Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Water Cleanup

Seth T.

To sum things up: explore other options if you need anything but an urgent clean out.
My story goes like this: our toilet started backing up late Saturday night, so Sunday morning I call roto-rooter because I figure they are the only ones I can get to come clean it out on a Sunday. The guy who came out was very nice and spent 2 hours trying to get the toilet to drain without luck. Because he was unable to clear it, he did not charge me which was awesome and went a long way toward establishing trust. The next step was a scope and possible treatment with high pressure water to clear out the pipes. The first guy even charged me half price for the scope. Again, right on and righteous. For this or that reason, they couldn't get the scope out there until Tuesday and that is when it all started going down hill. I couldn't be around when the guy came out to do the scope (my spouse was here) but when I talked to the guy on the phone, he told me that he was sure the main sewer pipe was either broken or in discontinuity. He couldn't really explain why, and he did not leave a recording of his scope which was odd to me. He only said that in his experience, we really didn't have much choice but to dig up the pipe in our yard and replace a section. The price for this? $5000. To be fair, I never met the guy face to face and he sounded like an alright guy when I talked to him on the phone. He even took time to talk to me when he was at home. Up to this point, I felt like I had been treated fairly and had no reason to doubt what he said other than his explanations of things weren't very clear, so I decided to go ahead.
The crew was here the next afternoon ready to dig a hole (a $5000 hole) when it started to rain and they decided to come back early the next morning. As they left, I decided to act on the nagging feeling I had that I should get a second opinion. I called a plumber that a friend recommended and he was there an hour later. He went over things with me and clearly explained everything. He said the guy from roto rooter is probably wrong, but even if he was right and the pipes are broken to pieces, he would do everything roto-rooter was going to do for a fraction of the cost. You can guess the rest. The second guy was right, my pipes were pristine, just clogged and I got out of the deal for a fraction of what roto-rooter had quoted me.
Here is my first gripe: either the guy from roto-rooter truly believed that my pipes were broken under my yard or he just jumped to that in order to charge for a major repair. Like I said, he seemed like an alright guy, so I will give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he truly believed what he was telling me. If that is true, then at the very least his diagnostic skills are not as good as the second guy and I think I would avoid major repairs with these guys based on that alone. You just can't jump to charging somebody $5000 unless you know for sure you are right, which he obviously couldn't have.
That brings me to my second gripe: the second guy who came by had a cost structure for everything. He showed me what he charged for labor, for parts, etc. It was all very clear so that I knew what I was paying for. Roto-rooter just quoted me one price for all the work without any details. They were willing to WAY overcharge for the same service without any explanation of how that cost was calculated and to me that is bad business.
Third gripe: roto rooter is a large business and the communication between the work crews was fairly poor. We had a total of four different trucks out here during our ordeal and one hand clearly didn't know what the other was doing. They were ready to start digging in the wrong spot before my spouse stopped them.
The lesson learned? Buyer beware.

Jessica M.

Wow, I was so amazed by Roto-Rooter. They saved us! We had a clog in our drain which was causing backup and made our basement partially flood. We called a different plumber to come out and they snaked the line but couldn't get through. They did try hard, but ended up clogging it worse. They told us we'd need to spot-replace the line which is thousands of dollars. I called Roto-Rooter for a second opinion and Dave showed up. He was wonderful and tried snaking the line again and was able to get through and clear the line, saving us thousands. He also located the issue that caused the problem in the first place. Our other plumber we used told us it was in the front but Dave showed us exactly where it was in the back and we could even see the cause from above ground. Crazy! He saved us thousands and kept us from working with a bad plumber. We still need our line replaced, but now were able to see with a camera exactly what was the problem from inside and out and have all of our questions answered. I was so surprised and impressed with Dave's work. Much better than the 5 star rated other plumber we called in from Home Advisor. Thanks Dave!

Karen G.

I had a hole in the pipe connected to the spigot on the back of my house. It took 3 trips by different Roto-Rooter employees to finally get it fully functioning. First guy did not secure the pipe to anything so about half a foot of pipe would come out of the wall if you pulled on it and the spigot would just rotate around in a circle when you turned the handle. Also, a friend looked at how they installed the new pipe and said they used cheap materials and it was not a solution he would expect from a plumber - a plumber I paid $445 for. I requested someone come and at least attach the new pipe properly. The second guy didn't have the right drill to attach it to my house (the only thing he was there to do) - that did not stop him from trying though - which then created a hole too big for the screw and scratched up the new handle. The third guy finally fixed things properly - including getting me a new handle. Would've been one star but the last guy at least did what I would've expected to see done in the first place.

Ty S.

We were told that roto rooter would be at our house between 3pm and 7pm. It is now ten after nine and they are still not here. I'm glad I had to leave work early for them to lie to us about what time they would arrive. This is infuriating considering some of us have to be at work very early in the morning and instead of getting much needed sleep I have to stay up to wait for them. I will not be using their service again and I would not recommend them for anyone who has things to do outside of waiting for a service. Use another company!

SYLVIA R.

On time, left the bathroom clean and neat, work is perfect and solved the problem. Very nice person to have in my home. Thank you for your expertise.

K.L. S.

Called at 11:30pm to schedule service the next morning. Professional & friendly on the phone & was told they would come out between 9-11am. Received a call in the morning around 9:30am that they were enroute. Showed up at 10am, quick, professional & friendly. Would definitely use these guys again though I hope I don't have to! Had a clog in the pipe going to septic & about 30min after they showed up everything was good again.

Emily S.

We had a problem with our basement toilet leaking. Turned out our main sewer line was backing up. It cost us $400 to get the main line snaked. Our plumber was professional and cleaned up well after having to remove the toilet to clean out the line. Unfortunately, they were over 1.5 hours later than the 2 hour window I was quoted. The work is under warranty for 6 months. Pretty happy with the service.

MaryJo C.

They arrived on time and took care of the problem right away. Probably not the ""cheapest"" around. But I do feel at times you get what you pay for. You can get the cheap guy but if your drain is still clogging, what did you save????? They were fast efficient and worth the money.

J B.

I made an appointment with Roto-Rooter to clean out two clogged drains. I was given a courtesy call informing me the tech would not make the 4 hour window. He finally came 3 hours late. He was very friendly and professional, and explained what he was doing satisfactoraly.
Here's why the low rating. His mechanical snake had broken off, and he hadn't replaced it. Therefore the snake couldn't auger through the clog. He did manage to clear the second clog, and explained that I would need get one of their special water jetters for $900 to clear the clogged drain. $900?!? He said he only charged us for 1 drain, so gave us a $300 bill, and left.
I called another local Rooter company, and a guy came out within 45 minutes, ran his snake and hit the clog. Couldn't get through, so he put it away and went out to his truck and came back with a water jet machine. Problem solved, and it didn't cost $900 either.
Bottom line is, Roto-Rooter is good, but other people are too. I believe that Roto-Rooter's pricing is very extreme. Anyone else can do the same thing for a fraction of their charge. Call around.

Erin B.

I'm happy to report that Roto-Rooter ended up coming though and taking care of my plumbing issue and my concern! After posting my review, I was contacted by customer service and they recognized and addressed the problem on their end wanted the opportunity to fix it! We all have bad days and they went out of their way to make it right! I appreciate that!