Roto Rooter Independent Franchise - Linden-Rahway

VERY expensive; didn't quote price before doing the work (my mistake for allowing this); and was initially abrupt with my wife (I found out only after he - Rich, the owner - left). Sewer drain clogged Christmas day morning. Waited until the next morning to call any plumber, and my first call was Roto Rooter (Linden, Colonia, Rahway, Clark Independent Franchise - Rich Smith). Rich called back within minutes and said he'd be there between 11 and 1. He showed up on time, but I was out and missed his call. However, my wife was home and let him in. He went into the basement and immediately was short with my wife, saying 1) that the area with the main sewer cleanouts should have been cleared out already (there were a few boxes blocking the area, not many at all), 2) he pushed another call to accommodate us, 3) the area was filled with crushed stone (from the Radon work that was done), and 4) she needed to get him buckets fast! I only found out about this after he left, lucky for him b/c I would have told him to leave my house immediately. We're the home owners and he's the vendor and should have been much more professional. To address his points above: 1) We had no way of knowing which area he needed access to b/c there were multiple areas / cleanout caps he could have accessed and since we're not plumbers had no way of knowing where he'd need / want to access. 2) His pushing another customer until later has no relevance, since he was let into the house when he arrived. 3) Again, we're not plumbers and not radon experts, so the crushed stone that filled the clean-out area was nothing anyone could realistically have done anything about before he got there. 4) What the heck was he thinking??? What if the home was an older couple who have no buckets? Shouldn't he as a plumber have a tarp and/or buckets in his van? Shouldn't he ask nicely if we had any and then send his helper (son) to get them, or get them himself? After this initial lack of professionalism he was ok. His son actually removed about 4 large (5-gal) buckets worth of crushed stone to get access to the cleanout caps, and left them neatly in the basement. Not a big mess at all. When I got home (about 25 mins into his job), he was already in the process of removing all three cleanout caps. He then snaked the drain, checked to the street with the little camera snake thingy, and replaced 3 new cleanout caps. He explained everything and gave some tips on how to keep it unclogged. Last was the bill. I think my heart stopped for a second when he said $420 for the cleanout and another $115 for the 3 replacement cleanout caps, but the work was done already. He should have given a price up front once he was at the home and knew what he needed to do. He should never talk to any customer(s) the way he did to my wife (for any reason). If you do want him to do work, make sure you get a quote up front, and if he gets short or abrasive, send him back to his van!