Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Water Cleanup

Cindy S.

I am sure that in many cases Roto-Rooter is a great company to call. They are available 24 hours, and you know for the most part what you are getting. That is why we called them when our plumbing backed up on a Sunday. We paid for the first guy that came to auger the line, and he came back with news that our main pipe had collapsed, that we needed a whole new mainline, and that he'd be sending a guy out in the morning with a camera to survey the damage and give us an estimate. We were upset (of course), stressed, and spent the night with no running water. Not fun. The next morning, the guy with the camera arrives, and somehow magically breaks through a clog with his CAMERA. Gurgle, gurlge, all the water drains and everything is working again. He was obviously surprised at this, but still showed us some small roots coming through at the joints, said we still needed to replace the main line immediately, and gave us a (very pricey) estimate for them to replace about 3/4ths of our line. Luckily, it was a Monday and we got a call back from our regular plumbing company. They came out, augered the line both from the house and from the street, and showed us the camera views of the pipes. He told us that yes, our pipes were old, and would need to be replaced in the next 5 or 6 years, but should last us if we use root kill regularly and continue taking care of the system. He also mentioned that the problems we had were at the end of our pipes nearest to the street. This is the area that would not have been replaced according to Roto-Rooter. The proposed solution from Roto-Rooter would have cost us thousands and still would not have fixed the biggest problem area. My biggest complaint was that we paid the first guy to come out and simply clear the clog, and instead we got unneeded headaches, stress, and a still clogged line. The clog was obviously one that could be easily cleared since the second guy did it with his camera scope. I am also annoyed that we were told, even after it was established that we did not have a collapsed pipe, that we needed to immediately replace the line (starting that day). We have no cracks, no holes, no weak spots in our plumbing. I saw the whole thing through our plumber's camera. They were trying to get us to spend money that wouldn't have completely fixed the problem anyway. And to do it quick. I am sure that with Roto-Rooter it depends on the plumber sent to your home, but we were very dissapointed.

Shirley T.

At first Roto Rooter was very fast and responsive to plumbing issues that involved the bathroom flooding. However, they did not call back or come to pick up the fans / other equipment in my home, until 2 days after they had originally said they would come. Not only did I waste an entire Saturday waiting around for them, but I'm sure I was charged for the additional time the equipment was in my home. The biggest issue is the lack of communication. They have not returned any of my messages or responded to my insurance company - both of us have been trying to get in touch with Roto Rooter for several weeks now. Based on the lack of communication and follow through, I would not recommend Roto Rooter.

Tyler D.

Main complaint-almost poisoned my family. Also- late, overpriced. I found a drain problem on the night before Thanksgiving. RR was able to come out on Thanksgiving day, determined that there was a blockage that required a spot repair. The following day, another person came out with a camera, found a blockage from a tree root and confirmed spot repair needed. The soonest they could get anyone out was the following Monday (11/28). I was mostly pleased with their service and the only complaint I had was that I had already requested multiple times that water restoration come out to give me a quote for the cleanup that would need to be done in my crawl space-I was told someone would be there that Friday, but no one ever showed up, then I was told someone would come out that Saturday, but no one ever showed or called. On 11/28, the main line repair was completed. I was told that the person would arrive between 9:30 and 10:00am, I took a half day from work to be there while the work was done - mostly for the convenience of the contractor in case they needed anything inside the home, but also so that I could make sure the job was done well. Unfortunately, the contractor didn't show up until about 12:30pm. Once he got there, as far as I can tell, he did a good job. He had to cut through part of a concrete walk way in front of my house, and did a neat job cutting it away and replacing it. My only complaint is that he didn't test the drain after he finished in any way, because when I tested it later that day, the drain was still blocked and they had to come out again to clear it. Again on 11/28, no one from Water restoration showed up. On 11/29, the water restoration sales guy showed up, quoted me $5000-7000 for the job - which seems high, especially seeing the quality of work that they did. Again, minor complaint compared to what was about to happen. The guy told me that the team would be out on 11/30 morning by 9:30am. No one showed up in that time frame or called to let me know when they would show up - so I had to go to work. No one ever called to tell me they arrived, finished, anything. I got back home late that evening, and found that they were apparently done, and there was a fan hooked up to my crawlspace to dry it out - so I figured everything went well. I woke up 12/1 at about 4am with my house full of a smoky, hazy, fog, and I immediately had symptoms of nausea and a headache. I woke up my pregnant wife and my 17 month old daughter, and we opened windows, turned on fans to try to air the place out. I also started trying to get in touch with someone at RR to figure out what was going on, but couldn't get in touch with them until much later that day. I went to look at the fan set up to see if it might have been causing the issue, and there were two major problems - first, the large fan was pumping out dense smoke - not out the exhaust, but rather being pumped through the duct that was going into my crawlspace. In addition - they were also using a generator, and the exhaust was pointed directly at my HVAC unit (a package unit which could take in some outside air where seals are imperfect). In the mean time, my wife also had symptoms of headaches and nausea, was advised by her OBGYN to go to the emergency room-praise God she was fine. I called RR countless times that day, trying to get in touch with someone to fix the problem-the closest I got was that they sent out another sales guy who arrived and confirmed that the setup was not good, but also said he was not qualified to actually fix the problem. By later that afternoon, I just made the decision to get RR out of my house and told them to take there stuff and go. I never actually got to speak to a manager until late the following afternoon despite numerous requests to speak to one. In the time since, the manager has been slow to return calls, has often not called when he said he would, and has been unable to tell me what we might have actually breathed in. The problems continue as well. I've now been waiting about a week to get a response from the office on what exactly they did in my house so that I can find someone else to competently complete the job. Can't get anyone to return a call. I was told that they would be removing the old moisture barrier from my crawl space, then drying it for a few days, then applying lime treatment and chemical mold prevention treatment, followed by placing new moisture barrier - this is certainly not the order things happened, and upon my inspection, only about 1/3 of the old moisture barrier was actually replaced, and they just put it on top of water that was in there. So I now have puddles under my moisture barrier. Please, don't trust these people with anything that could potentially harm your family.

Aaron Z.

I would not recommend Roto-Rooter to anyone wishing to have totally transparency and honesty. They came into my home to restore a room from water damage. They informed me I had mold and that they would check the insulation to ensure it was not damaged. When I returned to my home. There was no evidence they checked the room for mold. They did not take up the entire floor for drying the water. The contractor pulled up the remainder of the flooring where water still remained. They damaged the door frame to a closet. They charged for moving items they did not move. They attempted to charge me 6600.00 dollars for services they did not render and attempted to use intimidation to get me to pay. I presented them with videos as evidence of this. If I could give them zero stars I would.

Monica J.

Quick, fast and reliable service! I called the same day and my plumbing issue was fixed the same day! Great and friendly technicians!! Thank you!!

Richard B.

They called me at my requested service time to let me know a plumber was on his way, then called back to tell me he went somewhere else. It's now hours past my requested service time, I don't have a bath to bathe my child in, when I could have gone to a friends had I known they still wouldn't be here. When I called them I was on hold for 20 minutes with people constantly picking up the receiver than placing me back on hold. The lady I spoke with when she finally picked up the phone and said the technician was still at the last house. The dispatcher ended up talking over me while I was trying to explain my situation yelled at me asking if I wanted to stay on the list for tonight. Needless to say I will not use rotor router or again suggest Roto-Rooter again, or use it as my preferred plumber at my workplace.

Elizabeth Z.

I called Roto-Rooter on 1/26/19, slightly after 5pm CST, regarding a leak underneath of my kitchen sink. My call was taken promptly, and a service ticket issued for a time frame of 5:15pm-9:15pm. I specifically requested that they TEXT my number when on their way, and gave an alternate number as well. I was assured that my problem would be handled last night. I hung up feeling good, but it was all down hill from there. At approximately 8:50pm, I became aware that a tech had called the alternate number given at 6:12pm. He left a message asking for a call back. I immediately called dispatch, wanting to know what the problem was, and why the tech had called the alternate number instead of the one I specifically instructed them to text. Upon being connected with the person that was in charge of dispatching him, I was told that the tech assigned to my house had gone to the wrong house. Mind you, this supposedly happened 3 hrs ago at that point...again...NO communication since 6:12 pm. The dispatcher apologized profusely, as I expressed my displeasure with the situation. """"You can't fix stupid"""" was his exact quote. """"I will call my supervisor about this, and handle this personally. Give me 15-20 minutes, and I will call you back myself. I won't do anything else until I handle this."""" A full hour later, I had heard NOTHING!! I called back, and expressed my displeasure with how things were going. I was put on hold, waiting to be connected to the dispatcher that was supposedly taking care of my situation. A woman answered and informed me that the dispatcher was on another call, and he would have to call me back. I told her that if I had not heard back from him within 15-20 minutes, I was done. I gave him an ADDITIONAL hour. Finally, at 11pm, I called and cancelled my service request. I picked this company in a pinch because of the high reviews online. If this is how your business is conducted, I wonder how many of those """"good reviews"""" are accurate. You will never have to worry about my business or any other person that I can tell about this HORRIBLE experience and POOR customer service!!

Maemill N.

Although I did not make another appointment, on 1/3/2016 I received a call and voicemail at 9am stating that they were running behind again and I would be contacted as soon as a technician became available. At 11am I received another phone call and voicemail stating that a technician could come out at my earliest convenience. I returned this phone call at 11:30am and again was told that since I was not able to answer their 11am phone call no one would be available to come out. When I asked the operator about what kind of discount I would be offered, I again was only offered a measly 10% discount for wasting my time. I told the operator not to contact me again unless a 20% discount would be offered. At 3pm I received another call stating that a technician would be sent out as soon as possible. When I asked this operator about the 20% discount she told me all she was authorized to offer was 10%. At this point I told the operator I would have to contact another company to come out. At 5:30pm I received another call and voicemail stating that some one would be sent out as soon as possible. At 6pm I received a call that Michael the technician was on his way and would arrive at my home in 45 minutes. At 6:45pm Michael arrived at my home and was the first person from Roto-Rooter I was able to have a professional conversation with, he was extraordinarily polite and worked quickly to resolve our issues. Finally, on 1/4/2016 I received two phone calls and voicemails from Pat Swanson apologizing for my experience and informing me that a 20% discount would be afforded to me. While I appreciate the exemplary service I received from both Michael and Pat, it is inexcusable for a company as large and as old a Roto Rooter to have such poor operator service.

McKenzie B.

Technician came within 2 hours of my initial service call. Was able to fix the problem within 24 hours

R B.

Very unprofessional. The on call said the guy car was over heated. The supervisor lady stated that he was stuck on a job. Which is it.