Roto-Rooter Group
Reviews and Complaints

Roto Rooter came out to my house last week and the plumber that came out was very polite, courteous, and thourough with the job that he did. After the job was complete he asked me if I had any questions. If you want a company that has good customer service and people that really care for you, call Roto Rooter. Jen

etdff

Sounds like he was in a hurry to another job but i would of put a whole new stem at that price, unless your house is ancient and he was afraid to go further !

Roto Rooter charged me 3, 000.00 for 5 hours of work. One of the hours was their lunch. I asked them about it, they said they had to get a part-but the hole was already filled in. Basically they robbed from my mother in law and lied about it..

We attempted to schedule an appointment with Roto-Rooter and they had no availability after 5 pm for those of us that work. I settled for a "sometime" in the morning appointment the next day, where they would call me and I'd have 30 min. to get to the house.

Waited all morning and then they called at 11:30 AM after I had freed my entire morning for them, and I wasn't able to make it, because isn't 12:00 PM the afternoon? They agreed to call us in the afternoon and when they called at 3:00 PM, we were home by 3:20 and passed the Roto-Rooter truck leaving our house! We honked and flagged him down and then when he got out of the truck he was so rude that we asked him to leave! He mumbled something about "you weren't there the first time we called you". Am I not the customer? Especially in a bad economy I shouldn't feel like I am inconveniencing the plumber.

Also, when we called Roto-rooter to complain, the manager hung up on us!

we have delt with roto rooter for 25 years, earlier this year we called because our kitchen sink was clogged.They replaced some under the sink pipes and fed a snake in the line. This cause the snake to create a new hole in the pipe at the boot end that they had done before. we did not know this, we had been feeding water into our craw space for the past 6 months. after fighting with the flys and the smell I found the problem. I called my local roter rooter and had set up for them to correct the problem. after 3 hours trying to get the work approved they finely left and said I had to get approved for credit in order for them to fix the pipe. He had to have up front money to preform the work. so I spend another night with the smell and. This work is farmed out to anyone willing to do the work. I don't speek spanish and there for the work isn't done, I probley should have ask for his green card. I did call another plumber and they said they would be here in the morning to fix our problems, no questions ask. I suggest calling dan King

I live in the Worcester region of Massachusetts. I had a toilet that wouldn't flush. Called my regular plumber, he told me he was unable to make it to my house for two days. He told me to call Roto Rooter which came out that day.

The drain cleaner showed up about three hours after my call which was perfect. Once he came in my house it was just impossible to understand him once I started asking him questions. I was asking him about the online coupon I printed and he told the price of $189.00 already gave me either a senior discount or the coupon but I can't have both. Asked him how does 10% senior discount and a $40.00 coupon equal the same price?

He was getting very defensive with me. I let it go and allowed him to do the work, when you want a working toilet you'll pay. Then the guy couldn't get the toilet flushing, told me that I need a new toilet this ones broken. I'm not a plumber but how does a toilet just get broken? Ask for a price. Told me parts and labor would be $650.00. I needed to sit down with that one. I can't pay that so I'll wait for my plumber to come and figure out whats going on.

The DC was very upset that I wouldn't pull the trigger to do the work. He started talking so fast and sloppy it felt like the room was spinning. Asked him to slow down he's speech so I can understand him and he lost it even more with me.

Why would a large company like this one send or even hire people who need to come into your home and talk to you about the job? I'm not racist or against anybody working for a living, whoever learn the English language please. I'm to old to learn a new one now in my life. I guess when you do call make sure you ask for a English speaking drain cleaner.

I will call Roto Rooter again just will make sure I ask for a different DC

I called Roto Rooter for plumbing help with unclogging a drain. They refused to give me an estimate over the phone. When they arrived, they performed the service which took less than 15 minutes. They then proceeded to charge me $350. I have since gotten estimates over the phone from other plumbers who said their rates ranged from $85 to $120. When I called Roto Rooter Corporate, they did nothing to fix the problem and claimed that $350 was a perfectly acceptable rate. DO NOT use them - they are dishonest and overrated!

1 1/2yrs ago: toilet backing up, called some random plumbing company with reasonable prices to deal with it. The man came with shoddy equipment, snaking for two hours accomplishing nothing.

$140 for nothing.

Next, we call Roto Rooter, tell them about the first guy. They rush right over with a hydro-jet, blast those pipes, and viola! Clear flushing toilets! They now have our trust!

Fast forward about a year and a half...same problem, obviously roots (both companies said so). We automatically call Roto Rooter.

This time we get a guy reeking of alcohol who drags in the same equipment as the first company from a year and a half ago, snakes for 30 minutes, says it's not going to work, my pipes are collapsed, and maybe we could get our insurance company to pay for the "definitely over $1000" work (says he'll pad the bill and kick us back our deductible) and gives us his cell phone number. No sign of the hydro-jet, which could easily have been attempted in the remaining half-hour we had paid for.

We call and complain. Response? Sure we can come back and try the hydro-jet, but you'll have to pay for another visit. Acccckkkk!

Used roto rooter over a year ago. After this they sent out a $25 gift card for future use. In october of 09 I had a leaky pipe under a bathroom sink. I called them to fix it. At the time I mentioned the gift certificate and was told it could be used. The day of the repair after being presented a bill for 173.88 I presented the gift card. At this time the plumber looked befuddled and said he needed to go back to his truck. He returned with a bill showing the same bottom line. The labor went up from $159 to 184 then the $25 gift card was netted out leaving me with the exact same bill $173.88. Of course I wasn't going to argue with the plumber in my home. I paid the bill and called the office. Of course they were all apologetic but I have been chasing this $25 for exactly 3 monthes now. I have been repeatedly lied to by them stating that a check was coming from the home office. This round and round has occured no less then 3 times with messages being left stating that the "check is in the mail". They are nothing more then a bunch of liars. DO NOT USE ROTO ROOTER. Amazing to me that they would risk their reputation for $25. Of course you might ask why the $25 is so important to me. Its called principle!

Complaint: About Roto Rooter,

Call them to repair a leaking tube facet. Plumber came out showed it to him said he need to disassemble it would cost $304.00 thought it had to be done so told him to go ahead he went to work it took about 45 minutes said he rebuilt the insides seemed to be the washers he replaced took $30.00 off for a senior citizens discount for my mother plumber also said original parts were old and would only hold up about two years and would need to replace. Next day noticed still had a slight drip so called them back because at $274 thought it should not leak at all…
They sent another plumber out he said the leak was minor but if we wanted he could change the hole knob section out and that would make it like new again while concerting that he asked if I had any other leaks about and found one under the kitchen sink said he could change it for $10 buck told him to do it but the sink trap was striped so then adding a new trap the price went to $25 this was later taken off the amount of the bill while he was doing that I ask him how much would the main job be said he would charge $85 plus what the parts would be around $85 told me if I went to get the parts it would make it cheaper if I had a camera take a photo to bring with me “I did have a camera on hand to do that !” but, then he said he would get the parts for me and he would get his camera. So, he went to get them came back still he did not know if he had the right parts or not and it turned out to be the wrong ones he said. made another trip got the right one’s this time said the part were old and hard to come by and cost more than anticipated therefore the amount would be more money did not say how much? This plumber was here for 4 hours and ended up being a total of $299.17 charged to me. But what he said at the beginning of this story is he would take the fee from the other plumber that came the prior day which was the fee of $274.00 if he did that why? was that not included in his amount of the bill to me do not understand why I got charged the same amount of money by the first guy when he did less then half the work and halfass, then the second guy who did the job but charged more then he said he would and may have taken the other plumbers fee seems there’s a rip off there to me?

Follow Up On Complaint About Roto Rooter ;

Called billing department spoke to customer service rep ask for billing number after finding both bills she said the first guy only charged me for labor but if this is so he was only here about 45 mins she said at the end of the conversation that the labor is $55 an hour so if only labor was charge then he overly charged me by $219 dollars even if he went in to the second hour and add anther $55 to that he still over charged me $164 so I still see a ripe off there!
She also said other plumber charged only for parts and he was here 4 hours and fixed a possible leak under the kitchen sink what he told me was he would take the other guy’s fee seems that would make up for the labor at $55 an hour at 4 hours is $220 even thought she said there was no labor how did the parts cost that much even thought they were old and hard to get? He charged me $299.17 plus if ? He got the other guy’s
Fee then he got his labor it would seem off me in a round about way. $574.17 total.
Seem the service rep just wanted to get me off the phone…

you are a complete [censor].#1 you get prices before any work begins.i can call around after you do ANYTHING for me and find it cheaper, always.#2 you agreed to the amount before they proceeded to FIX OR UNSTOP THE LINE WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU ASKED THEM TO DO!#3 there is no "PROBLEM" for roto rooter corporate to correct since fortunately they are not responsible for you being a dumb [censor], that's apparently genetic...people like you with a victim mentality make me sick.YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOU.NOT ME, NOT YOUR FAMILY, NOT ROTO ROOTER, ONLY YOU.GROW UP TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF.maybe someone in town could have done the same job with insurance, licenses, knowledge, etc...at a lower price, but it CERTAINLY is not roto rooter's fault that you did not check

apparently you do not speak english either.your spelling is at best poor.roto rooter is a national company that background checks, mvr checks, drug tests etc...i assure you that if they are working for roto rooter then they are legal to work in the u.s.a..are you [censored]bag?

douchbags like the ann vry are just people with victim mentality.nothing has ever been or ever will be their fault.no one MADE you use roto rooter.poor you, called someone out, they fixed your problem in a timely manner and after that now it's a problem.i suggest that next time you have a drain problem(or any problem for that matter)you look up someone on craigslist and call them.they rarely have insurance, or a license or are bonded or stay in business for very long, but by god they are cheap as [censor] and you being a bottom feeding [censor] will be pleased with the $49 job you get

lets review your compalint you call a company for fast emergency service to come and clear a drain for you? Ok they send a guy who has medical benifits, has been back round checked, has his own tools and around 6-9 thousand dollars worth of equipment, workmans comp insurance, proerty insurance, radio dispatched, in uniform, and he cleard your drain in a very fast and efficeint manner. And your compalint is he did it to fast? would it be better if someone with a police histoy of theft or violence, with no insurance, no uniform and very little expierence did it for half the price? please do not bad mouth this way just because your budget does not fit.

i WAS TAKING A SHOWER AND NY WATER WENT OFF, i WENT DOWN THE BASEMENT AND FOUND A MAN WORKING THERE AS i QUESTION HIM ABOUT THE SITUATION, HIS ANSWER WAS VERY UGLY AND DISRESPECFUL...YOU ARE A VERY OUTFULL PEOPLE

RotoRooter was called to fix a toilet leak, a technician came and was trying to sell us a water restoration company service. He even dialed the number for us. I bet he is getting the commission or owns the water restoration business. It was awful. The water poured for several hours we are still waiting for someone to come. The man did not speak proper english and was urging us to call the water restoration service.

Roto rooter was called to our home after the water company told us we had roots in the main drain. Their tech stuck a few blades through and told my husband we had a collapsed pipe. We finally had good weather to dig up the pipe and found that it was full of roots. I emailed rotorooter to tell them and stated that I think I should get my money back. They did investigate, but since they weren't called IMMEDIATELY after digging up the pipe and finding the problem, so they could check it they decided nothing would be done in our favor. Watch these people, if they say one thing, make them write it on the pink receipt, all ours says is "clogged drain". Duh! I guess we are liars in their eyes, and they are ?

Called Roto-Rooter to unclog kitch sink pipe. Figured a big company would be less likely to take advantage of you. Had area easily accessible. Plumber took off one nut and ran snake down and back and replaced nut. Charged me 345 dollars. Total time from time he arrived in my driveway to time he left was 30 minutes, total work time 15min. No supplies. This amounts to over $600/hr of work. Neither the plumber or roto rooter was willing to reduce charge.

MY Mistake was not asking for estimate immediately upon his arrival; would have asked if he encountered anything more major and couldn't imagine paying more than 100-200 for 30 min of work.

The company was unwilling to even return calls; The plumber tried to blame the "company sets the price" and the company states the plumber comes up with the price. Obviously, the plumber makes up prices when he sees what kind of house you have.

I was quoted $450 from the person who originally came to estimate or drainage problem. Yes he came as promised within an hour. Then a technician came couple hours latter and quoted $550 because of possible water trap.

I ended with a bill of $809.83 for three hours work ? and an estimate for $2800 to remove the water trap.

My basement was flooding due to two failed sump pumps. Roto Rooter advertises that they provide emergency service. I placed three separate calls with the call center and as of yet I have not received a call from anyone regarding my situation. I have had two separate companies show up, work and leave yet no Roto Rooter response yet. They should not advertise emergency service if they cannot provide that level of service. If I would have continued to wait on Roto Rooter the damage to my basement would be amplified beyond what has already occurred. They should have some back-up mechanism when one of their local plumbers cannot respond in an appropriate time-frame.

I was quoted $450 from the person who originally came to estimate or drainage problem from roto rooter. Yes he came as promised within an hour. Then a technician came couple hours latter and quoted $550 because of possible water trap. All in all I am not happy with roto rooter, as I ended up with many inconsistent estimates for the work that never added up! I ended with a bill of $809.83 for three hours work ? Plus an estimate for $2800 to remove the water trap. Thanks roto rooter!

roto rooter sucks at what they do first i was told the job was 192.75 then after the guy got done my bill was over 1.000 dollars this company are scam atrist

On may 28th, i had to call Roto rooter for a water leak coming out of my water main on my side of the pipes. They came and repaired the leak .I paid them $175.00 . This morning i find the water leak is back and I called them at 805 am. Tammy said she would give me a call when they were on their way . At 10am I called again and Tammy said that there were other people in front of me and that I was next. I believe this is unfair to me. I have already paid for a BAD JOB and they should have moved me to the head of the line since my issue was called in on tuesday the 28th. I have been sitting here for 5 hours and 40 minutes and still no one has showed up. This horrible service and horrible quality of work has now cost me an entires day of pay. I have searched the web and cannot find a corporate phone number or email address. This lady Tammy that I have been talking with is the Manager of my local Roto Rooter, She gave me the owners name but said his phone # was the same # i have been calling. He was not available. I would have to call back and try to catch him. I AM VERY DISPLEASED.

Called Roto Rooter on Friday, Jan 4 at about 3 pm to schedule an appointment for the next day, if possible to fix a busted water pipe. I had no water in the home. Appointment was made for Saturday between 12-4. At about 2:00 on Saturday, I received a call that they couldn't make it out that day but assured me that on Monday a repairman would be there between 8-12. Needless to say, no one showed up and no one from the company called to tell me about a delay. I called them about 1:00 only to be told that the technician was tied up but I was next in line for service. 3:30 a dispatacher calls to say that they wouldn't be able to make it, and assured me that on Tuesday morning (4 days from first call) someone would be at my home between 7:30 and 8:00am. At 8:10 I called inquiring about the status of the repairman. After waiting on hold for 5 minutes, I was told "he's on the way". By 9:05 no one showed up so I left for work; enough time had been wasted. Finally at 9:30 the dispatcher calls to say the repairman is at my home. I spoke with the repairman and he quoted a price of $375 to replace a connector pipe that had burst. I had already priced the part anf knew it wasn't more than about $20.00. Then he went on to say that he had to figure out how to tackle the problem and the repair would take a few hours. I'm disappointed that it took 4 days to finally get someone out to the house and that was only after numerous calls back and forth. The repairman seemed unsure of himself. I chose a different company to do the work. I've used Roto Rooter in the past and was pleased. This time I'm very, very, disappointed. It'll be a while before I use them again!

most of roto rooters operating expenses i.e.van, gas, van repairs and maintainance and insurance is paid by the tech I did it for 10 years and grew very tired of it but I guess it was my own fault as far as machines go they make they're own same with cables(hollow core garbage) so they save a buttload there also they say they care but they don't they are like every other corporation out there money hungry megalomaniacal ###.

HAD a PIN HOLE beside the toilet pipe and I thou they fix it just to find out they made another problem after saying 1 year if any problems occur change it to 6moths .Now try to get more money to fix something they broken! Have pics, THIS was done [protected]

Not completing my monetization sur 44 days complete not complete monetization sir please reply sir

Terrible customer experience and service! Sales rep, Chad, totally unaware of what he is doing, no return calls from the managers, have left messages and still no response, Chad is in a 3rd world when communicating, which is very little. I will NEVER REFER OR USE ROTO ROOTER AGAIN.

OK, I know I'm going to lose many of you when I tell you that I am a current field manager for Rot-Rooter in Chicago, but please allow me to comment on some of the issues that have been brought up here. If you think I'm going to wave the company flag and tell you that all complaints are unfounded - you may be surprised. I support your letting others know of your concerns.

With that said, any company will have employees, management and policies that not only seem unfair, but downright criminal. I have those above me, telling me to to act in an unethical and unprofessional manner. They have instructed me to lie, or at least mislead MY customers - to do whatever it takes, including "hard sales" tactics. These are not leaders, rather they are weak minded and immoral human beings and I will not follow where they would have me go. Surely there are those who will, from middle management to trainee. I am pleased to inform you that the overwhelming majority of my co-workers join me in rejecting the idea that money makes taking the low road a smooth and easy path.

My position requires me to listen to MY customers' very unpleasant experiences, investigate the property's plumbing system, inspect the sewer lines (with a drain-line camera with MY customers by my side), give a very detailed explanation of my findings, give MY customers every possible option for resolving their problems and my repair recommendations based on nearly 30 years experience. Based on a company designed pricing matrix (Roto-Rooter spends millions of dollars every year to determine "market value") I offer an estimate price for the agreed upon course of action (usually an excavation repair or pipe relining). I will take as much time as MY customers need to fully understand every aspect, every detail of what is the cause of their troubles and how I, that's me - will take care of needs and see the job through to their satisfaction. For this, I ask for more than many other companies will. I tell MY customers that we are not the least expensive, but I do not feel the need to be.

I am surrounded by people who take great pride in what they do and do it extremely well. We offer a guarantee that is several years longer than our competitors. A guarantee that actually means something, because as we have been around for 77 years now, we will be here for them should anything happen in the future, while other companies continue to go out of business - leaving their clients with no one to call should their work fail. Perfection is what we strive for, but sadly there are times we come up short and believe me, we hear about it and respond as quickly as we can - not always leading to applause and gratitude.

What it comes down to folks, is "VALUE". If you don't see the value in what we offer, move on to the guy that only offers price as his selling point. You more than likely will get just what you pay for. We must come to your location and go through these steps to be even close to giving an proper, well-reasoned estimate. I ask you to be frightened by those who will ask you three questions over the phone and pretend to know all they need to, to be able and qualified to put forth a price. That tells me that in their minds, their customers are not worthy of such an investment of time and attention. They don't value you.

While I write this, I am about as angry at Roto-Rooter as I can be for allowing the clueless, napoleonic and unvirtuous hold positions of misguided power. I have consistently lead this region and for one quarter of this year, was tops in this 14 nation company's sales in excavation repairs and have been subjected to unthinkable, unwarranted lies and criticism by one who actually believes that if he just keep whipping the lead dog, that the entire team, loaded sled and his own undereducated, inexperienced butt through the finish in first place. Perhaps he should realize that he is the load that slows our progress.That the lead dog knows the way and with the unified efforts of the team, success will be ours. Perhaps this young man relies on the wisdom and strength of character of others, should just step off. Enough of my airing dirty laundry.

So, be informed, cautious consumers. It's not about Roto-Rooter nor any other sales and service tradesman...it's about understanding the true value of the product and services provided. Do not feel pressured into anything you are not completely comfortable with.

whats real bad is these private lil plumbing companys that offer FREE ESTIMATES these are a joke.. PERIOD. I work for a lil plumbing company and want to say beware of this! they will send a starved hungery plumber to your place and look for any problem, they even make problems up - just to make money... remember they are on COMMISION! period. period! get up to 3 estimates from 3 different comanys before you pay for any work done! period. these companys do not pay by the hour! so they might have a guy sitting around for hours with no work... and then they send him to your call. the plumbing company I work for in cerritos calif is a rip off.

on commision plumbers will rip you off. period! they will scare you with un needed repairs and scare tatics... they make money off of charging you more money... they make cash off of the things you know nothing about. they will make up problems like green copper pipes, and dirty drain lines to scare you into a re pipe or drain line repair, just remember this they make 30% off of the bill they give you. the rest goes to some dumb ### who owns the company. who owns 2-3 houses and has tons of cash... period.

Benjamin Franklin was worse but I can not talk about that as they settled with a 3k srettlement

my experience with rotor router was also very negative as I had thousand of unnecessary damages due to the fact they refused to cam my out side 4 inch schedule 40 which would of showed it ran into the house into the carpeted area because they refused to cam they destroying the right side of my out door BBQ and destroyed my tile area which cost a day of labor and thousands to me unnecessary which they flat out refused to fix even though it was there fault and unnecessary

i am a roto rooter tech, i assure all of you that alot of the complaints i am hearing are not roto rooter policy and if the branch knew about the things that have happened those techs would probably be out of a job. i've been in the plumbing industry for 26 years, EVERY COMPANY has complaints or people who think they got ripped off after they signed paperwork saying the job was performed to their satisfaction. i always explain the problem to the customer first, giving them a detailed estimate, the customer can always say no, they ususally say yes, however, and are happy to find that the job was completed as stated in the estimate, i am very busy at work mostly by customer requests to have me back to their residence to do more work for them, so i don't know what the problem is, but i don't have any complaints from my customers. those of you complaining about price obviously have never worked in the plumbing industry, i have worked in some pristine homes, and then there is the other side of it, pure filth, cat hair, dog hair, urine all over the work area, oh and the clogged toilet that was used until it almost ran over, duh, if it's clogged stop using it, pretty simple, so how much would all of you complainers and whiners charge to go work in a cockroach infested house or deal with people's animals they won't put in a bedroom while you are trying to do your job, how much would you charge to clean a drain full of human waste that's been stewing in the heat for 3 days? don't complain unless you have ever done it, and then there is the obvious, if you knew how to repair it yourself, you wouldn't have needed to call a plumber, Benjamin Franklin, was also a plumber among many other titles, and he was right when he said that plumbers PROTECT THE HEALTH OF THE NATION.

My experience with ROTO-ROOTER Services Company in Tampa, FL, did not leave me with the impression that the company was interested in anything but fleecing its customers.

Two of my toilets were not flushing completely. I had augered them myself, but did not determine that there was a clog.

I called the Roto-Rooter number in the Clearwater phone book [protected]) and was told by Duke that there would be a charge of $155 to fix the toilets, and that the warranty would be six months.

A service technician named George Broadley showed up and augered both toilets (as I had done) and told me the warranty would be seven days, instead of the six months promised by Duke. All Mr. Broadley could say is that Duke should not have given me a quote over the phone. I told him that if I had known that was all he was going to do, I would not have scheduled the appointment. Also, when George had completed augering, he simply removed the auger from the toilet, allowing it to drip liquid on my flooring and carpet. He told me that the one toilet needed to be replaced and that he could come back to do that, at additional charge. When he was leaving, he reached out to shake my hand with his, yet he had not washed his hands after handling the wet auger.

Total charge from Roto-Rooter... $178.44
Repair Status...INCOMPLETE

Since the downstairs toilet still did not function, I contacted another plumber from Bob Frank Plumbing, Inc. The technician, Randy, noted that the water line in the tank was low, augered the trap and proceeded to ream out the mineral deposits that had clogged the rinse ring on the bowl. Within minutes, the toilet was flushing like new. He did this to the other toilet, as well. Randy also had a large bucket into which he placed the wet auger. And, he was wearing disposable rubber gloves to do all the work.

Total charge from Bob Frank Plumbing...$96.50
Repair Status...COMPLETE AND STILL WORKING