Being new to Caldwell, I received a card in the mail for $200 off a drain clean. Not knowing who was a good business, I made my judgement on the advertising and the fact they said they were Veterans. I asked for a ballpark price where a drain clean started, so I would have an idea of the cost. The office would not give me any idea. I made an appointment for them to come out to troubleshoot why my drains were slow. Nick and Jason came out and jetted all my drains. They were very nice and friendly individuals. I also had Nick look at my water softener because it appeared to not be working, which it wasn't. Nick convince me because I was needing a new water softener and I had just purchased a new refrigerator with water and ice, that I should also get a new hot water heater because it had all the contaminated hard water scale etc. inside that would just continue to contaminate the system. They charged jetting my drains, from the roof vents, $1,195. Then $1,350 for the main drain line (poor access), Sewer line camera inspection (good access) $165. I had a $200 coupon discount I received in the mail. To install the soft water system was $3,302.65, and lastly was installing a new hot water tank (my original still works) was $2,705.29. So they quickly did paperwork for financing. The total cost for all came to $8,517.94. I was told first I didn't have to pay anything that day and then I did have to pay for the jetting, which was $2,510. After sleeping on it I canceled the installation of the softener and water heater, which they were ready to do first thing in the morning. I felt like the jetting alone was an awful lot. I got several different bids and both were between $400 and $550. Both from reputable other plumbing businesses. The were shocked I was charged so much. They said they had the same equipment and provided the same service, and never did they ever have to charge over $1,000.
The drain camera person, Chris came the following day. He was very nice, but he said after he was done he was going to show me the camera footage and go over it with me. I went inside the house and he never stopped by after he was done, he just left!! After about two weeks my kitchen drain started draining slow again. Nick came out and jetted it again and Chris followed up with the camera. He said my problem was a " belly" in the drain pipe and said he could fix it by replacing with new pipe and that was going to cost $3,485. But they gave me a discount for the jetting service of $1,515. So the total to replace a stick of pipe was going to cost $1,970!
After getting second opinions, from other plumbing services that have been in service for over 20 years they all told me I was being ripped off. These prices are extreme and the biggest eye opener I found out...they don't have licensed plumbers. So the majority of the work they are doing is illegal, according to Idaho laws.
The one star rating is to the company. Nick and Jason were very nice individuals. Chris, the cameraman, was very nice as well, but I was very disappointed when he said he would go over his findings and never did. It took at least two follow up calls to their office to get some pictures.
I DO NOT recommend American Rooter & Drain, unless you have a lot of money to spend. Their prices are extremely high! read more