Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Water Cleanup

Mary Z.

Pittsburgh, PA area buyers beware of Roto-Rooter of Murrysville, PA. Just because a corporation has an A+ rating with BBB, doesn't mean that you should do business with them without first reading the complaints on the BBB web site. (https://www.bbb.org/us/oh/cincinnati/profile/plumber/roto-rooter-0292-1922/complaints)

BBB tells me there are things that organizations can do to up their BBB ratings... I wish I had known that and read some of the 540 complaints on the BBB web site.

Roto-Rooter is charging me $3100.00 for incomplete work. After two no-shows with no notice, they started work on 3/19/21. They jackhammered a deep hole in my basement, removed the sewer trap, and fashioned a temporary connection between two cut pieces of sewer pipe. Original estimate was a 2-day job for $4839.00. After another no show with no notice, I gave up on them on 3/24 and asked for a bill for work completed. Then they added $1140.00 onto the bill from a quote dated 12 days after the first quote, saying it was part of the original job, for additional work that was never even attempted. And for that, they want $3100.00? THIS IS SHAMEFUL.

4/7/21 Update:
A Customer Satisfaction Manager from RR HQ read my online complaint under Google Reviews. After filing a formal complaint with the Murrysville General Manager, and a reminder follow up, this Customer Satisfaction Manager was able to get Murrysville RR to assign a manager to review my complaint. This manager was able to cut my bill in half by dropping their profit on the job and billing me for only the labor cost of the work that had actually been done. He sincerely apologized, stating that this should never have dragged on so long, and that this is not the way they do business. He also promised to follow up with the job supervisor regarding multiple customer service failures that resulted in significant delays. This was an expensive lesson for me--one that I will never forget. I am awaiting the corrected bill so that I can pay it and move on.

Stacey P.

On May 4th, my tenant called about the hiring Roto-Rooter to repair/replace approximately 5 feet of sewer line that ruptured in my backyard on May 3rd. The ""Excavation Proposal"" stated they that will excavate approximately 5' X 3'; Remove broken pipe; Hydrojett line; Recamera remaining line; will bed pipe with gravel and backfill hole for a WHOPPING: $5542.00!!!!! (LESS $400 D/C) FINAL TOTAL $5,142.00!!!!! WHOA!! Really?!?! My family does this work for a living and would have charged a fraction of this amount for the work they did!

Fortunately, I do not have to pay this exorbitant bill because the lease agreement states repairs over $50 must be approved by landlord first before work is performed. If they would have contacted like they were supposed to I would have told them NEVER use Roto-Rooter. My parents had a similar price-gouging experience. Unfortunately, the tenant has to pay this ridiculous bill.
BEWARE!! This company is a rip-off! They did not even dig 3' as their proposal stated!! It is barely a 'shovel head' deep!! (I tried to attach pictures but it would not work)

I called Roto-Rooter to express my dissatisfaction for their exorbitant charging practices and the manager, Eric, was very rude to me. He told me that he did not see ""my name on the contract"" and that the price was customary. I told him I OWN the property and the work they performed did NOT justify $5500!!! This is price-gouging!!

Josh M.

Job done: Complete sewer line replacement.

A few weeks ago, my wife and I discovered the home we recently purchased had a completely backed up and bowed sewer line due to roots. Roto-rooter diagnosed the issue and did the work immediately.

The good:
* Our technician was thorough and clear explaining the problem and recommending a solution. He invited me to watch the camera as he diagnosed the issue. I didn't feel up-sold or ripped off since I was part of the process from day 1.
* Work started immediately, with a crew there to start excavation. The process was quick - about 3-4 days of work to completely re-plumb a line from the basement out to the street.
* Everyone was friendly and kept us updated on the progress.

The bad:
* Mistakes happen, but our techs made a seriously dangerous one. They cut through what we didn't know was a heated floor in the basement bathroom - which was fine except they never terminated the wire to the floor and left it live and exposed for me to discover several days after work was completed. They only agreed to pay for an electrician to check an urgent DIY repair of the wire after negotiating with the manager. Ultimately they agreed to cut our bill some to cover the cost of an electrician's review.
* Two pipes in my basement bathroom were left un-capped and attached to the old sewer line. It took me a week or so to discover why my basement still smelled like sewer after cleaning, and I'll have to cap the exposed pipes myself to prevent old waste smell from venting into my basement.

Overall, the work was prompt and professional, but I felt the attention to detail could have been better for a nearly $30,000 job. I'm not entirely sure I would call them again for further work after the wiring scare.

Diane J.

Leonardo came to my home to give me an estimate for plumbing issues.
He was articulate, knowledgeable, polite, and professional.

My home is 72 years old. I had a problem with slow draining from the tub and sink, suspected water laying in a pipe rather than draining correctly in the basement, there appeared to be a venting problem at the kitchen
sink, and the shutoff to the outside hose fixture was leaking into the basement.

I agreed to the estimate and Leonardo completed the work of replacing the pipe and shut off for the outside hose,
also repositioning the shutoff so I could more easily reach it.
He changed the pipes in the basement to relieve the incorrect drainage, which seems to have also corrected the issue with the kitchen sink.

It was Leonardo's professional demeanor, years of experience, willingness to listen, to understand the problems,
and explain his solution to me that sold the job. I am glad I contacted Roto-Rooter.

Katie C.

Called them instead of our local small business plumber for a bubbling toilet and sink because it was a Sunday, they snaked the first floor toilet, said they couldn't find the clog, recommended adding vents, doing a camera/snake the next day from the main line in the basement... quoted at $1275 for the bathroom venting job and $875 for the camera and snaking. I panicked. Called our local guy and he fixed it the next day for $400 total -- with a new easier to access pipe in the basement... also, that first floor toilet they removed to snake is now wobbling. So I'll be fixing that myself this weekend... they ALMOST managed to scare us into spending over $2000 to fix something that ended up being a wad of napkins 8 feet down from the toilet.

Keith L.

Excellent service. Had an emergency the day before thanksgiving. They came and fixed it quickly and included a 6 month warranty that included the holiday if necessary. No complaints. Very satisfied.

Michelle D.

Sean was a great worker, he explained to us clearly what he was doing. He worked fast and we are satisfied with his services.

The price was high; we probably could have done better if we looked around. If it was not an emergency I would have shopped around . I called at 11pm, as our only toilet was leaking through our ceiling. Customer service was very pleasant but they could not get a tech here until the 8am earliest. We had guests over and I really wish we could have had quicker service but they got here the next day and fixed it for a hefty price.

Chris A.

Plumber came within the time the dispatcher said. Kept me update on his arrival. Once on here he accessed the problem gave me a fair price and got to work.

Very professional I would recommend they to anyone

Keith W.

Waste of time. They are not plumbers; they are (bad) salesmen. Their goal is to sell incrementally a $50,000 excavation job through fear, intimidation, and deceit.

Seth arrived and charged me an eye-watering $385 to remove a toilet and snake a drain. He was unable to open the drain and said, ""if this machine cannot open the drain, it can't be opened."" Ray Clark showed up with a camera and showed me images of roots in the drain. Then he tried to hard-sell me a $5,726 excavation job to replace 8 feet of pipe. Tactics included ""You need to give me an answer before I leave."", ""Call your wife right now."", ""99% of customers would approve this job."", ""We'll credit $385 toward the job."", ""Your insurance will pay for the bulk of the work."", and so forth. It was obvious I was not dealing with professionals. I told him no thanks. The next day, A1 Sewer Cleaning cleared the drain for $170.

Brian H.

I had a clogged drain that had backed up into my basement, I called Roto Rooter and the sales man came out with his snake and camera. He ran the snake down the hole and was able to remove a clog due to non flushable wipes, He proceeded to run his camera and tell me I had major problems and the main trap needed dug up. He hit me with a price of 7800.00 to do the work but when I was debating and mentioned I wanted to get some other estimates he lowered the price to 5,000.00 and continued to pressure me and telling me if I didn't do the work today they would not be able to come back. I agreed to do the work and once the dig began they said that there was issues with the fall of the pipe. I could not afford any more work so I had them rebuild the trap and fill in the hole. After I caught my breath I called around to other plumbers and got 2 additional inspections I was told that if the house I lived in for 12 years never had a trap problem or a clog until now that there was never anything wrong with the trap and after snaking the clog a good clean out would have done the trick. Now I feel that since I didn't agree to do the work that they did not properly and now im stuck with a sewer trap that does not flow properly. I will post a follow up to this as to what the fine people at Rotor rooter respond to me.