Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Drain Services

Manny came out on the Saturday before Super Bowl and did an excellent job of clearing our kitchen drain. Explained cost and final pricing was reasonable. Great service and a relief to know we will not have any issues on Super Bowl Sunday!

In September my basement flooded with sewage. The next day Roto-​Rooter came out. They stated I would pay no money; rather they would bill the insurance company. After they looked at the damage, we were talking and I brought up costs. I said my policy limit is $ 5,000, so if for instance Roto-​Rooter would charge me $ 3K, and then I would have $ 2k to replace everything, right? The person said yes and that’s just about the amount he was thinking. That was the one and only time any figure was discussed. And I brought it up! The contract amount is blank.
A week or two later, I get a bill for $ 5,000! No one ever said, by the way, this was harder/​costlier/​more time consuming, so it will cost more. In fact, no one ever said anything about money.
Now how can you expect someone to pay a number that you just pull out of the air? And it just so happens was my limit. So I called and spoke to the office manager. She said she would talk to the person that came out. He did call me after and said they would discount it $ 1k, so now I would owe just $ 1k more, for a total of $ 4k. I said thanks for doing that, but I will not pay more than $ 3k, which I did.
Shortly after, I got a lien threat. I called and again spoke to the office manager who was extremely rude and would not let me speak.
They did file a lien. I got an attorney and we challenged them. They removed it.
I wonder how many people they have done this to?

We called roto-​rooter in lake Zurich today for clogged drain. It was not an emergency call… so no dead of the night up charge needed. The guy showed up, snaked it in less than 30 minutes (which gets the one star) and charged $ 400+. What a screw job! It is so hard to find reputable plumbers and I would definitely say the lake Zurich franchise is not reputable. I would stay away from these guys if you want someone who isn’t going to over charge.

The company was several hours late in coming out, rude over the telephone to me when I called to confirm appointment and then promptly charged me $ 650 to replace a plain old (nothing-​fancy) sump pump — which took a whole 30 minutes in labor — but what are you supposeed to do when there’s water in your basement? I knew I was getting screwed and they do it with a smile — — I know Roto Rooter has franchises and that some of them are good so PAY attention to who you are hiring and AVOID this Elk Grove Village location —

I called and asked to speak with a manager regarding services I had. I was transferred to a woman ((who told me she was not a manager). I was trying to explain my situation when I could barely hear her over the loud commotion on her end. I could even hear foul language being yelled. No way to conduct a business.

Overall very happy with the service although they did come out twice but on a Sunday! We had a sink/​washer back up emergency. I was relieved to be able to call someone over the weekend, they say they don’t charge more although they are expensive so it comes to be the same thing. I was at work when my mother in law spent the time with the Roto Rooter guy said he was very knowledgeable and thorough, we got a bottle of enzyme cleaner for $ 60 on top of the labor. When I got home later I asked if they ran the washer to make sure everything was working OK, since they didn’t I ran it and the back up came back. We were able to get another guy to come out at 9pm on a Sunday and he fixed the problem.
Overall I would call them again for the convenience of availability, the guys were professional and got the job done. Albeit expensive.
K. Wildes

First time single family home owner here. I have no idea what I’m doing yet. Had an unexpected water back up and called one of the only places who answered at 6:30 pm on Thursday night. That’s why they get the 1 star. They came out promptly. They didn’t call to confirm but they showed up so that was cool.
First guy was nice. He sort of explained things. He kind of laughed as he had me sign the document saying it was 435 to rod from a clean out outside in front to the main line. The internet says this is a ridiculous price but I had 435 dollars and I had an issue so I signed the form. He worked for several hours until his machine failed. He indicated he knew he had issues but had hoped the machine would make it through to the weekend. I thought this was pretty unprofessional. He also cut the cable and left a 30 foot metal cable covered in sewage in my front yard. I guess I get to figure out what to do with that now. So I now had to take the following day off work to meet with guy number two.
Guy number two came out and he was also courteous. He worked for a while and warned me (early on which was obviously a sales tactic) that he felt I may have a collapsed pipe somewhere in the main line. I immediately hit google for additional info and to prepare myself for whatever bs was about to come next. They sent a third guy with a camera out. He showed me the tree roots on the camera and talked about how bad they were and gave me two options. (Third guy commented on how they would get the metal crap cable out of my yard but they haven’t done that yet and its now Tuesday.)
One, have some guy with a high pressure machine that shoots water through the system that eliminates issues the first tools they had couldn’t get. Camera guy/​supervisor expressed this as the only next logical option which would indicate whether or not I needed to go to option 2 I will get to in a minute. This water pressure guy charges 550 an hour but Roto Rooter will have him cap the cost at 800 just for me. Read that saturated with sarcasm. Look up what that service costs elsewhere. This was complete garbage and literally this company is now just taking advantage of me. They called the guy and advised him to come over under this assumed close situation. I am a saleseperson but I don’t know anything about plumbing. I was starting to panic as 435 became 1235 and was potentially about to become:
Option two:
Lets rip your yard and driveway up and replace the entire line with this way stronger material for an insane number of dollars.
Between the time the second guy left and the water pressure guy was about to head over… I had a plumber I know and trust become available. He advised me to call off water pressure guy and said he would head over. He came over with a heavier duty version of the tool the first two dudes used. He cleared the obstruction in 35 minutes and wrapped up and my problem was resolved. He charged me 200 dollars.
At the end of the day, I wish I had the foresight to emergency call the guy I knew instead of calling Roto Rooter during a panic mode. They would have easily spent 5 times what I should have spent and wasted a ton of my time. It’s unfortunate that companies with names you recognize survive by capitalizing on inexperienced homeowners and a person’s trust. They don’t deserve your trust. They spent 435 of my dollars and 6 hours of my time and didn’t actually fix anything and, in fact left a metal cable, covered in feces and grease in my front yard.
Edit:
Within moments of me posting this review, a representative responded on here. I emailed them and they called me. They offered solutions that made me feel a lot more comfortable about potentially using them in the future.
Situations can go sideways in any business. The company itself is apparently very attentive to their clients needs and personal and financial situations. I can certainly appreciate them for making the difficult call reaching out and I applaud them for taking the steps necessary to avoid others from having similar negative experiences.

After all the bad happenings and needing to get assistance from the Better Business Bureau. A total of 5 visits for the same problem. here I am with more problems. So last time they were out the first people arrived and said I had a broken pipe again. I complained and questioned, they sent out their PRO!!! The next morning I am told by the PRO that there is nothing wrong where they said it was wrong, but supposedly I had a problem elsewhere. Now here I am again, I call a new company who said there is a broken pipe, and Roto Rooter should have informed me of that when they cleared the pipes of water that there was additional work to be done. Instead of admitting there ongoing lies, knowing I had to finance the work I had done they suggested I find «Joe Plumber» who won’t charge me as much to fix the problem. Roto Rooter takes advantage of Women who are not well versed in Plumbing. I will never use them again. It should be criminal, they are not honest

I called Roto-​Rooter today and they were at my house in Geneva, IL within 1 ½ hrs. They sent Tim (#2508) and he did a good job and left everything nice and clean. I agree with other comments that it seemd expensive. But you get what you pay for and I know that he spent 2 hours getting my drain unclogged and it was a dirty, smelly sweaty process. So in retrospect I’d say it was worth the money.

It’s too bad there are no negative stars on Unilocal!I HATE leaving negative reviews on Unilocal,but here we go! I needed to have a simple shower cartridge replaced and that was it. The guy came out and said it would be $ 370 plus the PART! He was going to rooter me all right! He could have kissed me first before trying to play with my cartridge! I spent less than $ 50 at Ace and got everything I needed to complete the job in less than 15 minutes! I took my beautiful wife out to dinner with the money I saved and she did kiss me first!
Unless your dog is floating away on your pillows, stay as far away from these crooks as you can!!!

Apparently, this company does not care about keeping their appointment. Their plumber was scheduled to show up in a two hour window time slot and I left early from work just to be sure to make it before the scheduled appointment time. We were then told over the phone various stories about how we were next in line and that the next available plumber would be on his way as soon as one of them completed their current job. After close to 4 hours of waiting, we were still given the same story. I decided to reschedule for the following day and again we were given the same story about how the plumber was going to be late but that we were next, so I finally cancelled and went with another plumber. Should have checked their reviews online before calling.

I have to say upfront I do not know from which RotoRooter my servicemen came, so this may belong to another site. They were Manny Tech# 1916 who did the rodding out and testing work and Gary Tech # 933 who came out to check the line with a camera over a week later. I cannot fault either of these gentlemen personally as they did perfectly fine — Knowledgeable, courteous. professional, explained what they were going to do and why, seemed like they liked what they did and wanted to do a good job.
The problem seemed to be with the office prioritization of follow-​up and proper equipment available. When Manny was working on my drain on a Saturday afternoon he tried many times in vain to get a supervisor out with a camera to check the line. He felt it was now clear but the camera check is part of the service I paid for. He said the reason he couldn’t get anyone was because I was not a priority and the supervisors with cameras were all working appts with completely clogged drains. His camera had broken down and he said there is only 1 place in Chicago that fixes them and it would be months before he got his back. He said he would try to get someone out by the following Wed., but if no one came to call in. The following Wed no one called or came so I called the office and was told a note was put into my file on it. I called again on Friday and they said I was on the schedule for the next day — Saturday. [I checked in with Manny as he was kind enough to leave his phone number (maybe he has had these kinds of issues before…) and he said that I would just not be a priority to them.] How could they be coming the next day when no one called to make an appointment?. The agent made another note in my file and sent me over to dispatch for more info. Dispatch said that I was on the list to be called some time on Saturday to set up an appt. No one ever called. Sunday night I wrote to the corp site and ask just what it was I had to do to get the service I paid for. I received a reply early the next morning from the Chicago Customer service office saying that someone would be calling in 30 mins. They did call and sent out Gary to finish the job over a week later… Would still call them again as they knew what they were doing and could be here in an hour — where can you find that? But I will be more aggressive in getting the promised service and follow-​up.

One of their employee made a clear statement of what could cause a damage is our customer’s home. He said that there was not our fault and if necessary he can help us to resolve this problem. A few weeks later his manager Michael wrote a letter with a totally different story. We were shocked so we called the technician one more time to ask what is going on and he said that he doesn’t remember this situation and doesn’t want to be involved in anything. So-​called professionals.

This is by far the most expensive service we have ever received in less than an hour. How does this company get away with stealing a weeks honest work in one hour! We chose Roto Rooter because we thought this was a reputable company, a decent honest company who cares about customer/​company loyalty.
I am so disgusted that this company is still in business and will be sure to make every person I know aware of their deceitfulness. After doing a little more research I learned that the average estimated cost for our service was just short of $ 200.00. Shame on you Roto Rooter! DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!

Rotorooter from Elk Grove has completed a job well done. The technician arrived early and diligently worked towards an excellent resolution to our kitchen problem. Thank you for your service.

Thank you Roto Rooter!
We experienced a gas pipe line issue which they came out to remove, reseal, and relight our water heater. When they say «Emergency Service is our specialty» they mean it! Pat provided great customer service, clean work, and was very polite! Roto Rooter did a fantastic job that was efficient and on time!
I highly recommend Roto Rooter Company and the amazing work of Pat.

The first contact was via email and online. It was positive.
They advertise free estimates. When the plumber arrived, the free estimate was over $ 400 to rod the sewer line or over $ 300 to use the camera and video the line. I guess they should advertise that the free estimate is to tell you how much it will cost to tell you what needs to be done. Creative way to mislead the customers.
Once the video was completed, I was told that I had 2 problems and it would cost almost $ 9,000 to fix it. The problems were a leaky sewer line connection and a sewer line collapsing. Basically they need to dig two areas, one about 4 feet and another about 6 feet and replace a couple of pipes, T connector and clean out. I estimate this should take no more than 12 hours. So, 12 hours at $ 750 per hour, not bad. I want to be a plumber now. By the way, all other plumbers confirmed that it should not take more than 12 hours of work. When I told the plumber that the cost was too high, he told me that there might be a way to repair the line without digging by patching the pipe. He told me and wrote on the estimate that he had to talk to his supervisor, Kris, to confirm and he would call me the next day to confirm. He never called me back, so they lost the business.
Next chapter — I called four other plumbers. All of them suggested another way to correct the leaky line by replacing the pipe at another area to make sure the problem was fixed right. The final cost was way under half of what Roto-​Rooter quoted.
I do not recommend this company.
12−2−14 Review update.
I was contacted by the customer service team and they sent my comments to Lynnette who called me and we had a productive discussion about the service call. She refunded the full amount of the service call and assured me that Roto-​Rooter appreciates my business and wants to keep me as a customer. I was satisfied by the way she handled it. I will try them again in the future. Thanks for listening and for taking care of your customers. I appreciate it.

I just spoke with a manager from this company and all is straightened out with them. I appreciate the way this matter was handled and in a timely manner.

I am writing this review at the request of Roto Rooter. At the end of the repair the repair man handed me of a flyer that said, «write a review get a refund.» But I don’t think he counted on the fact that I was unhappy with Roto Rooter they caused a leak in my pipe.
I called Roto Rooter to get my pipes rodded out after my handyman said that he was unable to fix the slow drain. Before my handyman left he showed me where the pipe needed to be rotted out. He told me they should not use the drain in the sink because there were too many bends in
The pipes and they would break the them causing a leak. When the repair man from Roto Rooter arrived I showed him where he should get into the pipe in the basement. The repair man said oh no I’m going to do it from the kitchen sink, I said, but there are so many bends in the pipe, aren’t you afraid of causing a leak? He stated that he knew what he was doing. Before the repair man began he gave me a paper to sign I thought it was just to okay the amount I was going to be charged and giving them permission to rod out the drain. What it was he later told was a disclaimer stating they were not responsible for causing any leaks in the pipes. The workman asked me to watch the pipes in the basement and tell him when he reached a bend in the so he wouldn’t create a leak. When he started threading the rodder through the pipe it immediately started to shake and make a loud noise. I told him to stop, he said he barely had the rodder in the pipe and continued to try to fish the rodder through the pipe. When he finished he told me I had a leak in the pipe in the wall near the sink. This seemed very strange to me since I never had a leak there before Roto Rooter was in my house. The repairman tried to fix the leak with some kind of wax. I called Roto Rooter and reported the leak caused by the Roto Rooter repairman. The lady said they would send someone else out to repair the leak and replace the pipe. I asked if there was a charge and she said no. When the new repairman arrived he informed me I signed a disclaimer and wanted $ 750.00 to replace the pipe. I said they should repair it for free, the repairman told me he spoke to the first repairman who said I had signed the disclaimer, but he neglected to tell him it had been given to me surreptitiously. I did not have this man replace the pipe, I had someone else fix it for $ 350.
I do not recommend Roto Rooter at all but, I had to give them one star since that Is the lowest Unilocal will allow me to give.

We’ve used Roto-​Rooter to clean out our sewer line as it periodically gets jammed up with root growth every few years. In 2011 the tech was great, did good work and I was happy with the job. So happy that I didn’t think twice about who to call when we started getting some backup and it was time to get the line cleaned out again.
Quite a different experience this time. I made an appointment online and selected the 10a-​12p window. Around 11:30 the dispatcher called to let me know the crews were working in the area but running behind. ETA probably another hour. Another hour or so passed and another call from dispatch with the same story and this time no ETA to give. Finally at 2:30 dispatch called to say the tech was en route.
Another hour passes, and around 3:30 I called the dispatcher to ask where the tech was at. Was told he was real close and he finally arrived shortly afterwards.
First thing I’m asked is if I have a clean-​out he can tap into outside of the house. I told him no it’s in the utility room, I’ve got it open and the area clear and you are all set. He asks me how long I’ve lived in my house and, after I tell him, lectures me that «You’ve lived here 12 years you should have had a cleanout installed outside the house». For fun apparently. Or maybe to make the Roto-​Rooter guy’s life easier. I explained to him that every other Roto-​Rooter guy has been able to do the job without issue from the same cleanout he’d be using.
Next complaint was that he would have to bring his ‘big heavy machine’ down a short flight of six stairs into my finished basement (again, same as every other roto-​rooter guy ever has) because — you guessed it — I never had an exterior clean-​out installed.
Finally getting around to looking at the cleanout in the utility room, I’m advised that it’s only a 3 inch pipe and that the line by the street is 6 inches. If I had a (you knew this was coming) 6 inch clean-​out installed in any of the last 12 years like I should have, this wouldn’t be a problem but as it stands he will only be able to cut a 3 inch hole through the clog. Also the rusty pipe cap was in dismal shape (it is) and he might not be able to get it back on in which case the pipe would leak inside the wall. His predecessor has simply smashed plumber’s putty around the cap which served its purpose for over two years, which I pointed out. He wasn’t sure he had any plumber’s putty. The guy who works with plumbing for a living…
At this point I lost my patience. I told him that if he didn’t feel he could do the job or planned on leaving me with a mess to deal with afterwards, he could leave and I’d work with another company. He stopped lecturing, gave me a release form to sign «so I am not responsible for any problems after the job», and went out to drag in his rodding machine.
I called Roto-​Rooter management to ask what sort of person they’d sent over. Got a nice explanation about why the rusty cap on my pipe was no good and how they see this all the time and how having a cleanout installed outside would be a good idea and basically a lot of talk that boiled down to a politer version of the attitude I was already getting from the tech. Apology for the tech’s attitude? No. Apology for blowing an appointment window by 3.5 hours? No.
So the guy did the job and my clog was removed. He tried to sell me a $ 20 replacement cap for the pipe, but the ones he had wouldn’t fit. So in the end, he had to use plumber’s putty to seal it back on just like the other roto-​rooter guys.
Turns out he had had some sitting in his truck the entire time. Of course it had also frozen solid and couldn’t be used. So — I had to give him a container of mine.
The coup de grace was having to help him carry his big, heavy machine out of the basement.
After he left I spent another half hour cleaning dirt (yeah right) stains off the utility room tile and the basement carpet. I also have a large, frozen puddle of ‘dirt’ on my driveway that leaked out of the rodding machine.
This is probably the worst experience I have ever had with a services company. I used to work construction with my dad as a kid, so I’m aware of and sympathetic to a lot of the nightmare situations these guys have to deal with in people’s houses I and tend to cut them a lot of slack. Even showing up hours late — god knows what he got caught up in that he couldn’t walk away from all morning. No problem.
But in the end, when I spend my entire day cooped up waiting for someone to show up and charge me $ 350 for 45 minutes of work — I don’t need any attitude whatsoever and I expect them to be able to do the job correctly, with their own tools and without causing me any sort of headaches along the way.