Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Water Cleanup

Nanci S.

Tim came out today to help fix a couple drainage problems in a few places. He was right on time, did an incredible job, very helpful, very knowledgeable and I would defiantly call him first when I need a plumber in the future.

Eric H.

When the main line between my house and street sewer clogged I called Roto-Rooter. They were very quick in getting someone scheduled. They called in advance as promised and arrived within the promised window. The line was quickly cleared and an appointment made for a subsequent visit to perform a camera inspection of the line. Both visits were performed to expectations by knowledgeable representatives who were extremely friendly and helpful in providing information about the condition of my waste line and advice on how to keep it clear. I am generally extremely pleased with the level of service provided. The only word of caution I'd share is that upon the initial arrival I was quoted what seemed like an excessive sum for snaking the line but was told only later that it included the camera inspection. While I'm happy after the fact that I had the camera inspection, I would have preferred to be quoted for the work I actually requested and then offered a quote for the extra work. I almost feel like I was tricked into the extra work. Other than that, I would highly recommend Roto-Rooter.

Michael L.

My sewer was backed up and the excrement was oozing out of the clean out valve. Called Roto Rooter and they came on time. They charge a flat fee for cleaning/snaking the pipe $345 no matter 30 minutes or 2 hours. Jesus the technician spent almost 2 hours getting every last little root that was sticking thru the cracks in the 100 year old clay pipe. While Jesus was working on the sewer line I had the Roto-Rooter estimator come to give me an estimate for replacing the clay pipes with PVC so I wouldn't have this problem again and again. After giving me his bid he advised me that there is a rebate plan with the City of San Mateo and the City would pay up to 50% of the lowest of 3 bids. I really appreciate the hard work by Jesus and the excellent job he did and I appreciate the information given to me by Rich the estimator. I highly recommend Roto-Rooter of East Palo Alto and their technician Jesus.

Christine M.

(Context: this job counts as after-hours, ""24-hour"" emergency plumbing)

I called for help at 5:30pm, and was told they'd be here by 8pm... Ok, figured I could wait that long. Got a call at 7:30pm saying they'd be late by an unspecified amount of time... Ok, I was still willing to wait. Got a second call at 9pm saying they were too busy and weren't going to come AT ALL.

Naturally, this is an emergency plumbing problem. Our toilet doesn't work. Inconvenient. And they know this. I wasted 3.5 hours of precious evening time for nothing. Now at 9pm I've had to call around desperately searching for someone else who can come. Everyone's already booked up for the night, so I should feel lucky that I found someone who can come at 3am.

BAD FORM, ROTO-ROOTER. Bad form indeed.

(Comment retracted regarding fishy functionality of their website)

Next day, update:

Pat, the company commenter below, did a good job of elevating my issue to the General Manager of my local Roto Rooter call center, and I did have a conversation with a staff member who called me to discuss. Unfortunately, this employee was more interested in retaining my business than improving their company. He offered excuses, apologies, and discounts (in that order). However, these things do nothing in the way of keeping this issue from recurring with another customer. Even when I said that all I cared about was improvement, he still just offered more excuses and apologies. I didn't get the feeling he was hearing me at all or had any plans to pursue the matter internally.

I have a personal interest in Roto-Rooter being reliable because at my next emergency plumbing incident I'd like as long a list as possible of plumbers I can feel good about calling, since so many of them will turn me down due to workload. Turn me down is what Roto-Rooter should've done from the get-go if they didn't have enough plumbers to compensate for unanticipated problems on their jobs. And after being in their business for so long, by now they should be planning for ""unanticipated"" problems simply as best practice.

The nature of 24-hour emergency plumbing service is that all calls are urgent. If I could wait until morning for repair why in the world would I pay extra and stay up late to get the issue resolved at night? Reliability is an inherent requirement of this kind of service because by definition emergencies need quick resolution.

As an analogy, the function of a lamp is to provide light when you turn it on. If it only sometimes provides light but sometimes doesn't, it has failed in its function and needs to be repaired or replaced. If a company claiming to provide 24-hour emergency plumbing only sometimes shows up and sometimes doesn't, it has failed in its function and needs to be repaired or replaced. Since they don't seem interested in improving their internal workings so this doesn't happen again, even after I made a good faith effort to alert them of the issue, I have replaced them. I will not be calling Roto-Rooter again, and I am sorry I cannot raise my star rating. Pat, your colleagues have let you down.

Daniel T.

Plugged sewer line between the house and the street. I called and was given a two hour window. Jesus came an hour and a half after I called. He was professional and efficient. Expensive, but needed to be done.

Anne P.

I'm giving 2 stars because Roto-Rooter sent someone quickly and the problem is now fixed. I'm not giving 5 stars for other reasons:
-- No estimate of proposed pricing before starting the job.
-- Into the work, but needing a part, the serviceman said he'd be back in the morning, we did settle on a price, $345. The next morning I needed to be gone, so I left a credit card and a friend to oversee things. When I returned, the Roto-Rooter serviceman had come and gone and I had a bill for $729.42. He had added $345 and $384.42. The bill showed no breakdown for labor or listing of parts. My friend had told him of the previous night's agreement, but he was having none of that.
-- I called the office the afternoon I got home and saw the bill. A supervisor called me back and said he'd need to talk with the serviceman. After he'd done that, he said they would bill me only $365. Even in my conversation with the supervisor, it remained totally unclear what charge was for labor and what for parts and what was their standard price for cleaning a drain line.
-- I have quite satisfactorily used Roto-Rooter for many years for cleaning out the drain lines; I am ready for a change.

M C.

Said they would be arriving between 8 am and 10 am. He was running a bit late, but we were kept apprised of the time he would be here. No problem for us. He arrived about 9:45 am, did the root treatment, and was gone. No muss, no fuss. This is why we always use Roto-Rooter

L W.

Jay Boundy did a great job. Not sure if all RR service people are as good, maybe I got lucky. He took care of a complicated set of problems in a timely manner. He and crew were very busy, so I admit that communication wasn't as prompt and smooth as it could've been, but he really came through when I expressed our urgent needs, rearranging his and crew's work to fit the situation. Quality work. And instead of charging extra for such demands, gave me a great deal. Treated each of us well - explained things thoroughly, patiently, politely. Wish all my service experiences could be this good..

Roxanne K.

Don't have much experience with plumbing companies, so I really don't know if they are the best, but DAMN! Our technician Jesus did an awesome job clearing out our clogged drain at our house in Westborough South San Francisco! When we called Roto Rooter around 6:45pm, we were given a window the technician would show up ... 9pm-1am. 1am?! Oh well, we took a chance since we really wanted to be able to take showers and use the toilets this evening. hehe. We were given a 30 min notice call (around 9:45/10pm) and when we got to back to the house, Jesus was just about to leave since no one was at home. Oops! Luckily we got his attention, and he was able to fix our problem so quickly (in under 30 minutes!). He explained what he was doing, what caused the blockage (roots. damn drought!), and future steps to mitigate the problem. He gave us options but wasn't pushy at all. He was super friendly, knowledgeable about what he was doing, and he definitely showed that his number one priority is customer satisfaction.

If ever we're in a plumbing jam, and can't fix the problem ourselves, we'll definitely give Roto Rooter a call!!!

Liz D.

Service location: Redwood City.

The connection between my house and the city sewer line becomes clogged every year or so, a combination of tree root invasion and an offset between the house line and the city sewer line. I always call Rotorooter, as you can schedule online and the service person shows up when advertised. As in all previous times, the service person was prompt, helpful, and efficient. I forget to make a note of his name, but he also me some advice as to what to do *after* I've cleared a clogged toilet -- run the shower for a few minutes to help the clog move all the way to the city sewer lin.e