Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Water Cleanup

Emily G.

We had a clog in our main septic line... Roto-Rooter sent two young kids out. They were polite and tried to be helpful but it seems like they didn't actually know what they were doing. They said that we needed to run a camera through our line because the snake wasn't going all the way through. They insisted that our septic tank was almost full and needed to be pumped before they could even run the camera (Turns out the tank, which had just been pumped within the past year, was totally fine). The next day they sent out a supervisor, who was able to run the camera and did clear a clog. He then tried to hard sell us on $7500 to tear out our bathtub, break through a 4"" concrete slab, and replace a 6"" piece of older pipe that hasn't caused us any problems (we had been warned that this company commonly tries to upsell these huge, expensive, unnecessary excavation projects). Then they left our bathroom a mess... they did not re-caulk the toilet, and there was nasty brown septic liquid sprayed all over the walls and floor and smeared on the toilet. I don't expect plumbers to be housekeepers, I expect to do some sanitizing once they leave, but for what we paid for the work they did I do expect a little bit of basic cleanup and for the toilet to be recaulked.

Two stars because they did actually come out quickly and they did clear our clog, but the rest of the experience was a stressful mess.

Deanna C.

Roto Rooter gave me an estimate of $5500 for water mitigation after my basement bedroom, laundry room and partial living room were backed up with sewage. At the end of it all they are charging me $8200, which had I known the flaws and inconsistency the techs would leave me to take care of, I would have NEVER hired Roto-rooter in a time of need.

Summary of issues.
The technicians only removed one 8 foot stretch of drywall (not the wall that was majorly affected/outside of laundry room), which was insufficient due to the damage that we explained to the techs. We had told Brian the backup happened on a Wednesday night, where as they did not come and perform the work until later on that week Saturday. After we expressed that the ""sales guy"" took water readings and showed us all of the saturated walls, the technicians STILL did not listen to us and did not take out the walls. 

The technicians told us they would take out 24 inches (2 feet) of drywall.... They only took out 23 inches, my husband had to correct their faulty measurements by cutting out 1 inch of drywall.

Brian and Robert from Roto Rooter did not connect the washers to the washer and dryer.... found out the hard way after doing a load in the wash, the laundry room floor had water coming from under the washer and dryer.  The washers to the Hot and cold hoses were Missing, we found them on the basement floor........ Had to buy new washers because of their incompetence, my husband took care of it.

They also crushed the dryer vent when they put it back into the laundry room, my husband had to pull the dryer out and put it back to the condition it was in before they took it out.

The green plastic on the floor from the front door to the basement door that roto rooter used to walk in and out of my house was never disposed of.

They never ""cleaned"" the appliances like they documented we have pictures to provide proof of all....

The technicians did not listen to what our concerns were, such as covering all of our belongings, they said they would, ""take care of it"".

Brian and Robert did not cover our belongings, which inturn left a residue of poop particles, dry wall, mold and chemicals used during and throughout the mitigation. I have dell computer monitors that have a thick residue, my desk with everything on it, my couch, my records, my dresser drawers.  It's sad that they only covered the top of my queen bed and left everything exposed. Including the headboard to my queen bed, which is now trash thanks to Roto Rooter.

The door to the affected bedroom was somehow closed after they started the dryer treatment, which we did not find out until 2 days later. We were told to not go downstairs because of the debris in the air.

Jim T.

So basically I had a very small leak in my spare bathtub, called Rooter and I will admit they were prompt, however, they told me the valve or seal in my hot/cold knobs were most likely shot and needed replaced, well basically the part was $20 give or take and they charged $500 to install them, yep you heard that right folks they charged $520 buck to replace those seals. Mind you there was no drilling, no tearing of walls, just two small seals in the faucet knobs. I would never recommend something as outrageous as this again.

Scott F.

Called these guys and was promised a technician around 5pm. Didn't show up until 10:30 with zero communication in between. All I needed was the main line to be rooted. He showed up and told me it would be $405. I do this twice a year and I've never paid more than $100. This company is a complete scam and shouldn't be in business.

Emalyn H.

Roto-Rooter did an awesome job hooking up our new sink. Scheduling was easy and dispatch was easy to communicate with. Our technician, Natalie, did a great job, she was friendly and explained everything she did when she was done. The price was fair and they got us scheduled they same day I called. I will definitely call them again for any future plumbing needs.

Cam M.

I called an Evergreen number for service but Evergreen does not show up on Roto-Rooter list. Decided to post here simply because I am not going to just drop it. BBB is next. The laundry room floor drain was clogged so I gave them a call as I've used them before for around $100. They eventually showed up 26 hours late. When I called the 2nd day after they missed another appointment, I was told they were busy and would be here whenever they could get here. Finally showed up - finished 20 min. later. The 20 min. included chatting at front door, looking at drain while I flushed toilet, going back out to vehicle for machine to use on clog. Actual ""work"" took about 3 min. and then I was ripped off for $389 - and no - that is not a typo. So if you need a drain cleaned out, call the outfit on Yelp charging $35 right now or any of the places that charge around $100 bucks for something so simple. Just don't call Roto-Rooter unless you have lots of time and money to waste.

Stacy C.

I contacted roto-rooter after we had our home inspection done and was told we had some roots in our sewer line and was recommended to clean them out. We weren't having any problems, we just wanted the roots out as we are re-doing our basement and didn't want any future problems. The first guy (Ariel) came out to our home who was supposed to clean out the roots, (who never did) found one of the pipes was a little off set in our front yard that connects to the city line. They had a second guy (Mike) come out to give us a quote for a spot repair of the off set pipe. The quote was so ridiculous I wanted to laugh. When the second plumber came out I told him Ariel never cleaned out the pipe and that there were still roots in the pipe. He just agreed with me and said ""we can't guarantee to clean roots out."" So basically we paid over $300 for them come out and tell me that there are roots in our line (which we already knew from our inspection report) and that our pipe was a little off set and that it will cost me an arm and a leg to have a pipe spot repaired in our front yard. It's pretty frustrating when you contact a company to clean out some roots and they don't do the job. Today I had another plumber come out from a different company that quoted me at 1/4 of the price roto-rooter did and they didn't charge me over $300 to tell me something I already knew. Actually, they didn't charge me anything. Just an FYI, all of these good reviews that are written by customers are so they can have an attempt at getting their money back. After roto-rooter comes out to your house they offer you to write a review and be put into a drawing that will get a full refund of their money.

Jimmy L.

Came home from vacation and found out my main drain was clogged and had major back flow... Called Roto-Rooter and their tech, Caleb #5403 responded the same morning. He was very knowledge able and seemed to be very experienced. I have had other plumbers called to fix the same problem before but without the fantastic results that He performed. Caleb knew and understood what tools (blade heads) was most appropriate and did not force one method the attempt to fix the problem. He took the time to ensure the job was completed successfully and unlike others who just ran a snake for a certain amount of time and called it good. Also provided and set up a follow-up with a camera snake to ensure nothing was missed. I am very pleased with the service I received.

Kate E.

Came home from vacation and found out my main drain was clogged and had major back flow... Called Roto-Rooter and their tech, Caleb #5403 responded the same morning. He was very knowledge able and seemed to be very experienced. I have had other plumbers called to fix the same problem before but without the fantastic results that He performed. Caleb knew and understood what tools (blade heads) was most appropriate and did not force one method the attempt to fix the problem. He took the time to ensure the job was completed successfully and unlike others who just ran a snake for a certain amount of time and called it good. Also provided and set up a follow-up with a camera snake to ensure nothing was missed. I am very pleased with the service I received.

Cody C.

1st plumber we had told us completely wrong information about what hardware in our shower would fit our system. 2nd plumber we had told us the 1st plumber was wrong (both roto-rooter) then went on to actually be very rude- was very abrupt in his explanations about why things didn't work, told me he ""didn't even see the first plumber in the system coming to our house"" aka he didn't believe me, and when I asked him to give me a demo of what he did he seemed frustrated and annoyed that he had to show me. All the while- after 2 visits, our shower was still not fixed! I called in again and asked to speak to the manager. That was 4 days ago, still have yet to hear from him. I will NEVER use Roto-Rooter again and to be honest have already used a different plumber in the area who was knowledgeable, KIND, and got the job done in less than 2 hours!