Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Drain Services

I’m going to keep this brief. I was skeptical when I called up Roto-​Rooter for help with a plumbing project. I’ve never had a plumbing issue before like I was having. I saw the positive reviews on Unilocal and so I called Roto-​Rooter. Making an appointment was easy. The person who answered the phone was helpful and straight forward. I set up an appointment for the next morning. The plumber showed up on time. Super-​nice guy. And really helpful. He diagnosed the problem quickly; gave me my options; and applied no pressure with regard to the decision I had to make. I could go into more details, but suffice it to say that my experience with the Roto-​Rooter plumber exceeded my expectations. I think his name was Timothy.

i called in an emergency — house full of family for the week + clogged waste line
they had a guy out within an hour
he needed help and another guy (a manager) showed up quickly
they fixed the problem, offering options that could save cost
they found clean-​outs i didn’t know were there for next time
courteous, professional and helpful
all in all a very positive experience

Michael came out at eight a.m. on Sunday and fixed our emergency. He was really fast and very nice – this is the second time in a year Roto-​Rooter has been out, and both times prompt and not that expensive.

I called 3 times and every time my phone got cut off. I have to repeat my address zip code 3 times to the same person.
I called again and then just want to make sure I’m not schedule since the service is really not professional. A guy picked up and I told him the reason I called
Later he used a Nyc number to call me back to say I was dealing with franchise but not Corp. So the bad service is nothing to do with them. However, when I call 650 the CA number again, the same guy picked up the phone again.
So fake and try to deny their bad service. It’s the worst service I have seen in Cali

Our sewage backed up in our basement shower. We live on a hill with lots of trees and have a couple sewage outlets on the property. It can be confusing. Bill Shelton remedied the problem very quickly and showed me the problem areas and explained to me what was going on. It was refreshing to have someone experienced and knowledgeable doing the job. He’s definitely a pro! Now we have an ingredient that will be killing the roots (not the trees) so they won’t be choking our
plumbing.

I recently found our crawl space flooded from a burst hot water pipe. After having a major fail with another plumber, I called Roto-​Rooter. Qutares Wilson, or just «Q» and his team, did a fantastic job, both in terms of their fast, timely work, done well, but even more so with their communication — from the dispatcher setting the initial appointment, to Q calling before they arrived, and then explaining what they needed to do, showing pictures of the damage underneath with the estimate, (which they held to), along with small stuff consistently putting the booties on and off as they came and went and finally a great job cleaning up.
Because of the water under the house, it had to be cleared it out and sanitized before completing the repair. This required a second team, but both worked well in tandem and keeping us apprized of their progress.
Their pricing was clear, fair and no surprises. I’ll definitely call them again the next time I need a plumber.

I will never use Roto-​Rooter again!
I had an emergency (busted p-​trap pipe and new faucet installation) in a tenant occupied rental condo and couldn’t get my usual independent, «one-​man operation» plumber. After the Roto-​Rooter plumber left (charging over $ 500.), I found that the p-​trap wasn’t seated properly (causing a leak that ultimately damaged the wood cabinet bottom and carpeting), the lift rod to the faucet wasn’t installed at all, the cold end valve was misaligned, the new stopper wasn’t installed, and the spout was loose.
When the plumber left, he handed me the new faucet’s box, telling me that it, «contained some parts that he didn’t need to install.» Okay, horse on me for not asking questions and not looking over his shoulder, but, naively, I felt that I shouldn’t have to do that in dealing with a big company like Roto-​Rooter. Big mistake — the box contained the lift rod and new stopper. I didn’t know until the tenant moved out a few months later, as he wasn’t one to complain, but then I found the leak, the resulting damage, and the incomplete installation.
The plumber did a sloppy, «cutting corners» type of job, and I feel that he took advantage of me as a woman alone, not knowing much about plumbing. When I complained, Roto-​Rooter sent over other plumbers (it took two more visits to remedy the faucet and pipe situations), but I’m particularly miffed at the supervisor, «Chris» (they apparently wouldn’t provide me with access to anyone higher in management.) Chris told me that plumber #1 «must have just been having a bad day.» That’s it. Actually, I was with him for about two hours, and he seemed just fine. I suppose he’s just Mr. Shortcut. Or maybe Mr. Incompetent. Or both. Plumber #3 told me that Plumber #1 is now training the new plumbers — yikes!
It’s my impression that Roto-​Rooter doesn’t care if their plumbers do sloppy work and cause their customers angst by generating additional problems for them; they’re just about maximum revenue through any means. My take away from this is to always have several alternatives and contingencies regarding tradesmen at hand from small, local businesses who provide emergency services, and who have better ethics and more of a personal interest in customer satisfaction.
I will never use Roto-​Rooter again!

I called Roto Rooter to schedule a video inspection of a sewer lateral for my client and apparently they did show up but has yet to send me the video file. I called them 3 times in the past week to follow up but no call back.
Stay Update:
I finally got the call back today and they sent me the video link.

This was a mixed bag. I called these guys for a project to unplug the pipes that run from my gutters to the street. I have not done this in the three years that i have lived at this house, and I don’t know when the previous owners did this, so admittedly this was likely a tough job.
The good:
It was easy to schedule an appt (with a two hour window of time, 8 – 10), with a promise to call 30 min ahead of time. Got a call a few minutes after the window ended indicating the tech was delayed, and they would call me 30 min before he arrived (I am okay with this since they called to let me know). Jay arrived about 11. He was professional and efficient. He indicated the job may take two hours and he was done in 1, highlighting that this work was covered by a warranty. I liked that.
The bad:
A few days later I ran some water from the cleanouts and all three pipes were still plugged. It would have been easy to check this before the tech left and I am a little surprised that it was not. Roto-​rooter was good enough to send another tech to honor their warranty and tried for another hour. This time I ran some water while he was here and was able to confirm that they still are plugged. He suggested a return trip with a camera (to see what the problem is) and was going to discuss this with the first tech. Because I only paid them for an hour it seemed fair that he only spent one more hour on the job, but my pipes are still plugged. It is two weeks since the last visit and no word from Roto-​rooter on next steps.
So my issues here are:
1) Before the first tech left he should have ran some water through the pipes before declaring the job done.
2) I would like the company to be a bit more proactive on fixing my problem.

Luis Galindo tech #0211 was an exceptional help to me today. He was very prompt and knowledgeable. Best of all he got me all fixed up so I didn’t have a flooded basement! It’s nice to find reliable, friendly service.

I called roto rooter to schedule a visit to fix a water heater leak. I knew what needed to be done, as it was leaking from the pressure intake valve, and the pressure of the water coming in was 100 psi, above code, and before even heating. I told them I wanted an expansion tank and pressure regulator (latter code if you have an expansion tank).
He arrived, disagreed with my diagnosis, which is perfectly fine, and I asked him for a quote to fix it. He told me he will have it by end of day. No quote. A week passes, no quote. I track him down after a few calls to Roto Rooter San Mateo, (i even got his cell phone number), and he said he will get me a quote. Never even gave me a courtesy of a call back.
As I just moved to the area, and looking for my reliable plumbing company, they failed– which means they lose out on about 30 years of plumbing work, because I don’t like trying to find new contractors every time.
Another negative is that when you call, most often, you get routed to a call center, which then routes you to San Mateo. Took me a while to realize I didn’t get San Mateo directly. Another time they routed me to NY! Last time, I got San Mateo directly and the person was surprised when i asked to be transferred to San Mateo.
I will say one thing though– everyone on the phone is nice and pleasant. The plumber was professional till he failed to return a call despite multiple times ensuring me he would. Or even provide a quote.
With regards to Pat’s reply below, before I even posted this review, I had already called in and informed them of what happened. They apologized and told me they would look into it. That’s why I said everyone on the phone is nice and pleasant. Because they were when I called to report dissatisfaction. I wish them best figuring out why this happened. To me its pretty clear– The plumber they sent dropped the ball.

Kevin was excellent. Found another way to clear our drain that no one else had thought of. Gave tips on keeping it clear and good advice for future problems. Would definitely call him for any future problems.

Useless service. I called for my drain issue and they gave me the appointment for next day then the next day they call an hour before just to say they are unable to send plumber to fix my issue.
Unreliable company. Stay away.

On last Sunday morning, we realized that our sewer line was plugged. This had happened before, but not for about 6 years. Roto-​Rooter was our first thought. We called around 8 and by 8:30, Marcus showed up. Very professional and nice guy. By 8:30 he was finished and all was well. We especially liked how he worked around our plant and bushes near the clean-​out. After he was finished, he called dispatch and set up another tech to come out with a camera later that morning to check the rest of the line. That happened by 9:30 and we were all done. You can’t do better that that.

We had a great experience. We had broken glass in our disposal that jammed it up. Called these guys and within ½ hour, Jay B #409 was at our place. He was courteous, focused, and worked quickly. He was patient too as the kids we running around the kitchen while he was working. He fixed the disposal, no problem, gave us some great tips on how to keep it and the dishwasher drain working well, put stuff back under the sink and was on his way. Hopefully, we won’t need to call anytime soon again, but if it happens, we’ll definitely call them again.

Showed up very quickly and did a great job. Hard work in a tight space! Told me everything that was happening in a way I could understand. Gave me the price up front, including possible incidentals as they came up.
It was really cool to see the camera work it’s way through the line 30 feet all the way to the city easement and know exactly what’s going on!
James was a pleasant, hard-​working and left the place spotless.

We had a horrible drainage problem for the whole house. Called Roto-​Rooter and they were able to come out within an hour. Jay was our service tech. Very pleasant to talk to. Very professional and explained everything to us that was wrong and also explained great tips on how to avoid our drainage problems for the future.
Jay worked very hard and diligently until problem was fixed. Very happy with Jay’s work, his recommendations and Roto-​Rooter. Very satisfied customer

I would have given a five star rating if the scheduling had gone smoother.
Jesus was the tech and he was, in addition to being very professional and cordial, able to fix efficiently our drain problem and suggest things we could do tp prevent a recurrence. If I had known Jesus would be the tech — I could have taken the waiting in stride. He explained the problem, why I was not able to fix it myself (but gave me an A for trying), and makes me a fan of Roto-​Rooter.

A drainage problem in our bathroom had finally come to a head when we had a huge flood on our hands on Christmas Eve. Roto-​Rooter were the only ones answering our calls that night and they sent Tim out the next morning (yes, on Christmas Day).
Tim worked very hard to clear the clog, which turned out to be two stories — and many precarious turns in our plumbing system — away from the sink. What a relief! Would recommend Roto-​Rooter in general, and Tim in particular, in a heartbeat!
BTW, there was no extra charge for Christmas Day service.

I am so grateful they were able to show up so quickly. We had a bad clog (which ended up being in the sewer under the house) that left us in a bind on a Friday morning.
Our technician was so friendly and helpful. I really appreciated being given so much info on how and why it happened and the best ways to approach it.
It’s done now and we’re back in business. And I’m really impressed and thankful for the great service!