Mr. Rooter
Reviews and Complaints

I already posted this as a reply to another complaint but wanted to start a new thread with it as well so more people see it. Our basement toilet backed up so we called a number of plumbers and Mr. Rooter was able to come out the quickest. The tech did do a good job of snaking the drain and removing some roots but we were way overcharged...and the toilet was broken (literally broken) in the process. We had them come back out a few days later because there was still a bit of water coming out. The tech went in with a camera and told my wife that the pipe was broken and quoted us $4500 to replace it. We decided to get another plumber to do the work...the second plumber quoted us $2300...almost HALF what Mr. Rooter said it would cost. Needless to say, we hired the second plumber. Here is where the story gets really good...the second plumber didn't run a camera because we told him that Mr. Rooter already did so and they said it was broken and had to come out. When the plumber that we hired got all the concrete and dirt out and pulled up the pipe...he found that it was completely intact. Yep...intact...thanks Mr. Rooter for costing me a ton of money for nothing. It's hard enough trying to make ends meet without big companies trying to rip you off. I will never hire Mr. Rooter for anything again and will tell all my friends about this experience so they don't make the same mistake we did.

worked for these guys for 2 days this spring:('12)never as of yet got paid.was assured by steven, their dispatcher, several times that the check is in the mail.ha!also they do not have enough work for the few guys that they do have.they give them 1-2 jobs a day.they are on commission.that makes for a bad situation as you have guys trying to make a living on just a couple of jobs and believe me they are digging to find anything (legit and otherwise)that even remotely ooks likme it needs repairing.the mr rooter club is a joke also.no added benefit

My washing machine keeps backing up, called them to come out and they arrived same day, (good) the service man did not have his small router so he cleaned the basement drain which we had no problem with. Well the washer backed up water all over the floor that evening when I did laundry. I called them to come out again and said to please bring the small router. My husband (senior citizen) left work early to meed the guy, he did not bring the small router and did NOTHING! This is supposed to have a 30 day guarantee, cost us @ $170 their minimum charge. I sent a letter to the company asking they return to fix this or refund my money, you guessed it we have not heard on thing back from them. Rip Off!

We had backed up toilets into the shower. We called a plumber and in the meantime my husband had gone to Lowes. At lowes he ran into someone that was very nice that worked froo Mr Rooter and he said to call and they would help. We called and cancelled the other plumber and made the call to Mr Rooter. We were told the charge to come out was 99.50 and that would be applied to any work that needed to be done. The plumber arrived and was outside with my husband. He said we had a backed up sewer and he would un lcog it for a total of 198.50. My husband agreed and signed to have the clog un plugged. He got a machine out and turned it on and then said oh no-bad news you have a broken sewer line-I got mud. My husband saw no mud. He then proceeded to wrap up his equipemnt and tell us it would be 2800.00 to fix it. We said we would have to call and get another opinion before spending that kind of money and we said we would pay the 99.50 visit fee and he said no you will pay the 198.50. We said well you didnt un lcog it and that is what we were paying for he said you will pay the 198.50 and asked us to sign the bill-we refused and documented refused on the receipt. We called another plumber (all on Memorial day weekend) and the plumber said we shoudl wait until Tues-told us how we could get by for the weekeend. First thing Tues we called the new plumber and they came out and in less than 20 minutes unclogged the clog and charged 112.00-very professional and quick. I called the customer service for Mr Rooter and said we were very upset we were mislead-we had a very stressful weeked wrrying about a 3k repair bill looming----he said well you stil have to paythe 198.50, and he would stand behind his plumber as he had been with him awhile now (i asked how long and he said about a year). I said i wanted to talk to someone else and he said the buck stopped with him. I have been trying to track down the owner and will continue until I find it. It is not right to mislead the consumer and take advantage on a holiday weekend. Had we just gone ahead with the repair suggested by Mr Rooter we would have a torn up front yard and have 3k less dollars in the bank...shame on you Mr Rooter!

I got a sewer line replaced, I don't think that the person running the earth moving equipment had ever done so before because they didn't backfill under the sidewalk or steps which is now causing both of them to fall down. I contacted Mr. Rooter of Syr to come and fix it, and they sent a plumber (who wasn't here the day of the job) with some top soil and a shovel! My contract read "All work will be completed in a competent manner according to standard practice" I could have a paid A LOT LESS money for the job I got, and now I'm looking at some extensive concrete work. My neighbors have asked me who did the work, so they will know not to hire them, and I did share that with the office when I called them. I have worked with that company in the past, and had generally good experiences until they became part of Mr. Rooter. Luckily I have a found a plumber that I wish I would have found before I spent $4, 500, and easily have another $1, 000 to $2, 000 still to spend to fix what they did. What a mess!

Horribly overpriced and tryed to fix what is not broken. In short they wanted $2323.23 for replacing a water heater. They wanted $1128.25 for a 40 gallon water heater. I can get a better spec'd water heater at Home Depot / Sears / Lowes for $400. Another company fixed/replaced everything, plus fixed my toilet (new guts, new water supply valve) for $950.00. They also spent too much time trying to pitch a service contract membership. I simply laughed. While they were out here, I googled "Mr. Rooter complaints" and found this board. I read through this stuff while this guy was compiling his estimate. I told him about the complaints I read, and that he did exactly what everyone else complained about. I told him also that I could get a water heater for $400 and he began telling me how their Flame Guard is better and last longer, and wasn't available to the public (simple ploy so you can't compare the pricing). Flame Guard is made by American I believe, which makes a similar brand for Sears. I asked if it were better, why lower spec, and why an identical warranty. He simply didn't know what to say. All I can say is that these people prey on uniformed consumers. Thankfully I had my smart phone handy!

I decided to call Mr. Rooter to have a clog in my toilet unstopped. I looked on the Internet and saw wonderful ads showing how their service people carried a mat & wiped their feet before entering customers home. In reality, the service man didn't wipe his feet at all, augured my toilet, talked about his dog for 15 minutes and told me that he felt something hard in the line but didn't get it out. I still have a slow running toilet and I was charged a very high price to hear about his dog. Never again Mr. Rooter ! I tried calling headquarters and always got an answering machine
and my calls were never returned. Steer clear of this business !

Beware of these guys. They are over priced. They use "bate and switch" tactics to draw you in, then create one crisis after another to exploit more and more money from you. They got me for several thousand dollars of unnecessary costs I got wise and obtained a second opinion from a plumber with 30 years experience. He clued me into their devious tactics. their stock in trade seems to be to take advantage of elderly and desperate people. Mr Rooter operates without a hint ethics and I think someone should investigate them for a class action law suit. Stay away from Mr Rooter!

Cost me $190.00 to change a small valve that I can get for $5 at Home depot. The plumber was here for 20 minutes. In addition, he wanted to charge $15 for fuel surcharge. Pure rip off...

Scheduled an appt. for a technician to come out to service a backed up basement drain, no show, no call. Made another, no show-no call! Yes, because it was for my mother and she insisted to reschedule with them, I did so the 3rd and 4th time. The fourth time they were to be out there between 10-2 I received a message at 5:20 asking if we still needed their services! I called back and explained what has been happening and was told they only have 1 technician in the Detroit area and due to the rain (at least a week ago) they have been overwhelmed. If so, a call the first or second time would have been nice to say the least. Not only was I on hold for 15 minutes at a time trying to speak with someone but lack of a caring tone, same script by many I spoke with...customer service is not top priority! I think their specials are a scam as when I tried to ask questions the 1st & 2nd time I never received an accurate answer and then was told the $99 special doesnt apply to the basement sewer. Is there a sewer upstairs? I didnt even care about the price just needed someone out there~shameful! I find it hard to believe a nationwide chain with trucks in every city 24/7 was unable to make it four times! This is unacceptable! I guess they just dont need the business. I work in customer service, it would have been considerate and bussiness like, to say the least, to have even received a call from a Manager apologizing for the inconvenience instead of a ok, thank you and got hung up on!

I got Mr. Rooter to come to replace the hot water heater at the attic at my rental house. They charged $1000 for it! With this high price, I expect professional service. Yet, when I visited the rental house the next day, I saw a hole at the ceiling. At the end of the job the previous day, Mr. Rooter's technician only advised me to contact a restoration about the ceiling, without telling me that he actually stepped through the ceiling.

When I confronted Mr. Rooter about this. A supervisor came out to take a look. He admitted that their technician did step through the ceiling, but refused to pay for any damages saying that the ceiling needs to be replaced anyway. I am furious about this!

The restoration company quoted me $250 for the repair. I demaned 50% of the quote from Mr. Rooter. I felt that it was fair because the ceiling was water damaged. However, the supervisor said that exactly because it was water damaged, he felt that I was being unfair.

If I were to assult another person, I am still guilty assult of even if that person is about to die!

For my price I pay, I definitely expected more honest and responsible behvaior. Not once, did Mr. Rooter said that they were sorry!

Be very careful with this company. They do not charge hourly plumbing rates, but charge per task. This ends up costing you at least twice the going hourly rate. They tell you the charges once they're at your house, but by then it's virtually too late, unless you have the time to call someone else.
I overpaid by about double what it would have cost with a reputable company.

I live in Worcester, MA, I have a building 3 floors appartments and I payed a toatl of $21.904, 00 dollars to this company to install new heating and hot water system. My life has been a nightmare since then. I have so many problems with this company since they installed 3 high "efficiency" gas boiler in my house last year. The two major problems were resolved after months of stress and paying high gas bills. Now, the machine on thirth floor is shutting down almost every other day, it has been happening since 6/24/11, the same problem happened before on first floor. My tenent is treatening me of not pay rent if this problem continues. I lost count of how many times I called this company to fix it. Kyle Ritchie, the manager keep saying that he will come to fix it but he never came. Also, the washer and dryer outlet was removed from the wall when they intalled the boilers but hey never relocated them, instead, they left them hanging. I can't express enough how much stress I'm going through.

Just had a Mr. Rooter technician come to my house. He was in my residence for about 30 minutes and when he left he handed me a bill for 159.75. I am not happy for two reasons. He did not do any work for me the bill was simply for diagnosis and travel costs. That price is ridiculous. It took him 20 minutes to diagnose the problem and it costs 111.14 dollars to do that? Further more their add states "you know the price before we start". Well I did not know the price before he started or else you wouldn't be hearing from me because I would have most certainly chosen a different company because those prices are crazy. I feel cheated because I do not know a lot about plumbing. I also feel like I was lied to. If you say you are going to let people know how much it will cost before you start then do it! Otherwise don't put it in your add. That is complete false advertising and I am totally disgusted by that.

04/13/10 called and had them come out and repair a water leak at the meter main line paid $354.56 Invoice # 160709 Technician # 348 no name.
07/14/10 7:33 pm discovered a water leak at the water meter the same place that was repaired on 04/13/10 and called them to come out to fix it. I reached the call center and spoke with John and said that Richard Norwood was on call and he would be calling me. 7:42 pm Richard called me and said he is on the way. 8:54 He arrived to assess the situation and came up with the leak was at the same joint previously repaired. He called his supervisor and got authorization to do the repair as a curtsy with no charge. He was unable to fix the problem due to not having the right materials on his truck. He said he would have to come back in the morning first thing. He left at approximately 9:40 pm.
07/15/10 8:50 am Richard Norwood 336-9752 called me and said he would be coming back out to complete the repair. He recommended putting a pressure regulator valve on and I agreed. . I got home at 12:05 and he pulled in behind me. I was billed again on invoice # 161073 07/14/10 for $412.85 billed to my M/C.
07/19/10 approximately 10:30 Richard came out to check the pressure at the hose bib and found it to be at a maximum of 60 pounds and that was the best he could do. 3:10 Keith from Mr Rooter called me to follow up on the service I received from Richard Norwood and I gave him a low down on what happened. He is supposed to call me back after researching it with Richard. I told Keith that to put a shout off valve in-front of the sprinkler system for a fee of $204.00 is quite expensive when the valve I could have purchased at Home Depot for $1.50 and he had to cut the line at the sprinkler system to do the repair anyway. 3:30 Kieth Cortes 336-8274 called me back and said that Richard gave me member pricing on the work he did and they did the water leak repair as a courtesy. He said if I did not like the pressure I have he would have Richard come back out and do a replacement of the valve at no charge.
08/24/10 9:45 am called Keith got voice mail (vm) left message on answering machine (lma). 10:45 he caled me back and set apt for Richard Norwood to come out on 08/26/10 between 9 - 10 am.
05/16/11 12:04 pm went to check the mail and discouvered a water leak at the meater. Immediately checked it and the meter was running. I turned the water off on the city side because I was unable to turn it off with the cut off valve Mr Rooter installed on their last repair. It appears that the leak is where Mr Rooter performed the last repair at the meter on my side between the cut off valve and pressure regulator. This repair is less than a year ago and proves incopentance of Mr Rooter licensenced plumber.
05/18/11 2:32 pm called Mr Bitner to follow up to see if he got my email. got his vm lma.
05/20/11 10:19 called to speak with Mr Bitner to see if he got my email and he was not in and I spoke with Ben. I asked him to call Mr Bitner on his cell phone and have him call me and he said he would.
05/23/11 9:43 am called to speak with Mr Bitner and he was not in and I spoke with Ben. He said Mr Bitner would be in the office in about an hour and he would give my information to Mr Bitner when he comes in. Ben has pulled up my email and will provide it to Mr Bintner.

IM A FORMER PLUMBER OF LEN DOLLY, STEVE KELLY..I WAS INJURED ON A JOB[HURT MY BACK], ..SO I CALLED OFF TO GO TO THE DOCTOR, SO THE DOCTOR GAVE ME TWO DAYS OFF, I CALLED LEN AND THE ONLY THING HE ASKED ME IS I NEED THAT CHECK FOR PAYROLL...SO AFTER A WEEK HE CALLS ME AND TELLS ME ANOTHER PLUMBER NEEDED MY TRUCK FOR THE DAY...ONE HOUR LATER I CALLED LEN AND ASKED HIM, THAT ANOTHER PLUMBER CALLED ME AND TOLD ME, I WAS FIRED, , , , HE WOULD NOT ANSWER ME...AND TOLD ME TO BE AT THE SHOP AT 7;30 A.M ON SATURDAY TO TALK..SO I ASKED HIM TO MEET LATER ON THAT DAY, HE TOLD ME HE COULNT, , , DUE TO HE HAD TO BOWL THAT DAY..
WELL THE REASON IM WRITING THIS IS BECAUSE THIS COMPANY DOESNT CARE ABOUT HIS PEOPLE, THE PLUMBERS THAT MAKE THIS COMPANY MONEY...AND BY THE WAY RIP PEOPLE OFF, , THEY WANT ALL YOUR MONEY AND TELL PEOPLE THINGS ARE BROKEN WHEN THERE NOT, , , EXAMPLES; LIKE ROB E, TELLING PEOPLE THERE SANITARY SEWERS ARE BROKEN WHEN THERE NOT, THEN OVER PRICING CUSTOMERS TO DIG UP THERE FRONT YARDS, , , OR HOW ABOUT BRIAN B, NOT USEING GLUE OR CLEANER ON PVC, PIPE, AND CHARGING OVER EIGHT THOUSAND FOR A JOB THAT ONLY COST 1, 200 TOPS...HERE IS A LIST OF BAD SERVICES MR, ROOTER PROVIDES...
1] OVER PRICING CUSTOMERS AND THEY STILL HAVE PROBELMS WHEN JOBS ARE DONE..
2]LEN TREATS HIS PLUMBERS LIKE GARBAGE, , YOU KNOW THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE HIM MONEY..
3] POOR MANAGMENT ...HOW DO YOU RUN A PLUMBING COMPANY FROM A BAR...
4]GIVING CERTAIN PLUMBERS JOBS AND LETTING THEM RIP PEOPLE OFF, OVER CHARGING, , , LIKE THE ELDERLY...
5] TELLING CUSTOMERS FALSE INFO ABOUT THERE PROBELM THERE HAVING...
6]ALSO THEY WHERE INVESTIGATED BY THE I.R.S. THEY WHERE RIPPING THERE OWN MEN OUT OF MONEY IN THERE PAY CHECKS, , , ;THIS ONE THEY WHERE QUILTY FOR...
SO ANYONE WHO HAD THERE SANITARY SEWER REPLACED BY THEM ASKED FOR YOUR MONEY BACK..OR ANY KIND OF WORK YOU HAD DONE FROM THEM...
THIS COMPANY SHOULD BE INVESTIGATED BY THE NEWS, , THEY ARE LOW LIFES, CHEATS, SCUN BAGS..ALL THEY WANT IS EVERONES NEST EGGS...DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY...

We were having issues with our plumbing. Quoted $200 to pump out tank. We were later told that the real problem was something different, to the tune of an additional $800. That all done, asked to flush the toilet, nothing. WON'T FLUSH. Now remember, this is the reason we called them out here. They pretty much shrugged handed us our bill for what they had done that apparently wasn't our problem and left. No offer to find the problem, no suggestion other than to rent a snake. Now we are stuck with a $1000 bill that we can't even flush : Terrible service wouldn't recommend to even my worst enemy.

I have used Mr. Rooter before and they were honest, punctual and very helpful. Son this time I called Mr Rooter again. Chris (very young guy) showed up in front of my door on time. He checked out the issue and started telling me how bad my current system was. According to him, Lowes sells only junk. My system was going to go out soon and flood the attic. This is a 2 year old unit and still has 10 year warranty. He wanted to sell me a new unit for $1154.95. SO, when I said NO. He proceeded to check his prices and told me it was going to cost $337.73 to change a Burner Assembly. It was going to take 15 minutesd to 1 hours at most. One hour work with no part @ $337.00. Also, if I paid $99.00 to become a MEMBER, the rate drop down to $292.11. I was not sure MEMBER of What!. I guess Mr. ROOTER CLUB. When I said NO and NO. He said to pay him $64.95 for his service call. This sounded like a BIG RIP OFF TO ME. I offered to pay him $200.00 for the work. He wanted $222.25 when he realize I was not going to pay $$337.73. I have lost all trusts in Mr. Rooter.

I called another Plumber immediately after. The price was going to be $200.00 to replace the unit if nothing else was wrong. They showed up at 4:30p. Replaced the Burner and done. WHAT A DIFFERENCE!. I now have a new prefered Plumber (C and M in Forney, TX)