Drains were backed up

unknown

The workers were very professional and actually fun to be around. What appeared to be a simple plugged line turned into a collapsed line after attempting to power wash it. I'm not saying they did it. The initial cleanout was over $300. The power wash was another $800. To replace the line with 8 feet of PVC pipe was $3000. an additional 8 Ft. required another $ 2000. After the power wash I had around 200 gallons of raw sewage that I had to clean up on the basement floor. Also the sidewalk they had to remove is now stacked in the side yard next to my house. They used all the latest equipment including cameras to show me the damage inside the line and the need for the power wash. I would probably have shopped around for a better price but since I had a renter without service I needed it done right away and they were available. The thing I was upset most with was what I considered exuberant pricing.

Short summary, never, ever use this company.

My reason for needing a service call was that my pipes in my bathtub and two sinks weren?t draining, yet the toilet was flushing.  The technician arrived late on a Wednesday evening and proceeded to look around.  I showed him the standing water in my bathtub and the locations of various water features including the drain pipe outside and the hot water tank.  The technician proceeded to tell me that my main drain line was blocked and my septic tank would need to be excavated along with the drain line from the house to the sewer.  He never ran any water, flushed any toilet, looked at the standing water in the tub, offered to snake a line or send a camera down the line to look for the blockage.  I didn?t realize that this was something he should have done until later.

He wrote everything up and handed me an estimate for $2392 (probably more due to needing to figure in the unknown cost of the risers on my tank) and requested a $1000 deposit.  He assured me that I could continue to run the dishwasher and take a shower, and that the water would drain eventually, but should not do laundry because the pressure was too high.  I paid a $1000 deposit and he left, telling me to expect a phone call in the next two days, with the probability that they would come and excavate on Saturday or Sunday.

Thursday morning, I got up and took a shower, but nothing drained, leaving 2 inches of standing water in bathtub, which was still there when I returned that evening.  I didn?t worry too much, figuring that the plumber knew what he was talking about and left the water, yet it was still there when I got up Friday morning.  This prompted me to turn off the water for fear that by continuing to do anything with the water would make things worse.  Because of this I forewent my shower for the morning.  Friday afternoon I had not received a phone call and after calling the office and speaking with the office manager, she informed me that she ?Had never been told that she was to call me.  Also, we don?t dig on the weekends, so they would be out sometime Monday morning between 8 am and 10 am to begin working.?  I understood that the weather was playing a part in this, as it was cold here, but at the same time, I was starting to get frustrated because I paid the company already and nothing was getting done.

On Saturday and Sunday, I did some research and spoke to a friend who was a plumber.  Everything I read and was told indicated that if the toilet was flushing, then the main drain line could not be blocked.  The drain line was blocked somewhere.  I decided before anyone came on Monday morning to dig, I wanted someone to try and snake the lines and that I wanted to speak with a second plumber to get a second opinion of what was going on.  When I called the office late Sunday, I spoke with their office manager, Becky, who tried to be helpful and told me that she would have a different plumber call me ?first thing Monday morning? and that there would be no digging going on because the temperature was still very cold.  This left me wondering if I hadn?t called, when I would have found out that no one was coming.

Monday came, and I still had no drains.  At 9 am, I had not received a phone, and when I called into the office, I was told that I would receive a phone call as soon as ?Matt came into the office?.  At 11:30, I had still not received a phone call, and was now told that ?Matt was on call?, but Becky would have him call as soon as he got in the office.  At noon, I was fed up with not having water and not having a phone call, so I called the office and told them that if something didn?t happen soon, I was going to dispute my credit card charge and call a different compnay who might actually come out and do something so that my house would drain.  Ten minutes later, I had phone call saying that there just happened to be a plumber in the area, and he had 2 calls in front of mine but would be there between 3 and 5 PM, and I would receive a phone call once they had a better estimate of his arrival time.  Around 3:30, I had a knock at the door and the same plumber was there, without a phone call ahead of time, or my request for a second plumber to call me.

When I explained the issue, which was the same one that I had when he had been there on Wednesday evening, his words were ?I hoped it wouldn?t get that bad, that quick.?  After showing him the exact same things as I had on Wednesday, his comment on seeing the drain pipe that ended up being frozen was ?I didn?t see that last time I was here? which is surprising because he supposedly claims to ?treat every house that I go in like my own?.  He quickly decided that since the pipe was exposed, that it was possible that it was frozen there.  He cut the pipe open and found that it was indeed frozen.  We completed new paperwork with a promise that my $1000 deposit could be put towards this job.

Four hours later, I had running and draining water for the first time in almost six days.  He even declared that the main drain line wasn?t blocked, but would probably need cleared out in the future.  Unsurprisingly, my bill came to exactly $1000, including a strange $225 charge that was not on the original estimate and has no description on the bill.  It was only as I sat down to write this e-mail that I realized this.

As someone who has purchased an Advantage Plan over two years ago with the promise of having the hot water tank drained once per year, and never seen a plumber to do it (despite requesting it when I called in at the beginning of this issue), I can say now, I won?t ever let Mr. Rooter back into my house.  Even if it is to just drain the hot water tank, which I?ve already paid for.

I went without draining water, could have paid $2500, and would still not have had my issue fixed because there was a frozen drain pipe, not a block in my main drain line.  Had the technician done a little more looking and working when he was here originally, I would have never had this issue and he probably wouldn?t have needed to spend 4 hours fixing the issue because it wouldn?t have been quite as bad.

In the end the plumber cost me $200 an hour, for a total of $1000 in total, several hours in clean up after the plumber left due to him tracking various things through my house, on my carpets, left water laying around the hot water heater from using the jet to defrost my pipes, and in the general difficulties I had with 6 days without draining water.

I was referred to them by my neighbor.  They were really nice and gave me a ten percent discount.  They did a good job.  They were highly priced and were three times more than the previous company I used.  I got them to reduce the price to what I was comfortable with.  They were very professional and were very friendly. I would use them again in the future.

I found them in the phone book. We were having a drain problem in a new bathroom and my normal plumber said that he believed the drain was plugged under the basement floor and he did not have the equipment to unplug it. He suggested I call a company that performed drain cleaning. Mr. Rooter's rep told me on the phone that if they could not help me it would be a $75.00 call out fee and that would be it.

They came and almost $400.00 later we were told we still could not use the bathroom or kitchen drains until someone came back at another time and that it would cost an additional $800.00. After much discussion that price came down to another $400.00. We were told that they would put a camera in our drain and record it on DVD but they would not give us a copy unless we paid for it but that they would have it on file. The next day I called Roto Rooter who came out and did everything that Mr. Rooter had done for the original $400.00 plus everything they said they were going to do for another $400.00+ for a TOTAL of $265.00. It took them less than 1 1/2 hrs. No problems since.

I called Mr. Rooter and asked for part of my money back. They kept saying they would call me back by a certain date and time and they did not. After they figured out that I wasn't going away they finally offered to send a supervisor to look at the drain in my basement but they would not promise me any money back. When I asked why they couldn't look at the DVD that the technician said he would be recording for Mr. Rooter's record they couldn't give me an answer. They said they just had to get back into the house and look again. After much thought and talking to others who had used Mr. Rooter and the horror stories they told me I decided I didn't trust them in my house for any reason. I firmly believed from dealing with them thus far that  they could damage my drains and then I would have to pay someone else to fix yet another job they messed up.

If you use Mr. Rooter you will be sorry.

It did not go well at all. I found them in the phone book. They say they guarantee their work and offer free estimates. I decided to call them and use their service. They cut a hole in my floor and put a new flax ring on the toilet. It is still leaking and now no one will come back to look at the leak without paying more money.