Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Water Cleanup

Ofir C.

Short version: The plumber fixed our toilet issue (sewer smell coming from the base) by putting two wax rings on top of each other (Which I later found out you're not supposed to do). This caused a leak two and a half months later and the company refused to fix the issue that they caused

Detailed version: I recently moved into a decent up to date house. After a few weeks of living there I noticed a sewer smell would emanate in the master bathroom every so often. By way of smell, I narrowed the issue down to the toilet. I called Roto Rooter and a few days later the plumber came. The plumber removed the toiler and noted that the flange was set on the subfloor and then the builder tiled around the flange. This caused the flange to be recessed ¼ inch from the base of the toilet. The plumber said that on windy days the vent on the roof would generate negative pressure from the wind and cause the air to pass through any gaps. The wax ring didn't make a perfect seal since it came up short and so any air gaps let the sewer smell through. The plumber said that if he added an additional wax ring to the existing wax ring it would build a base up and create a seal. This sounded reasonable enough and so I agreed, and he added the wax ring (now there are two wax rings, one on top of the either).

About 80 days later I noticed a leak from the base of the toilet. I stopped using the toilet and called Roto Rooter to let them know that there is an issue with their work. The lady on the phone told me that the 30-day warrantee on the work has passed and there is nothing you can do. I explained to her that I didn't pay $450 for my toilet to only work for only 30 days and so she insisted that they have a strict 30-day rule but if I would like she could schedule another plumber to come and fix the issue. I quickly declined her offer as the first plumber clearly messed something up and they won't cover it. I even told her that I will write a review and she said there is nothing she can do. Unfortunately, I am writing this review instead of one where I commend the business for doing the right thing and give them 5 stars.

I came to find that you should never have 2 wax rings because the two wax rings don't make a seal together which inevitably cause a leak. The right thing to do was to seal a ¼ inch spacer to the flange and then put a new wax ring on top of the spacer.

Ultimately, I am disappointed with Roto Rooter for not coming back and fixing the work that they did. It's easy to blame the customer, which she did by saying they can't know how the toilet was handled since the fix. I'm 145 pounds and my fiancé is about 110. I can assure the good people of Yelp that we're not using the toilet in any manner other than ordinary. Not performing the work correctly the first time, not coming back to fix the issue they caused and to top it off insulting me by suggesting that I'm having a 2 way cage match with my toilet has led me to never work with them again and forced me to give a 2-star review.

2-starts because the plumber was kind, and I don't think he did a poor job intentionally (which is a problem in and of itself). Other than that, the business gets 1-star.

Pamela N.

I don't know where to start. Our toilet was flushing out hot water when we drained our tub on the upper floor. My husband called a plumber and he was there for a few hours. Couldn't fix problem because his equipment was broken. But didn't forget to charge me without fixing. Called Roto-Rooter and can't say enough wonderful things about them. Employee was exceptional, had the equipment to repair the issue. They will be my first and only call next time! A+ in every way.

Jerry S.

After paying $500+ for 20 minutes to clean a drain line...it backed up a few days later. I called and the service tech on call told me if its warrantee then maybe I should get the tech that was there to do it...I told him he was the one I was connected to because he was on call....They blew me off...

Had to hire another plumber to come and clean the line so my tenants could have a bathroom..... At $1500 per hour you would at least think your problems were solved...

The office called on Monday to see if we still need their service....NO my tenants needed to shit before 3 days

Suresh P.

I opted this contractor for the Garbage disposal in Somersworth NH and when I check with the team at time of appointment they said they charge 100 per hour but when they show up in my home to install the new garbage disposal they charged me 350 for 45 min job. I dont know how anyone trust this type of service.
I was told 350 before starting the job and I agreed too... because i don't want to call some one again and do the job. But they deserve 1 star because of the difference between the person talk while booking an appointment and the person when they do Job.

E P.

We were so lucky to have Shawn sent to repair our main drain pipe. He was extremely knowledgeable and his customer service is above and beyond. We had never used Roto Rooter before I am so glad we called. Many many thanks Shawn and Roto Rooter.

Brad M.

Our first time calling Roto-Rooter, and we where far from impressed. They came out to our home and informed us that our septic tank was failing. We called the company that services our septic system and they card out. Turns out the tech from Roto-Rooter had no clue what he was talking about. The filter screen in our septic tank was clogged up and if he had hoses it off our issue would have been resolved. Instead we where charged s $75 house call and they did nothing. Call a real plumber or a septic system servicing company as Roto-Rooter is a complete waste of money.

Seana F.

I would NOT recommend this service.

Called on a Sunday night due to a slow leak we discovered in the toilet of our new home. I was told a technician would reach out to me shortly. Two hours later, someone called and said he would call me on Monday morning to set up an appointment. I was called at 11am on Monday (just barely still morning) and was told they could come the following day 2-4, which we agreed to and scheduled.

At about 3:30 the day of the appointment, I called Juanita at Roto-Rooter to see where the technician was. No one had been in contact with me, and it was getting rather close to the end of the two hour window. She forwarded the message that the technician was running late. Well, this was the first I was hearing of it, and was rather annoyed that no one bothered to call to tell me this. I told Juanita from the beginning that this is a new home that we have yet to move into, and it is 30 minutes from where we are living until the big move. So sitting in an empty house for nearly 2 hours, and THEN, only after reaching out to them, do I find out my wait will be even longer than agreed upon.

At 4:36PM I had my boyfriend call Juanita and tell her we were not going to wait any longer, we had other things to do, and it can be rescheduled the following day. The technician clearly was falling pretty far behind that day, so we were willing to wait despite being blown off.

8am Wednesday, Juanita calls trying to schedule a new appointment since ""the technicians showed up yesterday and we weren't there."" EXCUSE ME? I called well after the agreed upon window and told them not to bother coming anymore! She tried to make it like we were the ones who were no-shows. She was extremely rude and NOT ONCE did she apologize for the precious day's occurrences. Very poor customer service. I told her not the bother as they seemed like an unreliable service. We will be going with another local company.

Robert M.

""Tyler was great. He explained what he was doing, showed me how my plumbing is connected and cleared the clog quickly. Very glad we called and will definitely repeat if needed.""

Eugene B.

We had the drain plugged and could no get anyone else to come out that day. They sent a tech by the name of Tom. He put a camera in and found that the back water value had broken off and lodged in the pipe. We ask if it could be pulled out he stated no way. He wanted to replace the pipe all the way to the street as a way to fix, He also stated that if we had someone that could do the digging as they have no one on staff that does the same. Then when he called my wife back he wanted the entire job and stated he never said he stated that and was very rude and very unprofessional. He also stated we had clay pipe and we have cast iron which has been confirmed by the city of Manchester and the other company that did the work. Basted on the attitude and handing of this by Tom we obtained a second opinion and the job was completely done from inside the house. We are retired and I am a veteran and think that Tom saw that was going to try and make a kill which back fired. He also was very rude and counter sending to our landscaping person we have worked with for several years. We will never use or recommend this company to any one. Next time we will wait for better service we get from others. Also we found that they where $51.00 higher on the camera. It is too bad that a zero review rating can not be given to this operation.

Joe C.

This review is for Roto Rooters in general, and if only zero stars were possible. I live in Dover, NH, and on Thanksgiving morning had to call the emergency hotline number due to an ill-timed failure of a sump pump in my basement bathroom, which started flooding the surrounding rooms. I went online and quickly found their add of being 24/7/365, and called the emergency line. I told the lady at their emergency number what the problem was, and waited two hours for a call back (not a big deal, I get it's a holiday and I'm not the only emergency)... but when their sub-contracted affiliate (what I assume they use, and not their own employees) called back two hours later, I described the problem and did indicate my surrounding rooms were flooding and I wasn't sure where the water was coming from... on Thanksgiving day, hours before I was hosting a large family gathering mind you... he said there was nothing they could do on Thanksgiving, they would need parts but none of the local places would be open.... no problem , I'll continue battling water until Friday morning (when I was assured I would be called back by their people and someone would be here Friday to address the issue).... here we are on Sunday... haven't heard a peep from them, basement still flooding out rooms surrounding the bathroom with the issue... If they called me back at this point, I wouldn't let them repair it for free....! If this is how they perform in an emergency, I would hate to see how they perform when time doesn't matter.... do yourselves a favor, don't even bother with Roto Rooters. They are a national chain so they don't care. And I will be putting this post under every site possible for them... since I cannot seem to leave a review under the company in general. Please don't misunderstand this review... I generally dislike plumbers in general, they all seem to have an attitude like they are God's gift, which stems from unions getting laws passed in mostly every state requiring them to perform certain types of work, so their competition is vastly limited, i.e. you HAVE to get them, and cannot do things without them so they get away with a lot. But this service is especially bad. At this point I wouldnt ask them to throw a glass of water on me if I was on fire. Let them deal with their own arrogance and poor response time, all the way to the poor house due to lack of work.