The Drain Dude

Mayumi L.

This company is a fraud and I would recommend you do not use them. My home insurance company (Choice) sent them out to repair my parents sump pump and the fella insisted that the insurance company would not cover the repair and persuaded my elderly parents to make a payment of $1000 to him. When we called a few days later to follow up with him, he informed us he was still waiting to hear back from the insurance company however we then called the insurance company and was told he never contacted them. After further research we found his license was suspended so we called him back and after several calls we advised him that due to the fact he is not currently licensed we do not wish to have him make any repairs and requested the $1000 back. He is not answering our calls and never returned the money. I would highly advise anyone to not go with this company as they are scamming people out of thousands of dollars and not doing the repairs. Do not be fooled these guys are scam artists! The only reason I'm giving one star is because I have too.

KM R.

As with most other customers, this lowlife company took $1k for a replacement tub in our master bath. They kept having one excuse after another just to not do job. Had another plumber evaluate the problem and found no leak in the tub at all!!!! This sham of a scam company must be put out of business for good. The license number of their building is wrong. Not theirs. It's been expired for a year. He's put a contractor license that's not close to this place. They were the contractor that First American Warranty sent to the house to evaluate the repair. Contractor put hole in wall and floor. Warranty company says our responsibility until we threatened lawsuit. They finally rough fixed the drywall, but denied floor. FAW even said they talked to Drain Dudes (I asked for documentation they really spoke to DD) and they denied making holes. The FAW rep put me on hold then came back to say they found the documented form claiming the approval to put hole in wall. Still waiting for the apology for being accused of lying....
We feel like the warranty company has a responsibility for the fee we pay each month to provide exceptional contractors. FAW sent this plumber to our home. We would not have let them touch our house had we known they were so bad. Our faith in FAW was obviously wrong. We will have to let the courts decide now. Meanwhile, I have a hole in my bathroom floor and a crappy drywall repair in the closest....

Benjamin R.

Do not use this place. They were unable to perform the services rendered (replace a water heater) and did not refund my payment for them to do it. I put down $950 to start the job, and they were unable to complete (or even start it) and there has been no response to any of my phone calls or emails when I was assured by Randon that the funds would be refunded.

lorenzo w.

The owner of this business is very shady!! He will ask for cash and never actually do any work. He kept coming up with excuses on why the have not been able to come back and do the job! 1400 is what we paid and he never did any work! We asked for the money back and again with excuses on why they haven't given it to us yet! On top of all that he has his wife amber call and start yelling and acting like we are in the wrong! The treat customers like crap and then do whatever they can to not pay the money back! These people are just scam artists and will take your money while never doing a single thing to fix the problem! They are unprofessional and honestly criminals they just rob customers and then try and intimidate customers so they don't have to give refunds! Everyone watch out for these people

Rob H.

Where to start... I decided to simply paste my timeline that I used in small claims court against The Drain Dude Inc. We won, not only because The Drain Dude never showed up (similar to how they never show up to many jobs they say them will finish) but because he took our down payment for a simple job and never returned.

1/13/22 Old Republic Home Warranty Work order #68158762 assigned to The DrainDude Inc. to address a noise around toilet and lead under home.
1/27/22 The DrainDude Inc. came out for scheduled appointment to address work order. The DrainDude Inc. replaced the fill valve and universal plunger (Evidence 1), however repair did not address the leak under the home. Pictures of house inspection (Evidence 2) were shown to The DrainDude Inc. owner Randon Castro, of leak under the house. Initial work order (#68158762) was written only for toilet, so they did not inspect under the house. Natalie Hoffman was advised to call the warranty company and have it added to the same work order.
2/1/22 Natalie Hoffman contacted Old Republic and added pipe replacement to the work order for The DrainDude to continue with the work order.
2/3/22 According to Old Replublic Home Protection agent, the warranty company was billed by The DrainDude Inc. for only the toilet repair.
2/16/22 Communication with The DrainDude Inc. continued with the Hoffman's and on this date, they returned to the home for the inspection of the pipe to replace it (Evidence 3) stating that the estimate was for $3600 and they stated that our plan will only cover $2500 and that we will need to pay $1,100 up front for materials as shown in the quote. Natalie Hoffman wrote them a check for $1,100 on this date check #XXXX (Evidence 4).
2/18/22 The DrainDude Inc. cashed the check (Evidence 4)
2/16 -3/19 Date was set during this time for The DrainDude Inc. to complete the leaky pipe job once the materials came in. Set date was canceled and rescheduled to 3/22.
3/22/22 Reschedule date for The DrainDude Inc. to replace leaky pipe, and it was canceled by The DrainDude Inc.
3/23/22 Natalie Hoffman contacted the Old Republic Warranty Company to cancel the work with The DrainDude Inc. and requested a new company to be assigned. A new company (Premium Plumbing & Drain) was assigned to the job.
4/14/22 Other plumbing company came out and inspected the leaky pipe and informed us that there was no issue nor leak. The warranty work order was closed
3/23 - 7/17 Multiple phone calls, voicemails, and text message were sent to Randon Castro's personal cell phone and The DrainDude Inc. office during the weeks following this requesting the reimbursement of the $1,100 for incomplete job.
7/18/22 Called Randon Castro on his cell (209-595-6226) using Rob Hoffman's work cell and he answered. Randon Castro stated on the phone that they had sent the check and if we did not receive it that he personally would come deliver the check to us.
7/27 - 8/9 Followed up with Randon Castro via text message confirming that we had not received a check and if he can deliver a reimbursement check.
9/26/22 A complaint was filed with the Better Business Bureau against The Drain Dude by Natalie Hoffman (Evidence 5)
9/27/22 Demand for Payment letter was sent by certified mail (Evidence 6) for Randon J. Castro at 2972 North Rose Brook Dr and 6366 Jackson Ave. as shown by receipts (Evidence 7)
9/29/22 Received mail confirmation of the certified mailing of the Demand for Payment letter to the 6366 Jackson Ave. Riverbank CA. (Evidence 8)
10/19/22 We filed for Small Claims Court and hired ABC Legal to serve Randon Castro and The DrainDude Inc.
10/25/22 Email to Randon Castro at The Drain Dude Inc. ([email protected]) was send by Rob Hoffman asking for reiumbursement. Email was sent with read receipt. (Evidence 9)
10/26/22 Received email read reciept confirming that the email was read by someone at The Drain Dude Inc. (Evidence 9)
11/13/22 Received certified mailing of the Demand for Payment letter to the 2972 North Rose Brook Dr. in Riverbank back to sender (Evidence 10) and Randon J. Castro did not accept the certified mail.
11/21/22 Received confirmation that Randon Castro and The DrainDude Inc. was served by Joel Villanueva of ABC Legal, to show up to this small claims court appointment.

Although we won, we still have not been paid back. Still going through the hoops of the courts to get our money back. And from all the other lawsuits he probably doesn't have any money left, but we will keep trying.

Lesson learned, and definitely do not use The Drain Dude.

Aaron S.

This place is the absolute worst. They did my whole house in PEX which leaked and lost my ceiling over it. They said they would have it fixed and never did. I hired a new company to come in and they are tearing out all the work they already did because it's such garbage. I'm in the works to get every penny back from them

Joan J.

Was assigned drain dude through home warranty. Had an appt '8-12'.totally stood me up, no phone call. Finally got ahold of someone, got a flimsy excuse why no one called. Am requesting a new company to come out for my plumbing issue.

Lauren P.

This is the worst company I have ever in my life had to deal with. I wish there was a star less than 1 to give. This company was given via American Home Shield. The Owner of this company is literally the rudest and most unprofessional person I have ever spoken to. I went to check reviews on this company after my terrible experience to see if it was a one off. BUT no. All reviews say the same thing- that this company is the worst kind of company you can work with. For a second I thought, ""there are already so many one-star reviews, should I even spend the time writing this"" and then I thought YES it is actually THAT bad of an experience that I am spending the time writing this review. NO insurance company should recommend this company. I am more disappointed with my insurance company, that they can even work with a company with such poor reviews. I really hope insurance companies see these reviews before sending this company to work with a customer.

John W.

DD was assigned for toilet warranty work. They changed parts which did not fix the problem. Another appointment was schedule. They didn't show. I made several calls to DD and was told they had ordered more parts or were working with the warranty company. When I finally called the warranty company (I should have called them sooner) I was told DD reported the problem fixed a month ago, and that was the only feed back they had from DD.
I am in the customer service business. The service, or lack of service is inexcusable.

George E.

After several call with the State Contractors License Board it turns out a permit is required to install a water heater. Of course The Drain ""DUDE"" did NOT pull a Permit.

The fraud dept contacted the building dept of Tracy. They had us pull a permit (yes we paid for it) and today a inspector came out.

The inspectors findings were as follows.

The incorrect gas line was installed.

The water supply lines were installed to close to the exhaust vent.

The earthquake restraints were installed incorrectly and were not even tight to the water heater chassis.

No installation was wrapped around the water supply lines.

No drip valve was installed on the gas line.

No drip pan was installed under the water heater.

Can you say take the loot and scoot, what a bunch of loser scum bags!!!

BTW, it took 7 weeks for this band of scumbags 7 weeks to come pick up the trash they left behind.

If your looking to toss your $$$$ into the fire, do it yourself and save yourself the frustration.

BTW, who and hell names there company ""DUDE""