Mr. Rooter Plumbing of San Diego County

Poorly. I know a new business picked up this business and Mike is trying to do right, but I still would not recommend nor ever use these guys again. THE HOOK They send out flyers saying free scoping of pipes. I am sure you have gotten them in the mail and newspapers. We wanted the bathroom drain unclogged, but they said that we needed to replace the cast iron pipes because the scope showed that roots were getting in the cast iron pipes. They had to drill through the concrete slab. It was a big mess, and my insurance came in and suggested that I get another plumber because of the damage they did to the bathroom getting to the cast iron pipes. I was charged nearly 4000 for them going into the slab. The sink was completely destroyed, and I had to pay another plumber, Master Plumbing to come in and clean up the mess. The worst part though is that they have you sign a contract for what they were going to do, but then they said they had to do even more. You cannot read the contract because they deliberately don't show you. You think you are signing an agreement to the work and a contract will be drawn up later. Not the case. It is the contract. I will not go back to them. The destruction they did to the bathroom was terrible. I even have pictures to prove what they did.

unknown

We were so impressed with Mr. Rooter's plumbing service.  Not only did they call us a few times to let us know when someone would be at our home, but they called when they were a few minutes away which gave us time to put the dog outside.  Even though today was a holiday and our plumber Billy had to work, he didn't complain a bit.  Billy was professional and did a great job cleaning up after he worked to put the plumbing back together under our master bathroom sink. He did a phenomenal job, under the sink looks great now and we don't have to worry about leaks!  The previous owner made quite a mess.  We are very pleased with Billy's work and wouldn't hesitate to use Mr. Rooter again. Thank you Billy!

After saying OK to all that they said it needed they finished the job in about 7 hours....$2000.00. Great hourly pay I'd say.

unknown

So far so good.  We havent had the rain.  If it drains well we will be happy.

I would never use this plumber again and I would never recommend that anyone use them either.  We had a horrible experience with them.  We called them originally to come out in the middle of the night to snake our toilets becuase they were both backing up into our showers and the 6' auger and plunger wouldn't work.  The service said the plumber would arrive around 1am, but he didn't get there until around 3am and we had to work the next morning.  When he showed up, he had to remove one of the toilets to clean out the drain because we didn't have a clean out on the outside of the house.  He told us we had tree roots in our main line and that he wasn't able to clean it out sufficiently because we didn't have a clean out and he couldn't use the bigger machinery.  He charged us around $380 for all of this, which we thought was probably a little higher than normal because of the late hour and emergency response.  Just 2 weeks after getting our pipes cleaned, it started backing up again, so we called Mr. Rooter again to come out.  When we spoke to the plumber, it was on a Sunday, but since our drains were still draining, just a little slower than usual, we asked if we could schedule him to come out on Monday during normal business hours so we weren't charged for after-hours fees.  The plumber informed us that they didn't charge after-hours fees becuase they were open 24/7, but we found shocking becuase it shouldn't cost $380 to snake a toilet.  He came out that same day and said that he would install the clean out so he could use the bigger machine to clean out the pipes, which should alleviate our problem. He didn't do a camera inspection prior to this because he said that the camera would probably get stuck.  We agreed to have Mr. Rooter install the clean out by the house and they charged us around $1,700.  The owner/supervisor actually came to our house to help install the clean out and to do the camera inspection.  They found that the pipes were clay and there were so many roots in them that they recommended the pipes be replaced by iron pipes and they could do it without digging trenches for $8,900.  We decided we should get a few other bids on such an expensive project and the owner/supervisor tried to pressure my husband into agreeing to allow them to do the work on the spot without talking to anyone else first.  He said he would drop the price to $7,900 if we agreed right then, which raised some major red flags for us, so we declined.  We ended up getting Brinks to give us another estimate of the same work and they said that the best thing would be to install a certain kind of plastic pipes that didn't have seams so the roots couldn't get in and they wouldn't corrode.  They said they'd do this without digging trenches as well and they would also install another clean out by the city's sewer line for only $4,200.  They also said that they would have only charged us $600 for the clean out that Mr. Rooter installed for $1,700.  On top of all of this, when Brinks was installing the new pipes, they found that Mr. Rooter had installed illegal parts for the clean out that were not up to code and we had to pay Brinks to replace Mr. Rooter's work.  Not only did we overpay for their work, but they didn't even do it properly!  I have complained to them and asked them for a refund of our money, but they have not responded.

On 8/23/2010 I contacted Mr. Rooter to come clear a main sewer line blockage at my house. The person who showed up, who openly admitted to me that he was a convicted felon, attempted to clear the blockage and was unable to, all the while adding services to the invoice. The "plumber" stated that he would have to come back the next day to try a high pressure wash. On 8/24 he returned and was unable to clear the blockage with the high pressure scrubber. He then stated that they would have to dig it up at a cost of $3,650. I approved the charge and they attempted to locate the break with a camera and locator but were unable to use their equipment. They then proceeded to start digging where they "thought the break was" and continued to expand the hole. I went to the water district to get the as-builts but they felt that they were in the right place even though they could not get their camera and locator to function. At noon that day they stated that they needed to use their backhoe at an additional charge of $535, and I again approved the charge. They began to dig bigger and bigger holes near the sidewalk and ended up hitting a gas main (they had not called dig alert) which shut my street down for over 5 hours. Once the gas was shut off they required the use of my car in order to jump start their backhoe to remove it from the hole. On 8/25, they returned and attempted to use their camera and locator again unsuccessfully. They then began digging yet another hole near my house until they found the sewer pipe. They then continued to dig a trench, following the path of the pipe. When they had dug an approximately 12 foot trench they they cut the non-damaged pipe open to feed a snake through to find the block. In the evening, a person who represented himself as a General Manager for the company came to my home, apologized profusely for the gas leak and damage to my property, and said they would "make it right" and put my yard back to its previous state as they dug in so many areas they didn't need to due to being unable to use the locator equipment. They continued to work to fix the break but required me to stand outside with a flashlight for over 2 hours so they could work. When they were ready to leave for the night they were going to leave the holes uncovered as they did not have anything to put over them, leaving a hazard for people walking by my house. I told them that was not acceptable and they used drywall and a discarded bathroom vanity to cover the holes for the evening. On 8/26 they returned to fill in the hole. They left a large crater in my yard and took dirt away in a trailer. They covered my water meter and shutoff with dirt so that it was not accessible in the event of a water problem. They left trash scattered in my yard and partially buried under the sod. They did not close the sewer closeout next to my house, leaving it unscrewed and uncovered. They would not leave until I signed their invoice stating that they were not responsible for lawn or irrigation damage. on 8/27, after many attempts to get in touch with the General Manager, I was contacted by another person who also claimed to be a General Manager. He stated that he was familiar with the job and asked to meet me. We arranged to meet at my house on Sunday, 8/29. On Sunday, 8/29, the second General Manager came to my house and stated that he could not believe how badly the job went considering the quality of the person they sent. He stated that they would discuss the problem at a managers meeting the next day and that he would call me back to let me know how they would fix it. I attempted to get in touch with him on Monday, 8/30 and Tuesday, 8/31 but he would not return my messages. On Wednesday, 9/1, he called me and stated that their corporate office will not pay for damage to lawn or irrigation, even if caused by negligence. This company has represented to me a number of different California State Contractor License numbers, including 718714, 802501, and 742476. I have detailed, time stamped notes and photographs that I took during the entire process and will be happy to send them to you.

Horrible experience! In the end, Mr. Rooter is supposed to be compensating us for cutting a hole in our kitchen cabinets without getting our permission to do so (I'll believe it when I have a check in my hand!). We have had to take 4 days off from work during this craziness to meet workers who never showed up, and have talked to several area and district managers. Currently, we still do not have a toilet in the center bathroom, the toilet is sitting in front of the bathroom sink, we have no kitchen sink because we have to replace the kitchen cabinets, had to patch the walls ourselves, and are down to washing our dishes in the other bathroom sink, which is very small. FYI - recently discovered that Mr. Rooter has an Unsatisfactory rating with the Better Business Bureau. Wish I'd checked that site before I hired them!!!

THEY WERE ON TIME. DID NOT TAKE LONG FOR THEM TO COME OUT AND DO THE JOB. WE HAVE USED THEM IN THE PAST AND HAVE ALWAYS BEEN HAPPY WITH THEIR WORK.

ARRIVED ON TIME, PROVIDED PROFESSIONAL ADVICE ON HOW TO PREVENT FUTURE PLUMBING PROBLEMS. VERY COURTEOUS.