Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Water Cleanup

Jon W.

Unfortunately, my main sewer line collapsed on 12-29-17 (@ XXX XXX Street Reading PA 19602). I then hired Roto-Rooter to excavate the concrete, remove/replace the damaged pipe, then back fill w/ new concrete (for $3,500). At the time of hire, I was promised a detailed service report w/ supporting pictures (for my Home Owner's Insurance claim). No report was provided. After several phone calls & emails, Kurt Schwichow, Reading's Service Manager, finally sent a sub-par report on Jan 11th (13 days after the actual service date). Note; my credit card was charged the $3,500 on 12-29-17. Also, the provided Service Report was dated Jan 11th vs Dec 29th (so it was obvious no report/pics were documented @ the time of Service). Also, during the 13 day wait for the initial service report; I was attempting to schedule the waste water clean-up with Martin Knowles. Martin's clean-up service was finally completed on Jan 12th. Again, I was promised a detailed service report w/ supporting pictures (for my Home Owner's Insurance claim). Today is Feb 6th. The work was completed on Jan 12th. I have no report. Ive called, Ive emailed, Ive texted. Ive heard nothing but excuses (ie were busy, weve lost the paperwork, etc). At this point, I believe the entire Service was fraudulent. I'll be reporting my experience to the BBB, etc. I am so dissatisfied with Roto-Rooter; Im can't believe I paid you $3,500.

Kim P.

We had a leak coming through our ceiling in the living room from the bathroom on the second floor. It looked pretty bad, and this was the first time we had something like this happen, so we quickly googled ""plumbers near us, 24/7"" since it was late at night. They had quickly dispatched someone out to us, which was great. The gentlemen had suspected it was our drain pipe from the bathroom, and quoted us $3500, but insurance should cover most of it depending on what our deductible was. Again, we have never had anything like this happen so we didn't know what to expect or if that was true or if it was even a reasonable price.
Next day, a different person comes out, briefly introduces himself, and basically gets right to me signing a bunch of papers without explaining what it is that I'm signing...as if that's not something that's pretty important considering it's a home repair that has to go through insurance and things like that, and I'm not even the homeowner...my boyfriend is.
So, they bust open the ceiling (which is plaster) which causes a thick cloud of plaster dust to go through my entire house and coat literally every single thing in my living room, dining room, and part of my kitchen. Do you have any idea how hard is to clean that stuff up?
Anyway, they discover it was only the water line going to our sink upstairs that was leaking, and they were going to replace it with pex piping. I thought okay, no biggie. Shouldn't take long. And then they randomly just go ""yeah we're replacing the valve for your toilet (which didn't need to be replaced) and the trap under your sink (which did need to be replaced)"". That made me feel a little uncomfortable because they were just making decisions that potentially could cost us more money but they're not even fully explaining WHY they're doing those things or double checking that it's okay? Starting to feel like I'm being taken advantage of...Whatever, anyway, they complete the repairs after 8 hours (even though they left for over an hour at one point ""to get supplies"" after the original guy who gave us the quote showed up for what seemed like no reason, and two more times after that because they needed even more supplies...) the man who showed up and made me sign all the paperwork was not exactly a friendly guy, and his temper apparently got the best of him at one point and that is why he left to go to Home Depot one of the times because he had to ""collect himself in the parking lot"". I stayed out of their way the majority of the time so I have no idea why he was so pissed, but it made me feel very uncomfortable that he said that right in front of me.
Then when they were done, he just goes ""so how are you gonna pay?"" The entire time I had thought I would be receiving a bill to give to the insurance company but now I'm expected to shell out $3500 that I don't have? Im not even the homeowner! And how is it still $3500 when it ended up being a more minor issue?!
When I explained that to him he still tried to insist but we agreed on having my boyfriend call once he was available (he has two full time jobs) to discuss payment. He ended up getting in contact with a manager, who did not seem to care whatsoever about what had happened. He sent an itemized bill (which I was originally told we weren't able to get until we paid...) so we can look at it. Charged $1200 for busting open my ceiling which took all of 10 minutes, could've done that myself for free. Charged $288 for parts, which I was told we do NOT pay for. And $2011 for labor.
Honestly, it just feels like we were INCREDIBLY overcharged for what should not have taken 8 hours to complete. I was going to give two stars because at least the pipes aren't leaking anymore, but this whole experience has been pretty dang bad. The pipe leaking through our ceiling was stressful enough. Didn't think getting it fixed would be even more stressful.

Taylor S.

Tried to charge me $475 to snake a drain. When I told him I couldn't pay that much, he said $350. I told him that I sorry for wasting his time but I was not expecting to spend that much for a drain snaking. Ended up paying $250 which took him 10 minutes to remove clog. It just seemed like he was making up random prices. I would not feel confident choosing them again.

Lydia L.

The tech that came out was very informative. He was able to resolve our sewer line issue. He answered all our questions and gave us some pointers on keeping the line clear. I will definitely use Rotor Rooter in the future.

Stephanie T.

Our plumber was awesome! Michael did a fantastic job explaining what the problem was and fixing it right away. He was also very tolerant of my dog who would not stop barking at him. Well done Roto-Rooter. We didn't expect to have the job completed the same day. Excellent service and reasonable price!

Alex G.

Not sure if the other one went through. So here it is again.
Everything happened late at night, I wasn't sure what i was going to do since it was that late. Googled some names up honestly and Roto-Rooter came up. I called and initially we were told somewhere around 1:30 am someone would come over, but it actually ended up being way sooner than that. The nice gentleman came in the basement, just had to look at it and knew what it was right away. He fixed it in maybe 10-15 minutes. It was a little pricey, but did the job for a last minute decision. Thankful though that is got fixed right away, no hassle.

Kimberly E.

Came home to the basement sink running over all over the floor as the dish washer was running. Landlord refused to fix it and told me I had to fix it and sure enough my lease does say I have to fix all clogged drains. Stupid me for not seeing that before I signed the lease. The back up was in the pipe line between the sewer and the last sink before the sewer coming from the kitchen. years of build up food from the kitchen sinks...black gunk which I have only lived here a year yet i have to fix this..it has to be snaked out. Anyway the guy who came out was so nice and he fixed it in about an hour. He even had a coupon we could use which brought it down to 365.00. With three teen boys, I couldnt wait until someone else could come out. he came out at 9pm and was done by 10pm. Loved the service. worth the money.

John D.

Had a major back up and made 1 Simple call to Roto-Rooter servicing the Gladwyn, Penn Valley Pa area. Was told what time Michael -2844 would be at my house and he was here when promised.
He did what needed to be done and away went the back up and my headache. Thanks for being such an informative professional Michael, you made a bad day good again.

Michael B.

We woke up to water in our basement. This wasn't supposed to happen because we have a floor drain in our basement. Turns out, our floor drain was clogged. We had water backing up into the finished part of the basement. Being Thursday and a big storm is threatening to hit Saturday, I figured we were doomed! I called Roto-Rooter figuring we wouldn't see anyone until after the storm had passed, but I needed to have that drain cleared if it was after the storm. I called at 7:56am and by 9:00 that morning they were working on my drain! Not only did Sean clear my drain, but he also recommended a product to maintain a clean drain so I could avoid a big problem in the future!
Sean was courteous and neat and explained the prices and procedures up front. The expense was very reasonable.
I can't say enough nice things!!

Mj P.

Ongoing issues since 2004.
Team is always friendly, polite and thorough.
They were here during the Christmas- New Years holiday one year with a house full of people.
Consistently polite and resolve my problems without interrupting the normal activities in my home. Mike #2844 has been to my home on many occasions and has quietly and professionally handled my issues.
MJ