Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Drain Services

These guys are nothing short of butchers. To call these guy plumbers is absolutely disrespectful to real plumbers. I called the other day because both our first floor bathrooms were backed up (2 showers, 2 toilets) figured it was main stack clogged. Our usual plumber was not immediately available and this is the only reason I called these guys.
Some mean looking Russian guy shows up during my lunch break from work. Tells me it will cost $ 400. I said that is absurd and he said he’d take off $ 40 for some stupid promotion they had. I said fine IF THE JOB IS COMPLETE I will pay that amount and asked how much it would be if the job is not complete, he said we will figure that out if we have to.
He begins power rodding from our brand new CLEAN shower. He made a complete mess as his rodder had a lot of rust on it and it was spraying everywhere. I asked him wouldn’t it be easier to rod from the toilet? He said absolutely not. After 1 hour of nothing being accomplished and making a mess he said he wanted to try rodding from the vanity drain. So he started doing that, and after another hour made a bigger mess under the vanity. 2 hours gone by he did not fix the issue. I asked how long he expected it to be and he became salty and gave me a speech on how these things take time. He said he needs to come back with a camera for another $ 325. I told him he is crazy and asked that he leave. He pleaded with me to get $ 150 for the 2 hours he spent trying. I said absolutely not, and gave him $ 10 for lunch and to take a hike. He said something is wrong with me for not having it in my heart to pay him. Are you F*ckin serious? Where I come from no one gets paid until the job is done.
Long story short, I begged my real plumber to come the following day to fix the issue. He popped our toilet off (10 minutes) rodded the main toilet drain (another 10 minutes) and fixed the issue in less than a half hour. He popped the toilet back on, and asked me for a mere $ 100 for all his work. I have never been happier to pay. Issue resolved NO THANKS TO ROTO!

Frank is the master plumber. He is meticulous, thorough and helpful. 1 star off only because I wish it was cheaper.

Appreciated getting a quick response for a same day, late evening plumbing call.
Roger, the service tech was pleasant and efficient.

The WORST place to get a plumbing job done… we had a leaky faucet, and called Roto Rooter to come out. After he arrived, he said that our entire faucet had to be replaced. We disagreed, and told him just to replace some parts. He charged us $ 400.00, not including the parts! He said it would cost another $ 50.00 for the part.
We asked him where he was coming up with a $ 50.00 part. HE couldn’t explain it to us. We asked him to leave right away. But before he would leave, he requested we pay him in cash. I gave him a check.
No one does half-​ass jobs and expect to be paid and referred to others.

Great job on a same day service call to diagnose and fix a leaky toilet in my upstairs bathroom; not an easy job. The Roto-​Rooter guy made it go away fast. And the price was just right.

I had a kitchen sink clogged and unfortunately was out of town so the wife called the nearest plumber which happened to be Roto Rooter.
They sent over someone named «Vlad» from an entirely different location to run a snake into the sink. After 5 minutes of work, Vlad charged me $ 330. The cost was ridiculous to say the least. When I spoke with Vlad he said he agreed it was too much but that was what his «company» said he had to charge.
To top it off when I tried to call the Evanston office to complain about the price, I got transferred around about 3+ times between multiple locations across the U.S. Eventually I got to the office where he came from and only got the manager’s voice mail. I had to call back and I was transfered to the manager’s admin who explain their policy on pricing which was basically:
«We don’t charge for the labor, we charge a fixed price per type of job no matter how long it takes.»
When I asked for the fixed price list, she said she couldn’t give to me. I told her how insane it was and she said it was the «company’s» pricing.
Trust me — DO NOT EVER GO WITH ROTO ROOTER. They are a franchise and seriously rip you off with nobody taking responsibility for the outrageous prices. This is really highway robbery. As a usually sane person, this has really tipped me off enough to put a review on Unilocal about their terrible practices. They really shouldn’t be in business with practices like this in this time and age.
Do yourself a favor and stick with Angieslist or a friend’s recommendation. Get the word out.

What a horrible experience. Do not use Roto Rooters. We had a sewage backup, he came had the snake cable break. The technician did not accept any fault, just said it is not his fault and that if we want that fixed, he will charge us 5200. If that does not work then we will need to pay extra for them to dig in the streets.
Called another skokie company, they charged $ 3800. Not including bond. Wonderful service, know what they are doing unlike Roto Rooter, which their technician looked like he started doing plumbing the previous day