Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Water Cleanup

Ashley A.

We've used Roto-Rooter in Rochester, NY 3 times now for relatively minor plumbing issues. Their customer service people have always been prompt and kind to us. We also love our plumber, Jack. He's very friendly, honest, and thorough. We received quotes for issues prior to choosing Roto-Rooter from other companies, and one guy tried to tell us we needed all new plumbing to fix our water pressure due to the wrong sized pipes - about $4k worth of work. Jack explained why it was a scam, and fixed the issue for us for about $130. We'll be sticking with them!

Mark T.

I contacted Roto-Rooter to unplug an exterior 4"" buried gutter drain. The plumber that met me suggested using a Jet instead of a traditional snake. The cost was $200 more. I agreed but at no time did he ever tell me that they can't guarantee that they could clear the drain for the $619 estimate.

After less than 2 hours of trying to clear the drain I was told that this is as far as he could go. The plumber did call the office to knock $100 off the bill but if they had told me up front that there was no guarantee they could clear it I would have said no thanks and just dug it up and replaced it myself.

I also do not like the fact that the plumber wrote down my credit card number as Roto-Rooter in Rochester NY must not know that they should have a phone or tablet with a reader like the rest of the large company's doing service work. I would have paid him with a check.

Like the rest of the 1 star reviews I called to talk with a manager and was sent to voice mail. No one has called me back.

Rauncie R.

Beware of Roto Rooter
If zero stars was an option I would choose it.

On Friday October 19th 2018 my housemate and I were at dinner when we got a call that our plumbing was backing up again. I say again because the week before we had to move out of our house and into a hotel for 5 days while Roto Rooter did over $4,000 dollars' worth of work. In addition we had to have one of our trees taken out in order for them to do the work which cost another $800. They said the problem was a collapsed pipe in our front yard. Unfortunately we are new home owners and know nothing about plumbing. We know now that we were taken advantage of and I want to warn others to not be as trusting as we were. So back to what happened on Friday the 19th... the same problem that led to the expensive repair had occurred once again. Water and sewage was backing up in our basement. We called Roto Rooter while still at dinner and asked them to return. They sent a plumber out in a couple of hours who without even looking at the pipes in the basement where the back up was occurring declared it a city problem after looking at a camera in a pipe outside. He said that the pipes had shifted 150 feet from where we as home owners would be responsible. I was suspicious of this analysis and called the city of Brighton emergency line. The City had someone on call who came right out. First of all I want to say that he was a kind man who helped to calm our fears. After what we had already been through it was nice to have someone show up who knew what they were doing. This was apparent from the moment he came in. He took the time to check things out. He looked at everything. He had us ran water in different parts of the house and he showed us where the clog was by demonstrating that the drain leaving the house to the pipe they said was the issue was bone dry. He was not able to snake it himself because he did not have a snake that size but told us exactly what to tell the Roto Rooter guys who I called back to report to that it was NOT in fact a city issue. I told them that they needed to return to fix it immediately considering how much money we had paid them. On Saturday morning a plumber from Roto Rooter came back and did exactly what the city of Brighton representative had instructed us to tell them and our problem was fixed. We were so happy to have this problem resolved.
Thank you city of Brighton for all you have done for us.
In addition to all of the above they also broke a pipe that comes out of our house from the heating system, cut the line to our outside light when they were digging and destroyed our landscaping. We were not compensated for any of that nor did they respond to my request for them to pay to have the line to our outside light fixed. We finally had the light fixed and we are still working on getting our yard back to its former beauty.

Stay away from Roto-Rooter. After our experience I did some research and found hundreds of reports of people having pipes replaced that did not have to be replaced. I will not go into those stories because you can read them yourself. Just google roto-rooter rip off or scam and you will see not only stories of home owners but of x roto-rooter employees who left because of unethical business practices. In some states there have been class action lawsuits that people have won. I am considering consulting a lawyer to see if we could start one in the city of Rochester and town of Brighton.

Call the city first if you have an issue. They are working to try to stop people from being ripped off and they encourage people to contact them before allowing major work. I only wish I would have known this before spending money that we did not need to spend.

JustIn T.

Terrible customer service
Never answer their own phone - ALWAYS transferred to the answering service only have to wait for them to call again (even after they call you first)
The arrival was 4 hours later than the quoted service time that was booked in advance with them!
Never even an iota of apology for having you wait around 4 extra hours for them to arrive.
Only good thing about them is that once the service tech/plumber was there he was extremely nice, professional and efficient.
The rest of it is simply horrible and typical contractor customer service.

Ameer A.

I called Rotor-Rooter to fix a problem with the sewer backing up.
I had 2 other company ""snake"" out the drain to tell me there is no problem with drain. Both plumbers diagnosed that the tenants are flushing wipes down the toilet causing issues. I got a 3rd opinion. Rotor-Rooter came out and didn't diagnose anything but recommended that I pay $300 for a camera inspection at a later date. So I did. They also charged me $40 for travel and added another fee for removing the toilet. Thankfully they canceled the appointment 2 hours after the scheduled time and I lost a whole day of work. So I found a company that charged 1/2 the amount and they scheduled an appointment the same day. I will never do business with this company again.

William S.

Needed some work done that I didn't want to tackle myself. Wanted to get a few quotes to see what the job was worth. They came in $500 more then the competitor, and the competitor came in the next day and the work was done without a single issue.

James E.

I recently had a water line replaced at my home. The crew that worked on my home was efficient and kept me informed during the process. I liked how they were on time, worked hard and didn't mind answering questions for me along the way. Speaking for the plumbing crew that worked with me, I was satisfied with roto-rooter.

Kathleen K.

Bill and mike went to work fixing my broken below grade downspout with knowledge and professionalism flushing out the storm drain and assuring me that everything was running great. Terry was reassuring in his initial camera survey and Chris was also. This business has the knowledge and equipment to get the job done right and are worth the money. They were very professional from start to finish

K D.

I had a homeowners worst nightmare, it's a Saturday and toilets are suddenly overflowing without use and water isn't going into my washing machine. I call a different plumber and wow...I have a external pipe problem and before I know it I'm signed up for excavation of my lawn and a seriously expensive problem the next week, no water use before then and all local hotels booked because of a local state of emergency leaving hundreds of thousands without power. I was in trouble. I am a young Mom that was unsure what anyone was talking about when it comes to plumbing. I called Roto-Rooter and Chris and his team came, re-assessed the situation, found the right diagnosis and fixed it that day-saving me thousands of dollars because I would have paid for the wrong problem to be fixed and then eventually the correct problem fixed, and the stress of having no water for days with two young kids.

There is a lot to be said about taking the fear out of getting someone to repair your home when you don't speak the language of plumbing, I know that they looked out for my interests and only did what needed to be done as though I was a friend. I genuinely appreciate their effort in getting us up and running again. As my two year old said-thanks again Mr. Chris and Mr. Mark!

Shannon S.

WARNING, do not make the same mistake I did! I feel silly because all the reviews for their service are terrible. All I wanted them to do was unclog a toilet and it turned into a big waste of time and money. After attempts by a tenant and myself to unclog this toilet I called Roto-Rooter because I did not have time to take a deeper look into the problem.
First, they wont tell you how much standard services are over the phone. That way, once they ""diagnose"" the problem, you are a captive audience and they can over charge you since you'd rather not get more quotes for what should be $100 job. He quoted $135 and at that point I just wanted it fixed. Not giving standard prices over the phone should be a red flag!
They actually have good turn around time since they were on site within an hour of me calling. Apparently, the ""plumber"" who worked the job was there for a few hours, using a snake and a camera and removed the toilet. He supposedly tried many things and even changed the toilet-to-bowl kit because he said it was leaking. I knew about the leak and I did not authorize him to change the hardware but he did it on his own then charged me extra for it. Not cool!!
At the end of the day, he not only failed to fix the issue but created a leak. He also turned the water off to the sink which I really dont understand. Bottom line, I'm dont believe this guy had much experience in plumbing. From what I hear, they respond quickly but dont hire experienced or licensed plumbers. I can vouch for that.
He told me that the reason for the difficulty in flushing, ie clog, is because my drain pipe is ""back-pitched"". He also tells me that the leaking is due to the pipe corroding. He suggested that I need to replace the drain pipe which would require extensive work including removing and replacing drywall to access the pipe. I ended up calling very experienced licensed plumbers who have never heard of a drain pipe ""back-pitch"" being an issue and that cast iron would not have corroded and leaked how he described it. After I described the situation to them they both said, independently, that it sounds like there is some issue with the toilet, not the drain pipe.
I ended up buying a new toilet and replacing it myself. The toilet flushed and problem was solved, no leaking either. I noticed the existing wax ring, relatively new, was not solid the entire way around (clue 1) so I replaced it. As I was taking the old toilet out to the street I tried to stuff the exit hole with a rag and noticed something was blocking it (clue 2). It was a Capri sun juice pack that the tenants son had flushed down the toilet.
Why didn't the plumber find this? Why did he give me a story about the pipe being back-pitched was the issue? Why was the wax ring carelessly broken which was the obviously reason for the leak? Why did he suggest I replace drain pipe which would have cost me many hundreds more? Not only did I have to fix the issue myself, but the leaking from the broken wax ring may have caused some damage to the drywall below. What was my fee for getting NEGATIVE value for their services....$170!!
I immediately called them back and explained the situation, suggesting that they should reverse the charges. The manager says he presented the issue to the owner and has been blowing me off for more than a week now. I will give you an update to see if they plan on rightfully returning my money for a service that was well below acceptable. I give the ""plumber"" credit for trying but any respectable business would see that this situation is different and they need to make it right. Stay tuned on that.
MY ADVICE: PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM THIS BUSINESS. NOT ONE MOVE THEY MADE HELPED ME IN ANY WAY.