person as well as the person who gave the estimate. Will correct recommendation and remove this company as my go to plumber! Now I have to go out in the rain and lightning and deal with my open crawl space!!!!

Dan P.

My issues with Gary's was due to lack of communication. They failed to show up the first day they were supposed to come due to another job they were still working. However, I never received a call letting me know. I called and left a message. The next day I called (Sunday) the lady informed me they had been stuck at another job when they were supposed to show up. So we scheduled for them to come the next day. The next day they were over an hour late and no call to inform. Not the biggest of deals, but it would have been nice to know. The day after, they were late again, no call. Then they were supposed to get a bid to me that night. I didn't get their bid until two days later, but I had already hired another plumber. They were friendly and seemed they would be competent in doing the job, but the lack of communication showed a lack of consideration. I'm pretty easy to please and really don't like giving out bad reviews to people who seem generally honest, but they must fix some of their issues, or you are likely to experience the waiting and not knowing that we did.

David B.

Grossly incompetent staff, no idea of quality of work b/c nobody ever came.

We needed a plumber when our pipes burst during a deep freeze on a Monday. All plumbers in town are crazy busy because of historic cold. I get that, fine. We call Gary's late on Monday, they schedule us for ""mid afternoon"" Tuesday. OK. My wife calls early Tuesday morning to confirm. Receptionist remembers talking to my wife Monday, but ""forgot to put us on schedule."" We're assured that we'll be on the schedule for later that day. I call periodically to alert them that we're leaving the house to eat (b/c all water shut off due to burst pipes), asking if they have any idea when to expect a visit. Nope, they can't give an estimate, could be any time; very soon or much later, the woman on the phone has no idea.

It was my wife's 50th birthday and we were essentially trapped in the house waiting for a plumber who never came. I finally called (again) around 5:30 pm and confirmed nobody coming that day and rescheduled for Wednesday. I should note that each time I called throughout the day, the woman on the phone had no idea who I was and required I re-explain the entirety of our situation.

Happily, shortly thereafter, my wife flagged down Tom, from Tom's plumbing (607-8879) who was working on a neighbor's house. He came over after finishing there, assessed the problem and scheduled for the next day for repair.

I called Gary's the next day to cancel. Again the woman on the phone required that I completely re-explain who I was and what house I was calling about. Tom came over and fixed the problem as promised, he also kept us informed throughout the day of his schedule. Note to Gary's, it can be done.

Finally, on Friday, the same woman from Gary's calls me back and asks if we still need a plumber!!!! This is 3 days after we were scheduled and 2 days after I cancelled! Had we stuck it out with Gary's, it is clear that we would have been strung along for 3 days before a plumber arrived, never knowing if a repair was imminent or not; in essence, we would have been stuck in a house with no water for 4 days waiting for a repair that wasn't coming.

I understand that this cold snap has caused a huge backlog of plumbing work. However, that does not excuse an incapacity to perform basic scheduling and properly inform customers of their place in line.The woman on the phone sounds young (it was always the same person) and is perhaps over-matched by the requirements of her job. The plumbers at Gary's may be great, but I'll never know because the support staff is completely incompetent.

Corrie W.

If you're tired of companies with good customer service, Gary's would be a good change. They scheduled me for a same-day repair, and gave me an hour-long window for the arrival of the plumber. I specifically asked to be notified of any delay, as I was preparing to go out of town, and needed to let a friend know when to expect me. The receptionist promised to have the guy call, and also told me about all the things that might happen to cause a delay (which didn't inspire confidence). However, I never got a phone call, and I never saw a plumber. I called the office number to inquire, and the phones had been turned over to voicemail before 4pm.

Nadine B.

If you think your toilet is full of poop, waite till you deal with these guys. They are bs scammers. DO NOT HIRE THEM

Susan W.

CCB license no. 174640 (plus has one other affiliated license number). RUN from this company.
I hired them to do a commercial sewer rehab on a 12-unit apartment building. The job took 5 weeks instead of 2. Workers showed up late, left early, or not at all. I found out after the job was completed that there was NEVER a journeyman plumber on site during the entire job (as the law requires); the entire job was done by apprentices. One of them told me privately, later, that inferior hookups were used to save the contractor money, even tho the parts used were commonly known to cause problems down the road. This was for a job in the low 5 figures, by the way. They upset my tenants so bad that I had to give 2 of them a free months rent AND I was contacted by a lawyer and threatened with a lawsuit for the actions of the plumbers.

Andrew F.

We did not conduct business with these guys in any way. I am the renter of a home through a landlord and we contacted him needing repair on our plumbing. I felt the need to go out of my way and write a review about them.

They were very thorough and complete with everything they did, our toilets were unable to be flushed and the downstairs shower was overflowing!! When they arrived in the morning they were there until about 3 PM and from that point on there weren't any issues. Thank you very much you guys.

The only negative I'd mention is their demeanor is not the friendliest but I can imagine plumbing isn't exactly the most fun to do, especially on a house full of college guys.

Jason J.

These guys were tremendous. They showed up a little late without letting me know ahead of time. Thus the 4 stars instead of 5. Once they were there, though, they did great work and saved us a bundle of money vs. a previous plumber, who had told us he'd need to dig up our meter at the street and replace a valve. Gary's looked at it and said, ""That's EWEB's job."" It didn't stop there, though. They called EWEB and had them out there in less than an hour.

All in all, I was very satisfied with their work. They even stopped back by to tweak a small detail.

I would say I was a bit put off by some comments by the plumber. He let my wife know all of his thoughts about gun control. Whether we agreed or not, it wasn't appropriate and made her uncomfortable. Not so much that we wouldn't have them back though. They did great work.