Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Water Cleanup

David G.

Bottom line up front: Expensive.

We had Roto Rooter out to fix a backed up sink and shower a little over a month ago. The two lines tied together with a common clog causing both backups. The initial estimate was around $400 to get it done. This was steep, but we wanted the job done, so we agreed. When the initial approach via the kitchen sink didn't work out after about an hour, they told us the toilet would need to be pulled in order to reach the clog. This would result in another $300 charge. After about another hour the job was finished and everything put back together. They were successful in clearing the clog.

Nearly $700 seems a little steep to clear one clog. We paid the bill at the time the service was completed. We later called several times to try to discuss the price of the service with a manager. After being assured on three separate occasions that the service manager would get back with us to discuss the bill, we gave up. I understand that pulling the toilet made this a more expensive service than snaking a regular drain, but at nearly $700 later for two hours of work, we will be exploring other options for future water backup options.

Jack C.

12/28/18
None of our drains were working properly at the house. I tried a few things personally then gave up to call in the professionals. Roto-Rooter gave me a time window of a few hours later, as the time approached I got another call saying it would be a few more hours due to the tech needing extra time at the last job. I understand this happens and was grateful for the call. Later that same evening the fellow shows up. He worked diligently to unclog the main sewer line. It look him a few hours and he was able to pull up some tree roots. Everything seemed to be working well again. We gave him $399 for his services and the transaction was complete.

01/21/19
The drains are clogged again. Since we had a warranty on the last repair, we called Roto-Rooter back. They tried to snake the drain again, no luck. So, the technician called in a ""Field Supervisor"" (which i'd find out later is just a fancy name for the sales guy) to scope the drain with a camera. They found a very dense obstruction out close to the city street underneath the sidewalk. There remedy was to dig down the six feet and replace a 10 foot section of pipe that likely had the obstruction and then replace the sidewalk they had to break apart to get to it. I was quoted $7,031 for the repair, half of which needed to be paid up front. This seemed very steep of a price to me but I said ok because we needed the drains in the home to work and they said they could have it done in 2 days.

01/26/19
They finally show up to start the work. By this point I was actually hoping they wouldn't show up because I was free that day and could have hand dug the hole myself saving thousands of dollars. But alas they were here and as unfortunate as it was to spend that amount of money, at least it would be fixed.

01/27/19
They tear out the section needing replaced and find the obstruction is even further down the line toward the city connection. A different ""Field Supervisor"" comes to the door this time before running any camera or even going down into the 6 foot hole to look. He says it will be another $3,500 for some special water auger thing to clean out the drain properly or else I'd need to spend 10's of thousands to tear up the road and replace the entire line. I argued with him for a bit and he returned a few minutes later saying they would fix the problem and do the special water auger thing free of charge. A few hours later a totally different guy came to try and do the special water auger and he needed to hook up to my hose bib which was frozen due to the weather, he huffed and puffed with an attitude for about 20 minutes then left. (I later found out the next morning that he left the hose bib on and it ran all night leaving a huge frozen puddle under it).
The excavation guys who were strangely enough the ones doing the pipe replacement as well were able to remove the blockage by hand which was basically a big clump of dirt with roots in it. I was happy they got it out.

01/27/19
The excavation guys return to repair the pipe and fill the hole. After they were done they knocked on the door asking for final payment. I went outside to huge dirt mounds piled up and two missing sidewalk sections. They assured me that they had to take the final payment right then and they would be back to finish the sidewalk. I disagreed and they finally relented and said they would be back the following day to finish up.

02/05/19
The gap in timeline is not entirely anyone's fault. We had some nasty weather with lots of snow. Over the course of this time I happened upon the city zoning site because I was checking on another property I was interested in. I found out that the sidewalk needs to be permitted and approved by the city before anything happened. So, I called the city to make sure everything lined up. The city said there were no permits pulled for the sidewalk. I quickly phoned the Field Supervisor and he said he would handle it. 30 minutes later and the guys are out there laying the sidewalk. I could fight with the crew out there and tell them to leave and maybe later I will regret not doing it. I am just sick of arguing and having a contentious relationship with people I hope to perform well for me. When they are finished I will pay them the final balance.

02/06/19
I now feel justified in my insecure feelings of paying the final amount without the work being 100% complete. The new concrete slab has sunk 6"" right in the middle. Now we get to see how long they take to come back to fix it correctly and just how good their warranty will be.

02/18/19
The drama continues and I am afraid that a passer by is going to fall to China. It is for sure not getting better over time. I spoke with the manager and he assures me that when the weather conditions improve that they will come repair the defect. We shall see. He acted as though it was very uncommon for someone to not want to pay the bill in its entirety until the job was complete. He didn't outright say it, but

Wendy M.

We had a water main backup. RR came out and snaked (charge: $300). The next day the drain backed up worse, resulting in an inch of water in my basement and severe damage, plus an insurance claim on my homeowner's insurance. They snaked a second time but said they couldn't get through the clog (after stating the first time that the clog was removed). A field supervisor (his shirt said ""sales"") ran a camera into the drain and told us our drain pipe was collapsed and estimated a $15,000 (that's not a typo) cost to repair. He was kind enough to give us a $2000 ""military"" discount. After the initial panic wore off, some things seemed fishy. We called a second plumber who easily snaked through the clog (tree roots) and also ran a camera all the way down our main line and into the city sewer. Not only did he see no collapse, the pipe doesn't even have any kind of visible damage. The cost for this service was $246 (including a copy of our video), which, since it saved is $13,000, seems like a real bargain. The practice of deliberately scaring consumers into purchasing outrageous repairs is popping up again and again for this company.

Tom R.

During a Saturday bath, the tub's drain pipe broke and tub water spilled out over the bathroom floor. We mopped it up and fanned it dry, but some leaked through the kitchen ceiling. We mopped that up and dried it, too. To save money, we decided not to call a plumber until Monday.
After a handyman proved incapable of matching the antique parts, we called on the professionals. Roto Rooter showed up promptly--not with a plumber, but with a plumbing/water damage assessment team. Within an hour, they got hold of my insurance company, set up a claim number, and costed out a project including 3 days of room dehydration, asbestos check, and ceiling repair. They said they would fix the plumbing, too, but it wouldn't be covered by insurance. After I signed their forms, they said they would send a plumber and a dehydration guy.
The plumber arrived that afternoon and quoted his rates: $230 for first hour, $185 for each additional hour). He couldn't say how many hours it would take. We didn't have much choice, so we agreed.
The dehydration guy set up some loud machines in the bathroom and kitchen. It didn't really make sense, since the leak was 3 days ago. After one day we called off that project. They made us sign a bunch of papers to absolve Roto Rooter from not finishing the job.
The plumber didn't finish up until two days later. He did an okay job, but it cost us over $900. Add $500 (insurance deductible) for the superfluous dehydration job. It was a big expense and a bad experience.

Alex F.

I'm not one to normally write reviews but I thought I'd better give a warning to others. Had main drain line clog yesterday in my house with sewage backup into my laundry room and utility closet. Roto Rooter did come out right away and unclog the drain, unfortunately that's the only positive part of my experience. The sewage cleanup crew was suppose to start work between 8 and 9 PM. At 10PM I called the office to get a status update since they had not arrive, was told it would be another 20 mins., Ok still no big deal, I'm patient. After another hour waiting I call back. Eventually they tell me that they are unable to get ahold of any supervisors or their teams so I would have to wait until tomorrow. Now I have to call in the middle of the night to stay with family as my house smells of sewage. When I called the Roto Rotter office today I told them my issues with the lack of communication yesterday. I was expecting to get an apology but instead was given excuses. Then the supervisor I spoke to had the nerve to accuse me of trying to get them to give me something free, he basically called me a free loader. I immediately canceled my cleanup service and called another company.

Mick J.

Joe was fantastic. Water shut off valve was leaking. Emergency call on Sunday. Arrived within 2 hours. Joe quickly addressed the issue and changed the seal. All in, after the $50 coupon, the cost was $49. He certain could've replaced the valve at a much higher cost due to having to cut into the wall even more and the tight space where the valve was located. I trusted his professional judgment that the more expensive approach was unnecessary. I'll call this place (and ask for Joe again) next time I'm in a pinch.

Review G.

Paid over $300 to have the drain snaked Nov.2016 and was told that price covered a TWO YEAR warranty and if it ever clogged in that time it would be re-unclogged for free. Well, Sept2018 (within the 2 year window) they claim they only give 6month warranties but on phone they said they would honor it b/c I was told that so they went ahead and scheduled me for 3:30pm Friday..... then they didn't show up until 10:50pm!!! They walked in after the SEVEN HOURS we waited and told me it would be $329 with a 6 month warranty. I told him that it was supposed to be no charge and I was told so on the phone when I scheduled. He called his manager and then told me his manager said no! Frustrated and tired and wanting it to just be done, I said whatever and just do the work and bill me for it and he said he couldn't do the work until payment was made! Not everyone just has over $300 readily available at the drop of a hat!?! I had his manager call me - that guy interrupted me multiple times while I was talking and then called me a liar - he said there's no way that anyone here ever told you there was a 2 year warranty. I am totally DISGUSTED with this company and will warn everyone to NOT use them. A SEVEN HOUR WAIT and I was LIED TO TWICE and then accused of being the one to lie. There are far better companies out there. Never ever again with this place. I'm glad they didn't do the work and bill me now.... they certainly don't deserve a single dime!!!

Smith R.

Very very poor business practices. Harassed relentlessly via phone regarding an invoice that had been resolved. Rude workers that also harassed via Facebook messenger. Consumers beware. Overpriced and unprofessional.

Domineeka D.

Called our local brand in Marysville Ohio or how ever that works, we were folks someone would be on their way. Keep in mind we had a horrible back up issue and needed their water jet service! After our first conversation they said we needed to be pumped out before they would touch the lines. So we followed through with our end. That person never showed up but we got a phone call that someone would be out yesterday morning 11-12 husband got up and waited for them....no show

Husband calls.....they are busy but will be out as soon as they can.

4:00pm husband calls again....still no one available so we went to our local ace store and rented at rooter and 28.00$ later we were good to go! Sad they couldn't show up to fix our clog but we really dodged a bullet on this one.

Derrick B.

Absolutely over priced and will probably never consider this company an option moving forward. I had a main line back up and had the tech come out to snake the drain to clear the blockage. As soon as he had arrived (which was 1.5 hours after the quoted time window) he let me know the price of the service will be $349.00 before he even looked at the problem. First off snaking a drain for 30 mins should have no reason whatsoever cost that much money. I had to pay right then and there with no option of deferring the payment to Friday which is kind of weird on it's own. Plus to boot the problem wasn't even completely fixed and then proceeded to quote me a $10,850.00 job for replacing the line.

Crazy thing is I started doing research and 3 other drain companies in the local area cost average was between $75.00 to $200.00 and they reassured me they would assess the problem before giving a final definite quote. To add I mentioned the job the tech quoted and they said it would range from $1,500 to $4,000 depending on the length of the line.

In conclusion they did the job but for how much they charged I wouldn't be surprised if the customer base dwindles over the next few years.

Exceptionally disappointing.