Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Drain ServiceReviews of rotorooter.com

I recently called Roto Rooter to have a water heater installed. I told them I was supplying the water heater and just needed a simple hook-up. They sent a man out to give me an estimate who told me it would be $950.00 for labor and $925.00 for parts. At that point I told him I had built custom homes for 35yrs. and it was the most ridiculous estimate I'd ever seen. Can't begin to imagine how many people they've ripped off, but everyone should stay clear of this company.

On January 26th 2022 I called my local Roto-Rooter and explained that I had a clogged kitchen drain. The woman I spoke with told me that she could have someone out that afternoon. I made the appointment and inquired about their pricing structure. She said that “it depends on the job.” That afternoon the technician showed up. I showed him the problem and he told me that it would cost $565.00. I was shocked and I freely admit that I agreed to the price since our sink could not be used and had also started to leak due to the standing water. I know I could have told them to leave, but I didn’t (had I known the price to free a clogged drain at the outset I certainly would have shopped around). Less than an hour later the problem was solved. The average plumber in Westchester County charges around $175/hour. When I called the local Roto-Rooter this morning and related the above I was told that, “that’s the standard price for a clogged drain ($565.00).” Why were they unable to tell me this when I called initially? She said that it is Roto-Rooter’s policy not to give prices over the phone. I feel that this is a disingenuous business practice that is in place to take advantage of customers who are anxious to have their plumbing problem resolved as soon as possible, before further damage can occur. This is just like someone selling bottles of water for exorbitant prices after a natural disaster or N95 masks for $20 each during the pandemic. I emailed Pat Swanson at customer service and got an non-response. I then telephoned and left a message and got no response. Telling, I think, that they would not comment on their pricing structure before or after the job. PUBLIC company response 1/29/22 We utilize a companywide flat rate task code book with charges incurred per service rendered. We do this for consumer protection. Many industries use the same format for the same reason. Thank you, Pat Swanson Customer Satisfaction Manager your response 1/31/22 So Pat does the Mamaroneck franchise, which performed my work, set their own pricing or do they have to follow corporate pricing guidelines and structure? Thanks your response 2/2/22 Good morning Pat. Thanks for your response. I don't understand how the "companywide flat rate task code" is designed to protect consumers when they can end up being charged more than three times the rate of a local plumber for one hour of labor. It seems a better way to protect consumers would be to disclose a price range when the consumer inquires during the initial contact phone call. Can you explain this to me? Thanks. Dan

You should know it’s bad when they haven’t even bothered to claim their business on Trustpilot to respond or read reviews of themselves.. But furthermore, I had major issues with them because they wasted a lot of time and nearly convinced me to get majorly swindled. The main issues was (especially after reading reviews / complaints on BBB..) the insurance company was not going to pay for the extreme amount of work Roto wanted to do. Basically their logic is if their little moisture detection tool beeps on a spot, everything near and around it is coming down / out / being replaced. The insurance was suspicious of them and I thought I had won the damage claims lottery. And then we found out that if we chose to go through them the insurance might not cover the majority of the cost. Long story short after the absolute nightmare we went through with the whole unexpected damage and having the insurance claims adjuster for roto rooter show up entire days before a plumber could come and repair the damages causing the leak.. we ended up going through another company and saved a lot of out of pocket costs for repairs and we were able to get a lot of improvements out of pocket, much better than the alternative. Everyone in this business from roto rooter to other plumbing businesses will happily put a lien on your home even for as little as $500 still owed. Long story short, be very careful who you trust and work very closely with the insurance so you’re not paying $10K-$18K (maybe more) out of pocket. You won’t believe some of the nightmare stories on BBB for Roto Rooter..! My friends cousin worked for them and couldn’t stand what swindlers they were and started his own company which is locally top rated. I had already went with an in network provider through my insurance so I ended up having only the plumbing repair done by Roto Rooter. Also the Roto Rooter plumber left his liabilities waiver (actually a whole book of them) here. Along with a mess in the closet between pipes and everything else.. Wasn’t very professional.

I needed to have my sewer line marked for a deck installation. Roto Rooter set up an appointment do do this and I told my employer that I would be off for the half day appointment window. Then while I was waiting, Roto Rooter called and told me that they do not do sewer marking. Quite the organized company. I'd give them a minus score if possible.

While working out of town, I contacted Roto Rooter for a leaky toilet in my rental property. Instead of a plumber showing up, a water mitigation specialist arrived. However, he did not contact me until the following day to tell me there was significant water damage to my home and a plumber was enroute to diagnose the problem. I called this water mitigation specialist right back and was told that there was a compromised cartridge in the shower. He knew that before the plumber arrived? I was charged $1,900 to replace two toilets and repair this “compromised cartridge” in the shower. I purchased the two toilets from Home Depot because I was initially told that the bill would be almost $3,000 if they provided the toilets. I bought 2 toilets from Home Depot for 400 dollars and was still charged $1,900. If that was not bad enough, then they claimed that in a matter of days my home had so much water damage that they basically gutted 3 rooms. They removed doors and door jams. They removed a wood vanity and left the heavy top in the bathtub. Would you expect that you should have to finish removing things yourself after being sent a bill for another 7,000 dollars? I truly believe that because I was not physically present at the property at the time the first representative of Roto rooter showed up, I was misled and preyed upon. I have refused to pay the 7,000 because I should not have to pay for unnecessary work, that appears to have been done in a deceptive manner and for work that was not done. For example, I was charged for content manipulation however, they left the bathroom vanity inside the bathtub and yelled at my tenants to move their possessions. I have been threatened that Roto rooter intends to file a lien against my property. Corporate greed! I am very disgusted that as a consumer you can no longer trust companies to have any integrity.

A complete waste of your time. Called for a plumber to come to replace a leaky toilet seal. Their phone representative could not provide any information regarding what would be their guarantee, standard rate for a toilet re-install so as to bound the cost, or if they could use a high quality wax seal over the phone which we desired. Completely inflexible, and not customer focused. They have completely forgotten whom they are serving, and completely arrogant. If you want to be manipulated and bullied around when their plumber eventually arrives on their whim, then use them otherwise consider using other plumbers in your community that wish to bargain in good faith and wish to do a good job so as to earn your future business as we did.

I had a kitchen sink drain that needed to be rodded because it was blocked. I have a clean out so it was easy access. It took the Roto Rooter plumber about 20 minutes to rod it out. He charged me $625! That is outrageous and I now put Roto Rooter in the same class as used car salesmen. Stay away!

Big scam, please do not buy from. Their people are very badly trained. Please please do not buy from.