Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Water Cleanup

Rebecca R.

Never have I ever... left a scathing review for a business. However I wish I'd been better educated with helpful reviews before I got into my recent situation with Roto Rooter, Newark DE.

Short as possible: tenant occupied unit had a clogged drain... an attempt at opening the trap left about a gallon of water leaked into ceiling below causing damage directly below said water dump, nowhere else. Ceiling has history of being opened for pipe repair as it's an older home. I, as the landlord wanted this fixed quickly and professionally and I've always been told Roto Rooter was expensive but very good, so I called. Initial drain clearing was $500+, fine. Then told the ceiling would need to be pulled back to check for leaks and only the damaged area below the tub would be affected, I still think this is a reputable company trying to help so I say OK. I'm the landlord... I met with them and then left, it's not my house so I didn't stay to supervise. I come back and THE ENTIRE CEILING IS GONE. They didn't even have the decency to remove the countless drywall screws but charged 4K for removal and chemical drying. All of which highly irritated / inconvenienced my tenants. Told there were pipes to be renovated by one plumber... then next plumber sent out says the opposite, I only find this out bc I was never charged. Reminder: this was a clogged drain, and trap water spill, NOT a bust pipe. My ceiling is now gone and I'm quoted another whopping 4K to replace it. THIS WAS A CLOGGED DRAIN AFFECTING A SMALL PORTION OF THE CEILING!

All in all this is a company out to charge the maximum to your insurance company, who may or may not cover said charges. But don't worry, Roto Rooter will send you a huge bill and remind you that you're responsible if insurance doesn't cover. This is blatant manipulation of insurance payouts as I've never seen before. I'm shocked at how badly I was taken advantage of and hope of nothing else I can spread this warning to anyone else to use caution with a mega company looking to use its clout to overcharge you and your insurance carrier. NEVER will Insur or recommend this company again, utter bullsh*%!

Patrick M.

Roto Rooter used to be a good value, but I no longer recommend them. Our sewage line backed up, and I immediately called them because I had a good experience with them in the past.

They showed up, identified a clog right where the drainage pipe empties into the septic tank, pulled it out by hand, and said ""line clearing"" is a $510 flat rate. The 10 minutes they were here equates to a $3000 hourly rate.

Marie E.

Roto-Rooter charged $1000.00 to remove and insert tub-shower overflow drain in upstairs bathroom. It was done 3/13/2021. The 6 month warranty has expired. My son hands me the drain part this morning, saying it fell out into the tub.

Tim R.

Stunningly Unprofessional.

I made an appointment for Saturday early afternoon as I needed someone to take a look at our shut off valves. As it was approaching the end of the appointment time-slot I called to see if they were still going to show up. The dispatcher/driver assured me they would still come, but they were running behind. They confirmed someone would be calling me soon.

The rest of the day/night goes by without any call or visit. I wakeup the next morning to my wife saying someone was at our door through the Ring camera at midnight last night. That's right.. our plumber not only showed up without a courtesy call but decided to arrive at midnight when we were sleeping!

The icing on the cake was I received a call the next morning assuring me they haven't ""forgotten about me"". I responded to the service rep that she is most certainly right as they decided to visit us at midnight... 7 hours late. Her response was ""well we are a 24 hour service"". Not sure if that was sarcasm, but I decided it wasn't worth my time and went with Len Plumbing.

Bottom Line -- Roto-Rooter Plumbing is unprofessional, discourteous, and quite simply disgraceful.

Elizabeth T.

Even though the customer service person commented on this review, and I emailed as they requested, I never heard more from them. So why ask me to email? Strange.
Pat, I emailed you June 18

Jay A.

The worker was good. He was able to clear my clogged drain. I appreciate the 6 month warranty. What I didn't appreciate was the price given $385, then when I mentioned the $75 coupon I was told it was already included in the price. That sounds like a scam to me. I feel the need to warn future customers.

My L.

I never write these reviews, but my experience with Roto-Rooter in Wilmington has left such a bad impression on me, I felt like I needed to share my experience to warn other customers. I called to inquire about cost of installing new dishwasher and was given an appointment for the next day, time window 9am-11am. I had to take a half day off of work to be available for this appointment. I received a call from the dispatcher around 9:50am stating that they were working on finding a technician in my area. I received another call at 10:40am stating that they finally located a technician and that it would take about 30-40 mins for him to get to me. This automatically means he would be arriving outside of the time window they originally told me. The technician, Jonathan, then gives me a call himself around 10:50am saying he is about 20mins away. Great, I head over to the house, sit there until 11:30am where I still have not heard from the technician. I finally get a hold of him where he tells me he's stuck in traffic but he's ""close"" and then he hangs up on me. I call him back repeatedly to get an accurate ETA, and no response. I call the home office where they are able to get in contact with him, and they tell me he is 20mins away, which makes his ETA 12:15pm at this point, which is over an hour past the original window they quoted. Needless to say, I was furious and told the office I could not wait any longer because I needed to get back to work. When asked what policies they have in place to remedy a situation like this, the person on the phone did not have an answer for me , so clearly, customer service is not their highest priority. I am never inquiring about their services ever again, very unprofessional and have poor customer service.

Lee S.

The mitigation service was fine. The follow up was not. I needed a more itemized receipt for the insurance claim than what was initially provided. I called the local office and was told the only one that could provide that information was the office manager. I have left several messages for the manager and he has not returned my calls. Because of this I cannot get reimbursed by the insurance company for the damages.

Stephanie J.

On Wednesday, September 19, 2018, Roto-rooter representative Gau came out to my house give a free estimate on my plumbing issues which was a clogged laundry room sink. The representative made the issue out to be more serious than what it was by mentioning my sewer and that it was something I could not do myself. I called out from my job thinking this was a sewer issue and it was going to be a long process based upon the quote amount and the treatment that was needed per Gau. Gau snaked the drain in 10 minutes and poured Drano down the sink. I asked him was that it and mentioned this was something I could have done myself. He mentioned that he does not control the pricing fees and this is a typical fee for Roto-rooter to charge which was $504.66. I do not want another single female to be taken advantage. This is an expensive service charge for snaking drain. Roto-rooter should not mislead people on what services is needed to clear a plumbing issue.

Michael W. Z.

My tenant in Wilmington called me one afternoon to inform me that there was a leak originating from the upstairs bathroom that was perforating through the ceiling into the downstairs dining room. Initially, I called a few other plumbers in the area, but since it was a weekend, many of them told me that their next availability would be on Monday.

Then I called Roto-Rooter. They were extremely responsive and they dispatched someone that very evening. The plumber was able to diagnose and fix the problem quickly and without hassle. I am highly pleased with the level of efficacy and service provided by Roto-Rooter.