Beware Of Roto-Rooter

[Terpenoids]

Hello everyone,,,Had an Experience with Roto-Rooter that I think others should know about before conducting business with them.

 

I am in no way trying to tarnish Roto-Rooters name,I am simply sharing my experience so that others can make an informed decision.

 

Had RR snake out a drain,,,When the rep showed up he first wanted to rip all the carpet out of an office in the basement,This would have been fine if the clean out was in that office.(incident 1)

 

He then went on to tell the person waiting at the house if the home owner was not there in 10 minutes that they would leave,A call ahead to let us know they were on there way was never made,Then they get upset and threaten to leave, Very professional (incident 2)

 

I arrived at the house (within my 10 minute window,I was just around the corner) The rep was semi professional at this point,They snaked the drain over the course of 3 hours!!!!!!!!!,,,,,Water never went down.

He then goes on to tell me that the snake will not work,Reasons why below.

1.said he went 110 feet,my line is only 95ft

2.Said line was full of grease,Snake would not work for that.

3.Said he was able to get threw the grease but on pull back of the snake the grease filled the hole back in immediately.

 

He then went on to tell me that I needed to have them jet my line,,,I agreed to shut this know nothing guy up,,,Ow I almost forgot,They were going to charge me $400 to snake it and $800 to jet it,They were kind enough to knock the $400 down to $200 since the water never went down,,There so nice.

 

Long story short.

When the rep left I made a few calls,,,Within 30 minutes of the reps departure I had a mom and pops sewer cleaner shop at the house.

With in 10 minutes of being there my sewer was spotless,Water went down and the sewer was in tip top shape.

I want to note that the second place only had to push the snake 6ft and my water went down,He then ran my entire line to make sure,This is how I know its 95ft.

How much did the other company charge for coming out after hours and to clean my entire drain,,,$160 HMMMMMMM I think I like that number over the $1200 RR was going to get me for.

 

I ended up sending a copy of that receipt to RR,Manager called said he would reduce my bill to $74,He would not budge a penny more,,Thats fine,,I have since contested it with my card company,I'm not paying them a dime.

 

Once again I'm not bashing RR in any way,I simply want fellow free red blooded Americans to have ample info before making a very expensive call.

 

Thank you for reading this.

 

P.S. That $99 cleaning you see advertised,That is only if your clean out is ground level and they will only push the snake 75ft.

[The Digital Nomad]

yes, it did sound like they were snaking you!

 

Mom and Pops operations rock - their livelihood depends on a good reputation - something a dipshiit employee for Roto-rooter might not care about.

 

Good story.

 

DN

[Beans]

All service companies are only as reliable as the current technician

Tomorrow he will probably be employed by a competitor

or your local used car dealer LOL

[radiostar]

All service companies are only as reliable as the current technician

Tomorrow he will probably be employed by a competitor

or your local used car dealer LOL

True that. I would suggest you just buy a snake and do it yourself though. That is if you are a DIY kinda guy. That's what I have done. As for the length of your line it's possible the snake when beyond your line into the main line and thus the extra 15 or 20 feet. I've done that plenty. I measured my line and have found that the snake goes well beyond that. There is no way of knowing unless he sends a camera down. Also I would suggest that maybe it wasn't grease but instead roots. I would doubt that a snake wouldn't unblock a grease obstruction in a first pass and I also doubt that there would be a grease obstruction in the main part of your line because that is typically at least 4 inches in diameter if not 6. Unless you're dumping a lot of greasy crap down there regularly it doesn't seem likely it would be grease. I have had clogs that I couldn't snake out but later found it was roots and was able to get it clear after that. You can treat the line with copper sulphate once or twice a year to keep it clear of roots.

 

Anyway, buy a snake once and DIY is my suggestion. It doesn't take much skill to snake the line after you get the hang of it. It can be a nasty job though so if you have a weak stomach it's maybe not for you. Also, alot of times you will probably find some sort of worms that live in the line. Kind of like maggots. They cling to areas where they won't get washed away like in the upper portions of the line or behind a clean out. They are disgusting but I suppose they help keep the line clean by consuming slime build up.