Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Water Cleanup

The first day they were supposed to come between 10am and noon, but didn't bother to show up or call to say why. After repeated calls from my neighbor, they said they were tied up at other jobs and couldn't make it. So we rescheduled for another day between noon and 2 p.m., but once again a no show. They did call once to say that the appointment window needed to be extended to 3pm, but never called back even after 3pm came and went. After calls to their dispatch, I just canceled the call and went to find someone else. No wonder they give free estimates. They never show up so it is no loss to them, only to the person sitting around for two days waisting their time.

Our basement bathroom shower and toilet were backing up and not draining properly. I scheduled service 2 days in advance after researching companies on Angie's List. The plumber arrived on time and immediately assessed the situation. He stated that our sewer line was clogged and recommended a complete clean out. He provided me with the cost, got the OK from me and started. He had to remove the basement toilet to access the sewer line due to our access drain being hidden. He did a great job cleaning out the line. Unfortunately, the toilet cracked when the plumber re-attached it. He told me it was the first time something like this has happened in over 5 years on the job. He wound up purchasing and installing a new toilet due to this event at no cost to me. I actually picked out the new toilet with him. The shower leak is gone. The new laundry tub drain is solid. In all, he was at our home for over 4 hours (the entire job should have taken less than 2). All seems good 2 weeks later.

He replaced the cap with plastic rather than the iron one I had. I think he should have explained what he was going to do before he did it.

It didn't. It took many phone calls to get an actual estimate. When we called them back to do the job, they ignored all attempts to schedule an appointment for a month. When I finally did reach someone and schedule, they were too disorganized to send the right people for the job. In fact, twice they sent a camera guy without a pumper truck (the camera work can't be done with full basins). In addition, I was told on the phone that the work could be done at any temperature, only to find out that this isn't true. (It has to be above freezing). How did I find this out? The guy just didn't show. Nobody called, either. Today was the last straw. Not only did I spend Saturday morning waiting for the crew to show, but after they were an hour late, I called and discovered that the driver's car had broken down and he wasn't coming (no plan to call me about that,) and that the pumper truck hadn't been documented as part of the order - even though it is on the estimate. Estimated cost was $1,600.

Kitchen sink with garbage disposal became clogged on Thursday evening. Numerous weekend attempts at chemical drain cleaners and manual rodding were futile. I even rented a hand-held power rodder myself, but to no avail. I contacted Roto-Rooter on Sunday morning at about 10 AM. I used their online website to schedule an appointment between 12 noon and 5 PM that day (if appointment was scheduled online then I could use $30-off coupon found in my local Yellow Pages). They called me about 12:30 PM indicating that their technicians were running a little behind, but they hadn't forgotten about me. They called again at 1:30 PM to let me know their man would be there within the next 30 minutes. Frank showed up at 2 PM, got the whole story from me, looked in the kitchen, looked in the basement, gave me an upfront estimate and then started his work. He was done within 45 minutes. He was very professional and gave me some advice about going easy on what we send down the disposal unit.

I called several plumbing companies the day after Thanksgiving, but no company could come to fix the problem. So, I resorted to calling Roto Rooter. I had to check Roto Rooters website for the local number because we are absentee landlords living in Delaware. I called Roto Rooter at 4pm CT and they said a plumber would contact me between 5-7pm. The dispatch service person called me at 5:22pm and said the technician would be at the house in about 30 minutes. At 6pm, my tenant called me and said the plumber had looked at the bathtub and said it would need to be "routed out," which is what I anticipated. They quoted me a price of $247 (included a coupon) and then he called me back at 6:45pm. The dispatch called me back to take my credit card info (since we live in Delaware) and then connected me to the local offices answering machine to obtain a receipt on their next business day. The experience was very efficient, but it was outrageously expensive.

Bottom line-they knew what was wrong, they didnt correct it, and damaged my vanity drawers, and replaced the toilet at an angle. He finally used the proper equipment to unclog the sewer. The flood caused the ceiling to bow and water to come from the electrical sockets. The owner promised to have everything fixed, but never did. Happened in may of 04, and I am still having problems. Contact name Fred Hurst Leonard was the third person that came. Diane was the first person that came.

They only sent one man, who was not a plumber and said that he could only rod sewer lines. Always before, a two man crew was sent for this maintenance work. He said that Roto-Rooter doesn't rod storm water lines to clear them of roots, and that he wouldn't know what to charge me or how to do the work. He also said that he doesn't climb ladders and didn't have equipment to flush out the downspouts. He called someone on his cell phone, who confirmed that Roto-Rooter does not do the kind of drain cleaning work I wanted. Since I had used Roto-Rooter before, both for drain cleaning and for plumbing work, this really surprised me. Does it have anything to do with the results of the class action law suit that was filed a few years ago against Roto-Rooter for using "plumbers" who had not served an apprenticeship? I remember receiving notice that I was a potential class member, but opted out because an apprentice had come along on one of my plumbing jobs.

The worker apparently did not know what he was doing. We assumed that we had a backed up drain line that needed to be rodded. He told us that there was some type of leaking groundwater into our sump (it hadnt rained for over a month!!) and said that we needed to contact some type of "leak-detection specialist" and that he could do nothing to help us. He left, we called another plumber and it turned out that the drain needed to be rodded after all. I cant imagine what the Roto-Rooter guy was playing at but well never consider them again.

We just bought this house and they showed me where all of the access points were in my home. The drains are great now and I havent had a problem with them since. I would highly recommend them to anyone.

I felt that the price was reasonably priced and that they are very knowledgeable with plumbing. The worker that came to do the repair was very nice and very polite. I would call them again if I need them.

He broke the cleanout, and just set the cap back on the open sewer. Luckily I had another contractor (for the AC) in the basement the following week who noticed it and told me I needed to get it fixed right away. He told me it was irresponsible of them to just leave it open like that without telling me it was broken. I also asked the RotoRooter guy to clean out the catch basin, but he told me I didn't need to do that, even though we've been in the house for 7 years and it's never been done. I think he just didn't want to do it, afraid he might break the other cleanout as well. I know my pipes are old, but he should have told me it was broken and open and needed to be fixed immediately. My whole basement smells like a sewer now. It's so gross.

After the drain clogged for the second time, they repaired it for free. They also shared some preventative information with me regarding the problem. They were very helpful.

THEY WERE VERY HELPFUL AND RESPONSIBLE WENT THE EXTRA MILE.

Roto Rooter arrived on time and had all the tools needed to do the job. I received excellent information on what the procedure was and how long it would take. They did a good job cleaning up and replacing clean out cover. The root killer that he had in his truck had hardened and he explained that it was not usable and gave me a choice of him coming back or to order it on line ($20 bucks cheaper on line). He told me what to buy and how to use this product and did not charge me for root killer.

After doing a few loads of laundry and finding the basement with a 1/2 inch of water, I called Roto-Rooter at around 3 in the afternoon on a weekday. They send out a technician within 90 minutes, however the tech did not have working tools with him and left after 5 minutes. I called Roto-Rooter again and they said they would send another person out before 9:30 or 10:00 that night. The second person never showed and Roto-Rooter instead dispatched a tech to arrive the next morning at 9am and got to work immediately. I explained to the company that if I had known they would send an ill-equipped tech, I would have called another company to have the problem solved. Instead, I had to wait 18 hours. Roto-Rooter gave me a discount on the work. It was a pain working with the company, but at least the work was completed.

Plumber showed up on time, fixed and explained the problem. Came after hours and was very polite, knowledgeable and did the job in one visit.

I got an appointment within 48 hours, and the guy showed up on time. In less than 20 minutes, he had the drain running great again. He made sure everything was cleaned up when he left.

We were impressed with Heto's energy and willingness to work for hours on a difficult problem. At one point, I was starting to give up hope that he would unclog the drain, but he kept at it and got the job done. He was very pleasant and professional and I would not hesitate to hire him again. One good thing about Roto Rooter is that they charge by the job, not by the hour. If we had hired a small company or individual I'm sure the fee would have been more, especially since it was the weekend. Roto Rooter charged us $35 extra for the weekend call, but I had a $30 coupon from the yellow pages so that made it better.

Came on time during a very stressful situation. Completed the work and fixed problem. Price seemed a bit high and not sure if the service reps are actually plumbers.

For three days after a bad storm, our sump pump went off every 15 seconds after the roto rooter guy installed it. He came back (promptly) when we called to complain, fixed his work and gave us a new pump at no charge.

THEY WERE ALRIGHT PEOPLE. THEY SHOWED UP WHEN THEY SAID THEY WOULD. THEY FIXED WHAT I WANTED THEM TO FIX. THAT IS ALL I COULD ASK THEM FOR. THEY DID GOOD WORK FOR ME.

WE JUST NEEDED SOMEONE TO COME OUT AND STOP THE SEWER LINE FROM BACKING UP AND THEY WERE THE ONES WE CALLED. IT WAS A QUICK CALL FOR HELP. THEY DID A GOOD JOB AND I WAS PLEASED WITH THE WORK.

I HAD TRIED TO GET THE DRAIN WORKING FOR ABOUT A WEEK AND TRIED EVERY CLEANER I COULD FIND AND NOTHING WORKED. I CALLED THEM SO THEY CAME OUT THAT SAME DAY AND HAD THE DRAIN WORKING LIKE NEW WITHIN 30 MINUTES. THEY WERE ALSO VERY TIDY.

ROTO ROOTER DID FINE, I GUESS. THEY SHOWED UP RIGHT AWAY AND DID WHAT THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO. THEY DID LEAVE BEHIND A MESS, BUT I WAS JUST HAPPY TO GET IT WORKING AGAIN.