Roto Rooter Plumbers
Reviews and Complaints

I never got a quote after they came out. No call back or email. I had 2 other companies come out and within 10 Minutes after reviewing the problem and measuring, they had a price for me and emailed me my quote. The person who came out was professional but had to make a couple of video calls to ask for assistance. I was told I would get a call back and quite. I didn’t even try to contact them back because I already had other companies that knew what they were doing give me quotes. I hope that they get better at follow up and quotes.

My guys were John and a trainee (didn't get his last name) who was training. Both guys are awesome, super personable, perfectly professional go the job done. Their personalities and how they conducted themselves immediately made me feel at ease trusting they could get the job done. And they did! They came back the next day to deliver a new stopper for the drain because the prior installer glued the original in, so it got damaged when they had to remove it by force to snake the pipe. That was a nice touch. Great guys!

I can’t provide a more positive review than five stars. We had an emergency plumbing issue, happen to fall on the weekend, and called a number of plumbers to attend to it. Rotor Rooter was able to attend within two hours of the call. Not only were they great with the correspondence in terms of timing but absolutely point on with what needed to be done once they arrived on site. The technician, Rafael C was extremely professional and knowledgeable. I would have no reservation recommending Roto Rooter for your plumbing needs needs.

I called to explain my situation and make an appointment. Approx. 15 mins later the scheduler called to say a tech was on the way within the next 15 mins. Right on time Luis arrived and quickly diagnosed the problems. After giving me a clear explanation with alternative approaches he created an estimate. I agreed to proceed and he went to work. He obviously knew exactly what he was doing and his professionalism was in evidence every minute he was present. This was also true of tech, Mark, who assisted in a final stage of the operation. Will be recommending without hesitation!

As soon as I noticed I had a plumbing problem, I immediately called Roto Rooter. I gave the dispatcher my information and she assured me a tech would be over within an hour. Luis Bonilla was sent over and I received information on him including a picture which made be feel comfortable. Not only was Luis extremely professional but he was fast and got to work on the issue at hand. I appreciated that Roto Rooter is abiding by Covid-19 guidelines, that made me feel safe. Overall Roto Rooter has great customer service and Mr. Luis Bonilla is a great person. They are definitely the company to call!

I had a blocked pipe with no water going to the upstairs. Both of the techs were professional and respectful. They were also both knowledgeable. After the first one evaluated and decided it was probably something his Supervisor would need to look at, he rescheduled me right then and there. The supervisor came out and was able to fix the problem without repiping my whole house. I knew we might have to, but am thankful they exhausted all other options first. They were upfront about the cost, did not charge me for needing two visits. Overall Im extremely happy and will definitely go back for my next repair.

Garrett came out to fix a clogged kitchen drain pipe. He got here very fast after calling, so we didn’t have to wait long at all. He told us the cost for unplugging our drain and sent down the snake... after several tries of 90 feet or so, it still would not unclog, de he suggested to do something with forcing water to unclog it, but it was going to be more money, which we could not afford at this time. He had worked very hard to help us, but, because, the clog did not go away, we were not charged. We really appreciate how hard he worked for us and he was really knowledgeable about what to do... *** in San Marcos, CA

Many things come to mind in thinking of words to say for this review. In general I was happy with the service provided. I was very disappointed with the price I paid for the service - to snake my line 80 feet, find nothing, and be charged $250 for the tech to be onsite for maybe an hour. The adds online say “clear clogged drains for $99.” Very misleading! As for the technician, he was prompt, diligent and professional. There was no mess left behind, yet he had to clean things with my paper towels (again why am I paying $250 when he should have his own towels supplied by the company). I don’t know that I would call again as any plumber would do the same job for far less money, or what at least what they advertise.

I wanted to take a moment and give some recognition to Angela, Mauro and Jacob, who have been helping me during this not so pleasant situation of a flood in my home. I’ve been in customer service for 9 years and have been a people manager for almost 12 years. These individuals have made me feel comfortable and have provided a sense of relief during this process. This is my first time dealing with something like this and so I’m thankful to have had a team like them assisting me. I may not even be half way through this recovery process, but I’m confident things will finish off strong based on what customer service I have been given so far. Thank you all again for the help during this unfortunate event. Sincerely

Roto Rooter overcharges consumers gives you one quote and charges another without explanation or approval, They did not provide a detail invoice and expect payment in full, As I am still waiting for a detail invoice I also received a call from a Collection agency, There practice is unjust and unfair to the consumers. I Do Not Recommend them. I was quoted $450.00 and received an invoice of $725.18 of course I requested a detail invoice which I did not receive until I reported to the ComplaintsBoard.com they received the detail invoice and forwarded it to me. Also, there were discrepancies in the invoice details. This Company is not trustworthy and there staff is unprofessional. This has been a nightmare dealing with this company. Please use your local Plumber.

Julio was fantastic! He was extremely professional! Great listener and great communication with explaining possible issues. He explained about trouble shooting possibilities of our backed up water problems. We're are so impressed with this young man. We give him 10 Stars. This was our 1st experience with Roto Rooter. We're fans of your company. We will refer all future business to your company. We will refer business to your company after 100% Happy Experience. Julio is a Real Gem! I hope your company appreciates Julio and his loyalty to his customers and the company! Your phone representative was great that took my original call. I ask her, if she could put us on standby and she did! Same day great service! ? Julio was our Guardian Angel Today ? Please, take time to thank him from us. He's a valuable employee. Best Regards

Rudy was friendly and a gentleman. He and his helpers did very good work. The price $1,500 was high, but we probably had 10 years accumulated mud and muck in our patio and flower bed drain lines. They cleared the lines, but in the process lost a snake down one of the lines which took more work to retrieve. Eventually, they discovered broken pipe which contributed to the clog and backup which now necessitates them cutting a large part of our concrete patio out and replacing or repairing the lines and then I'll have to hire a contractor to repair the area and finish it. The additional cost was $1,750. Bad news, but when they were here they worked hard and efficiently. My only concern was that they would go on other jobs and I never knew exactly when they would return to finish the job. The communication in these cases was poor. It was important, because I had to authorize them into the community each time as we are a gated community. I have no way of knowing if the price was reasonable or not. I was in a position of having to "go with it" to get things fixed.

I had a Sewer blockage & called Roto Rooter. I described my problem & asked if they could be of assistance. From the onset, they could not have been more helpful or prompt. They had a service person, Derek, out to my location within a couple hours. Before the service person even arrived, I received a text & an email giving me an approximate time and photo of the service person. Derek immediately cleaned my drain & discovered a blockage, He ran a camera down the line and visually showed me the problem and gave me different options. An appointment was made for the next day with a project manager, Alejandro, who arrived as scheduled. He again showed me the problem utilizing a camera. Ultimately I needed a broken sewer line replaced and a liner installed through my line out to the city’s main. The project was completed in a period of approximately 4 days, but we were apprised each step along the way & w were never inconvenienced. Derek & Joshua were amazingly professional, polite & efficient. Plus photos are taken of the work in progress & at completion. I highly recommend the services performed by Roto-Rooter.

Bottom line: great service at a competitive price - will hire them again. We bought an older cabin in PMC several years ago and decided to have our septic tank pumped out for the first time. I to called around for estimates and chose Roger-Rooter. The person who scheduled the appointment told me there would be additional charges if the tank had to be located. The morning of the appointment I dug for 4 hours where I thought the tank would be, but could not find it. Luis, the Roto-Rooter driver/tech who originally came to pump the tank, was very polite and helpful and offered me the options of him digging around trying to find it or arranging for a device to be brought out that would find it. He told me the prices and I chose the device. Luis then arranged for Benjamin to come out with the equipment that same day. Benjamin, a project manager, was very professional and friendly and and he quickly found the tank about 20 feet from where I had been digging. Luis dug down to the tank, pumped it out and cleaned it up, reburied it and helped me fill in the big hole I had dug. I was very happy with the service and especially appreciated that I was advised of all additional costs before the work was done and not pressured to proceed, just given options.

I thought he fixed the clog but he cut a 3' x3' hole in my living room wall and cut out a 10" designer base board. It will cost me at least $800.00 to fix. Then the next day I used the water and the pipes were completely blocked. The tub and shower overflowed with [censored]. It ran down my tile flooring onto my bedroom carpet. My bedroom is 800 square feet. I will have to either try to have them cleaned or replace them. I do not see how the smell or stains will ever get out of them. So that's another $3000.00 Plus. The water ran on the opposite side of my house and the Bar area had 3 plus buckets for me to mop up. I called screaming and the head guy in the area tried to say they did what I wanted. Are you [censored]ting me. I called for a blocked pipe. The pipe is still blocked , has not been snaked and that is what I called Rotor Rooter for. I paid $1150.00 on my American express for my house to be destroyed. I will hire another company on Monday. All of this happened on Thanksgiving. I spent my evening scooping up sewer [censored]. It took 21 towels to clean up and then try to dry my carpets. I can not even do laundry because of the blockage. I will go to the laundry mat. So, the head of the company was supposed to call me today. No call yet. I will NOT allowing any of the Rotor Rooter people back into my house. ! have a 4000 sf designer home. It is a mess. I am leaving tonight to go to a friends to stay. I have no water, no toilet, no sink, no washing machine and no way to live here. So with the Pandemic going on this is what I am dealing with. The only thing I did wrong was to turn on water and flush all 4 toilets and 8 sinks and washing machines. I guess I answered you review. The kid 26 years old was very polite but did not know what he was doing. I even served him lunch. The company is responsible for this. I know they will not do the right thing. I am 71 years old, retired and have no energy to sue them. At least I can maybe give them a black mark. Trust me I will spread the word around in Palm Springs calif. Any business I can take away I will. No one should go through this. Best Regards

My toilet was removed by me and hasn't worked since November . The plumber told me he called his boss and was informed that the other toilet in the adjacent bathroom had to be removed and monitored to prevent the snake from crossing over and causing damage to the pipe in the other bathroom. The cost for this would be $250. I declined and tried to remove the toilet myself. However, the plumber then rocked the toilet from side to side in order to break the silicone seal. After the snake stopped, he went to the other bathroom and claimed that my angle valve was broken.

After 2 reschedule appointments for Roto Rooter to come and give us an estimate, Roto Rooter called me after running a camera without any authorization. We weren't told how much it was gonna cost. I was supposed to be called once they knew what needed to be done before doing any work to get approved. The cost was twice what the owner was given by other companies. I tried getting a manager to reach out to me, but they wouldn't, so we couldn't resolve this.

Roto Rooter plumbers tried to pull a fast one on my insurance company. They sent in an invoice that was full of lies and deception. They claimed that they did all sorts of work in my home, but it was all a bunch of baloney. They even went so far as to forge my signature on the invoice, pretending to be me. Can you believe that?

The most ridiculous part is that they said they had eight blowers, filters, and dryers running in my house for hours every day for over a week. But let me tell you, that never happened. My insurance company saw through their lies and denied coverage. Now, they're trying to make me pay for this fake invoice. Can you believe the nerve?

Luckily, I have a ton of evidence to prove that this work never took place. I have text messages, footage from my Ring camera, and plenty of photos and videos that show the truth. But despite all this, they're still threatening me. They're saying that if I don't pay up, they'll send me to collections. Can you believe the audacity?

I just want everyone to know about this scam. Roto Rooter plumbers are nothing but a bunch of crooks. They tried to cheat my insurance company and now they're trying to cheat me. Don't trust them with your plumbing needs. They're not to be trusted.

They came out to fix water leaking from the lawn to the sidewalk. They took their time to charge me by the hour just to tell me it was some broken sprinkler line, which took them 15 minutes to fix, but I got charged $1000. Today 5/18 I found more leaking from same area, and since their labor is guaranteed for 6 months, I called them. The worker told met that it was a broken sprinkler head and to fix it, it'd be $825.00. I cannot afford that. When I told him no, the worker said "let me see what we can do" (that means they're charging way more from the get go). I called other plumbers who charged me $300 to fix. They also told me that I was ripped off the first time when I paid $1000. That repair should have been $250 to $500 tops. How are companies like this one allowed to operate when they scam people that live paycheck to paycheck? They take advantage of people's ignorance and desperation. I request a refund of $650.00.

On 9/22, I called Roto Rooter to fix my tankless water heater. That same day, a plumber came to my house, but he couldn't fix the heater. On 9/24, the plumber returned with his boss. They checked the heater and then, without giving me a written contract or estimate, they added salt tablets and filters to my water softener while waiting for the water heater to drain. When I asked about the repair cost, they just said it wouldn't be expensive. After about an hour, they said the repair was done and asked for payment of $4587.50. I was shocked but felt pressured, so I paid with a check that was cashed right away. Despite my repeated requests, they have refused to give me an invoice, receipt, or even explain the work they did. If they replaced any parts, they took the old ones without asking me. I want a refund of $4587.50.

We had a drain clog and Roto-Rooter came out to unclog. They fixed the clog, but then the worker broke one of our pipes. He didn't say there would be extra cost and said they'd call back the next day. The next day, a boss called and said we had to pay $2500 to fix the damage. They pointed to the "Release and Hold Harmless Agreement" we signed. It says they're not responsible if it's their fault. But it seems pretty clear that it is their fault. The boss got mad at my husband, said we didn't get it, and hung up. We had no choice but to complain. This company has no morals and is totally unprofessional.

The Roto-Rooter warranty is a scam. We had a clog caused by tree roots. We paid to have them come out and clear the lines. They came out in a timely manner, cleared the lines and issued a one-year warranty. 7 days later to the day, the sewer backed up again. Instead of honoring the warranty and clearing the pipes correctly, we had to agree to pay for a camera scope and they found tree roots that they missed the first time. These are roots that we paid to have cleared the first time that should have been covered under the warranty. Instead, they said they couldn't clear them with the regular cutter and that we needed to pay $1,800 for an aqua jet cutter to clear out the roots. We were between a rock and a hard place since our sewer was plugged. So, they allegedly ran the aqua jet cutter (we never saw it happen) and they cleared the clog. They ran the camera scope down the pipe and it still had roots in it. We saw the video as it happened. They then claimed we needed a new sewer line and that the aqua jet doesn't cut roots which is the exact opposite of what they said before. So they then wanted us to pay $5,000 to have the pipe replaced. Was the pipe broken? No. Was it collapsed? No. So why would we need to replace it? The point of having them run the cutter down the lines both times was to remove the roots. We spoke with the manager and his response was that we had to pay him and that we had a one-year warranty anyways. This is the same warranty that wasn't honored the first time. We allegedly have a warranty on the second job but still have the exact same roots in our sewer lines that we had before they came out. So what did we pay for again? They're also alleging that we have a specific type of sewer pipe called orangeburg and that they can't use the cutter to clear it. The home was built in 1961 when clay piping was used and the pipes have never been replaced. Orangeburg was used in the 70s. They used the cutter the first time, but can't now?

On October 09, my tenant texted me and sent a video about a plumbing problem in one of the bathrooms. She said the toilet was backing up when they used the sink. We called Roto-Rooter to fix it. One of their technicians said they needed to run a camera inside to diagnose the problem. They would also send me the video as proof, and it would cost $***. I agreed because I had no choice. Later, the technician called back and said they couldn't see anything in the video. They needed to do something else that would cost around $20,0000.00! I refused and said I would call another company. Suddenly, they lowered the price to around $5,000.00 and justified it by saying they used a special machine that cost $30,000.00. They also promised a 20-year warranty. I still said no. About an hour later, the same technician called me and offered to do the job on the side for $1,500.00. I asked if I would get an invoice or receipt, and he said no. I also asked if he would use the $30K machine, and he said no. I even asked about the 20-year warranty, and he said I wouldn't get that either. Then he said, "What if we do it through the company for $2,200.00? We'll give you an invoice, the 20-year warranty, and use the $30,000 machine. Would you accept that?" I said yes. I paid $485 for the camera recording (but never received the video) and $2,200.00 for the other process with the "special equipment" (which was never used). Less than a month later, my tenant sent me another video reporting the same problem. Roto Rooter now claims I don't have a warranty. I paid $2,685.00.

This here letter is to let ya know about some real shady business that went down with your representative from Roto Rooter Plumbers. They did some real dirty stuff to my clients on June 29 and 30, 2021 at their place in ***. Now, I'm demandin' that ya pay back the money that *** had to give to your company 'cause of the bogus recommendations made by ***. They charged a crazy amount for work that wasn't even necessary and tried to scam an old couple who just wanted some honest help. Let me break it down for ya:

First off, *** asked for way more money than what was originally estimated. They ended up billin' *** a whopping $9,385.00 for some regular ol' work that was supposed to cost only $1,325.00. Can ya believe that?

Secondly, *** straight up lied about the septic system. They made it seem like it was in real bad shape, so *** had to hire other contractors to check it out. Turns out, *** was talkin' outta their rear end 'cause the septic tank was just fine. They were tryin' to pull a fast one on an old couple, can ya believe it?

And lastly, *** charged the elderly customers way more than what the work was worth. They were chargin' 'em fees that were way higher than what was reasonable. It's clear that they were tryin' to squeeze as much money outta 'em as possible.

We got all the evidence to back up these claims. We got pictures, notes, witness statements, and invoices. And on top of all the lies, there's also a serious concern of elder abuse in this whole mess. *** is 80 years old and *** is 72 years old. It's just not right.

So, to sum it all up, *** from Roto Rooter Plumbers charged *** $9,385.00 for work done on June 29 & 30, 2021. And they demanded payment right then and there. But all they did was pump a regular ol' septic tank and used way more people and equipment than necessary. They were makin' up stories about the septic system failin' just to scare *** into payin' up.

But don't worry, *** got a second opinion from ***, a local business with 34 years of experience. And guess what? *** found out that *** was lyin' through their teeth. They fixed a small problem with a filter that *** didn't even mention or fix, and they confirmed that the septic tank and system were in perfect condition. They even did a test on the *** field and everything was workin' just fine. And they did all this with just one person and a pump truck in three hours. And the total cost? $1,426.00. (Check out the attached invoice).

So, ya better do somethin' about this mess. We're ready to take this to court if we have to. We got all the proof we need. And remember, this ain't just about the money, it's about the mistreatment of an elderly couple. So, do the right thing and make this right.