Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Water Cleanup

Maria K.

Our septic pipe had backed up into our finished basement leaving about of a quarter inch of sludge approximately 16 sq ft area on the floor. We called Roto-Rooter and they got there within an hour , fixed the clog and then recommended that they remove all the baseboards and replace all the sheet rock up 2 ft from the floor. I thought this was unnecessary as the sludge was only on a small part of the floor and was removed within a few hours. In addition, they recommended their cameraman come in and take a look to see what other problems there may be in the sewage line. When their servicemen came several days later he looked into the pipe with the camera and said that the pipe was completely collapsed before it got into the septic tank. He estimated that the cost would be approximately $9,000 to replace the septic line. I dug the septic line out myself and saw that there was no collapse anywhere in the line. In fact, the whole pipe seem to be in perfect condition . I believe the problem was that the cameraman focused on a 45° turn in the line and said that was where the collapse was. I am sure being the expert that he is that he realized this is just a turn in the line but was trying to make it so that they were going to be able to do an unnecessary repair costing me $9,000. As I said I dug up the line there was no problem. So the whole issue is you have to be careful when you hire roto-rooter. They were quick with service, fairly expensive, but they were more than willing to add additional expenses that were completely unnecessary . I thought this could have been a major scam for someone not willing to assess the problem themselves. BEWARE!!!

Lucy S.

I never write reviews like this but I was genuinely terrified from my experience with Roto so I am going to share.

My toilet was clogged at night and I only have one bathroom so I had to call a plumber quickly. I called Roto and kept asking for a ball park quote but they would not give it to me. After two hours they sent a plumber to my apartment and HE QUOTED ME $500. Ridiculous.

I negotiated it down to 300 but he kept trying to add additional charges / services that I TOLD HIM I DID NOT WANT. He also made me sign the invoice paper BEFORE he filled out the form / added the price and charges. SO SKETCHY.

As a woman alone in my apartment, I was terrified. He was able to unclog my toilet with a machine quickly, but then he spent 15 minutes ""filling out the invoice papers."" When I finally got the bill he tried to only give me $100 off (which would make the service $400). That was NOT what we agreed on. Finally he put the correct amount. Then, I told him my credit card number and the app he was using would not take my credit card, so I had to go get him cash at an ATM.

DO NOT USE ROTO. They are insanely overpriced scammers and extremely creepy especially if you are a woman alone in your apartment.

Justin S.

Hilariously overpriced

I kicked them out in minutes of an estimate
What a Joke
Embarrassing Rip off

Keela S.

I recently discovered sewage backing up into my basement (YUCK!), and not sure how long it had been happening before we noticed the smell.
Needless to say, I called Roto-Rooter. They had someone snake the pipe, and immediately give us a quote to clean up the disaster it had caused. They also inspected the rest of the line with a camera incase there was anything else going on.
Their cleanup crew were the true superstars- full hazmat suits working until 7:30pm... and Roto-Rooter is dealing directly with the insurance company- so hopefully that helps streamline the process!

We did have their plumber quote a separate but related steam pipe leak- but I decided to go with my local/regular plumber for that- at 1/2 the price!

Roto-Rooter is amazing for messy, emergency projects, but I'll always prefer my local plumber for non-urgent issues.

Gary L.

Astronomically over priced. DO NOT USE THEM. you will be better off waiting for your local plumber or a master plumber. They are sloppy and leave you with a big mess and damaged property. These plumbers would be considered novice or apprentice in any true plumber shop. USE SOMEONE ELSE!!!!

Robert C.

Unable to clean backed up sewer line. Trued for 20 minutes and wanted to charge $300.

Talitha Reneé T.

I am giving a one star Just for price. They charged 500 for just a simple bath tub clog in my drain. Had I not been in a rush, could have hired someone else for much much cheaper

Dave L.

The worst. We had a clogged sewer line so I called what I expected to be a reputable business - Roto-Rooter, but nothing could have been further than the truth.

Called Friday (3/17/23) and they sent someone out immediately. Guy comes in and after doing zero investigative work of any pipes says ""we are going to need the jet guy to come out"". Turns out this guy had limited experience, was not a tech, and had no authority to make that decision - more to come here.

Jet guy shows up by himself at 8pm and works his butt off trying to fix the problem. This guy I have no issue with because he had zero support, and clearly limited experience with no formal training.

$1,800 (yes, you read this right) charge. Next day same problem, so nothing was fixed and I'm out $1,800, so I called again.

Saturday (3/18) morning jet guy shows up first thing and tries to remedy the situation. Then what seems to be a closer called ""camera guy"" shows up around 10a and runs the camera through the line.

Camera guy immediate disclaimer: ""I'm in the excavation end of the business so I don't know (or clearly take any responsibility for) what has happened here."" Remember: same company.

Really zero issue with the line except for a ""root"" about 16' out that seems to be blocking the line. Camera runs over 100' with very little issue with the exception of this 'root'. Now comes the up-sell.

""Well, there is clearly a root issue in your line and I think you need to have the chain service to clear the line."" Our iron line is 30' until you hit clay - the clay was completely clear and, but for the ""root"" and some accumulated sludge in the iron pipe, the line was clear.

""That will be $100 per foot or $3,000 to clear just the iron line"", says the camera guy.

WTF? You charged me $1,800 for nothing at this point and now you distance your business (excavation) from the other (jet guy) even though you are the same company? Nice. Quality service. But it gets better...

""But what I recommend is to excavate the pipe because it's clearly at issue or put in an outside trap...that will run you anywhere between $12k and 15K."" say the camera guy.

Ok, I'm done with these guys. I get the bid for the line (chain) clear, get a copy of the video, and schedule service for Monday (3/20). I immediately reach out to friends and family for professional recommendations and ultimately cancel Roto-Rooter.

Professional recommendation comes in and snakes the line (this is important because IT WAS NEVER DONE BEFORE BY ROTO-ROOTER). Issue at about 16' was confirmed. New group runs a camera and determines that the issue is not a ""root"" but rather a the head of a toilet brush stuck in the line blocking solids. This all takes about 30 mins.

So let's recap:

* Roto-Rooter sends un-qualified and un-prepared employee out to determine job characteristics that doesn't do any actual work - NOT EVEN TO SNAKE THE LINE - and calls jet guy

* Jet guy works hard to no avail

* Camera guy screws jet guy by saying ""different departments"" and tries to say ""all is well - trust us - the company will do right by you""

* Camera guy gives me crazy $$ bid for work that doesn't need to be done and talks to management to ""get to the bottom of this"" and says someone will be reaching out to discuss. TO BE CLEAR: I waited 24 hours to Sunday (3/19) afternoon to see if anyone from Roto-Rooter would call...crickets...and as I'm writing this on Monday (3/20) night, still nothing.

* Camera guy admits that the person sent out was a recovery guy (clean-up only), was not a ""tech"", and had no business making any determination on the problem.

* Further, camera guy's information shows that a ""tech"" did show up. I can tell you that this is complete BS and CYA at it's best because nobody else showed up and they know they f-ed up.

New group fixed the issue immediately and we are back in business. But for the hard work of the jet guy I would have given Roto-Rooter no stars. Avoid at all costs.

Andres M.

The stem and handle of the shower in the apartment I am renting broke the first week of my move. I struggled to get a local professional in to take a look at it. Eventually, hoping that the problem would be a quick fix, I called roto-rooter. Someone showed up within a couple of hours. I was optimistic. Quickly, however, the plumber admitted he had no familiarity with the brand of the stem and shower handle. He nonetheless proceeded to work on the shower anyway. He failed to install it correctly and insisted that, in fact, the problem was bigger than simply replacing the stem and trim kit, that he would need to remove my shower's tile wall to replace the diverter, stem, and shower handles. He said it would cost $1548 + tax and, moreover, that he would not replace the tile, so I would have to find someone else for that. He charged me $213.25 for the visit that night, even though he did not fix the problem and had actually broken the replacement stem I had purchased myself.

I was suspicious of this and, after many phone calls, was finally able to get a local plumber to take a look at the shower and offer a second opinion. He and his partner fixed the shower in less than 30 minutes, all without taking out my shower wall.

So, not only was the roto-rooter plumber incompetent, unable to fix what turned out to be a rather straight-forward problem, he charged me for his failure and made up some story about a faulty diverter so that he could charge me an obscene amount of money to fix an imaginary problem. I would not recommend roto-rooter to anyone. They are predatory and will do what they can to charge you as much as they can.

Karita C.

I had them come and do a service for me in which it was not a pipe problem but they were very eager to break open my ceiling and once finding out that was nor the problem I had a hard time getting someone to close up my ceiling. Called the corporate office and everyone push the blame on each other. Clogging issues is a go but what they say they offer is not the case. Two weeks my ceiling was exposured I had to find a contractor to close and paint the ceiling.