Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Water Cleanup

Amanda B.

Beware the ""within the hour"" promise!
Our main needed to be snaked. We are a family of 4, and I was suffering from food poisoning.
My husband was assured that ""within the hour"" someone would arrive.
An hour and a half later, he called back, and was told we live outside the service area. Really?? The couldn't have told us that beforehand WHEN THEY TOOK OUR ADDRESS IN THE FIRST PLACE??? And were they just NOT ever going to call us and let us know??
So the receptionist said ""I apologize"" about 8 million times, which is useless, and transferred him to another roto rooter...in El Dorado County! What the heck??

I was furious and called them back and demanded WHY we were told we'd have service within the hour when they had no intention of showing up. Never got a straight answer, just a billion ""I apologize and I'll send someone as soon as they become available"".

FYI, profuse apologies are a business technique to quiet angry customers.
Not gonna work, roto rooter. That's what social networking and online review sites are for. ZERO STARS if I could.

Bil B.

I call Roto rooters every year to have my sewer lines cleaned. Typical charge was between $100 - 125. I have been playing this amount for 5 years at my two properties. Now a NEW owner has taken over. They will NOT quote prices over the phone, so they came out and I was told what I have done each year, NOW will cost $275 - $ 300 to do the same job !!!!!! Why I ask ?? They said because they are the NEW OWNERS !!!

So I told the NEW OWNERS to stick that cleaning pipe machine up their own pipe, and I called another service for $ 100 to do the same job.!!!

I just wanted to say to the new OWNERS, that as consumers, we are NOT stupid.

Vaughn L.

On July 27, 2013 I hired a Knoxville, TN Roto-Rotter to replace all copper supply lines in our home from copper to pex.. The house is a two story log - the upstairs floor is the downstairs ceiling. The workers had been told to leave the copper that I would dispose of it. They took all the metal, including my nice, expensive rings which were around the tubing where it went thru the wall. They took my cut off valves. Upstairs bathroom- the plumbing was showing at the pedestal sink and it was a mess. The brass beauty rings were gone. There were huge cracks around the tub faucets. Downstairs bathroom- the pex overhead was hanging down. The pex to the pedestal sink showed all the way to the floor. After the workers left- I found the cold water turned off to the sink and when I turned it on the water flooded out. Laundry room- the stainless steel, ball valves were taken and replaced with cheaper set. Kitchen- the copper tubing to dish washer not removed and had major leak. The worker had tried to pull the dishwasher out from under the counter top and said he was unable to do so. I could see where he had tried. Under the sink, the lines were laying out and there was very little storage space left (when the supervisor came later he took a channel lock wrench and turned the copper tubing.) Water heater- two ball, brass cut off valves taken. Stainless steel , liquid field pressure gauge was taken. Outside- one of the faucets had copper tubing taken, but no service line to it. Under the house- pex lines hanging down below the floor joists 8-10 inches. Water was dripping. The supervisor came and told the workers to fix the problems, but the problems were never fixed. The metal that was taken was never returned, but they left their trash. The workers somehow let the water loose upstairs and water started coming thru the ceiling and light fixtures onto our downstairs wood floors. They had to call the water damage company. ALWAYS READ BEFORE SIGNING- On July 30, 2013 the workers worked all day. It was around 5:00PM and my wife was in the car leaving when she noted one of the workers standing with a clip board. He indicated she would have to sign so they could get paid. Without reading- she signed, not realizing it was a release. On Aug 2, 2013, I noted some water in the floor next to the dishwasher, and noted the wood floors warped. The Roto-Rooter repairman came and fixed the problem. He said there was a broken seal to the dishwasher. Keep in mind that the copper tubing which was supposed to have been removed by Roto-Rotoer had not been removed. The worker had tried to pull out the dishwasher, and the supervisor had turned the copper tubing with a channel lock wrench. I talked with the supervisor- he refused to take responsibility for the floor damage. End result- I paid another deductible, Roto-Rooter refused to pay and never did. I have pictures to prove the work done by Roto-/Rooter. TURN THE CONTRACT OVER AND READ GOOD. ROTO-ROOTER STIPULATIONS!!!!!

Stacy C.

If you'd like to pay $335 for a sewer main/branch line cleanout (a supposedly discounted price??), as opposed to the $100-$200 typically charged by other companies, then call roto rooter. If not, I'd go somewhere else. I absolutely will not be using them again in the future.

Kristen P.

My house in Woodland got a blocked line. We called Roto Rooter. They came and inspected and unclogged the line. In order to do the work, a big hole on our concrete needed to be opened up. They did the work.

But, a month has gone by and I have called three times for them to come fill in the hole in the concrete. So far, they came once on a Friday. Said they would be back on Monday. It's now 10 days later and the are MIA.

Why do I have to keep calling to get service complete?

Scott H.

On Aug.28 2013, I ordered service from roto-rooter.(on-line) ""extend domestic water line under Mobilehome. Add two hosebibs at the other end. "" Service was confirmed as Sept. 5, 2013. I called roto-rooter Sacramento on Sept 3, 2013 to confirm for the 5th. They said ""we were out there on the 1st , no one was home."" I told them they had it wrong, and reconfirmed for the 5th bet. 8am & 10am. On the 5th at close to 10am, I got a call, telling me ""the serviceman was running late, he would be there within the hour"" At approx. noon, I called the number I was given, She apologized numerous times,defending the company at all cost. ""I am sure the serviceman is on the way""
At approx. 2pm he arrived. After I explained what I wanted done and he surveyed the jobsite, he kept saying ""this is a big job"" I said ""what, connect two approx. 50 feet of PVC and add a hosebib at each end."" He said ""I don't have the tools or supplies,I'll have to see if I can come back tomorrow and bring a helper."" I asked him ""how much the job would cost?"" When he came back from the truck, he quoted a price of $1500.00

(leaving out the expletives) ""Sir, don't you think that price is ENORMOUS for this job""
He said, ""that's the rate.""
I said, ""I will do it myself.""
I called roto-rooter and asked to talk to a supervisor. I was told a supervisor was not available, leave your number and I will have one call you. That was yesterday. As of this writing,, NO supervisor has called.
Thanks roto-rooter for a whole day wasted, I will never get back. (I'm 73)

Jessica M.

Joe came, fixed our toilet, didn't make a big mess, wiped up behind himself, gave me a great rate along with a great customer friendly attitude!

Alan W.

Around 5pm yesterday while I was visiting my gf in the general Sacramento area, she noticed that all the toilets and tubs were draining very slowly. We looked on yelp and almost didn't call Roto-Rooter because their reviews here were mostly bad, but a neighbor spoke well of them. We also went ahead because another place that claimed to be open 24/7 couldn't get anyone out quickly. RR said someone would be by in 2 or 3 hours, but we got a phone call in well under an hour from the guy who said he'd be out in 45 minutes, and he was.

He must have worked on running the rooter for about an hour, going from the clean-out to the street, then going the other way (toward the house) from the clean-out, which produced a noticeable amount of sludge, and then out to the street again. He stuck to his original estimate of $225, was friendly and professional, got the job done and was gone less than 4 hours from the original call. He used the hose to wash off his shoes outside the house and didn't track any dirt, water, or mess inside. His work included digging out an enclosure surrounding the clean-out and putting everything back the way it was before he left. He only mentioned RR's Pipe Shield product in response to a question from me and didn't press when my gf said she wasn't interested. We're glad we weren't put off by the bad reviews here. Maybe the price was a little high but we didn't want to spend a lot of time shopping around for someone who could come to her town that evening.

A R.

Way overpriced!! They charged over $1,000 for labor JUST to replace a garbage disposal and a faucet (both parts of which were already purchased elsewhere) AND they claimed this included a senior citizen discount??!!! Wow!

Brian D.

I rented a snake to clean a clog. The snake got stuck in my drain. When roto-rooter got there, all he did at the beginning was chastise me for trying to do it myself. Then it took three guys 3 hours to try to get it out. They could not. So they charged me $532 and said they had to rip up my floor. They said they would call me the next day with an estimate. I told them I had family coming into town so I needed it done right away. Four days later...Nothing. I called another plumber. He was there for 1/2 hour and got the snake out!!! Charged me a guarter of the price. Horrible service!!!