I want to preface this review by urging anyone considering hiring this company to try as much as…read moreyou can to find a good local plumber. Without question you are going to pay at least twice (more likely 3x or 4x) the amount it would cost to get a good local plumber and you're money is at least supporting a local small business and most of that money is going into the pocket of the technician.
Plumbing issues are one of those things I hate dealing with and that put you in a difficult position due to their urgency. This is really the only reason why I reached out to such a large name brand like Roto-Rooter when I saw that my main drainage line in my basement was leaking.
As soon as I saw it, I knew it was something I wanted taken care of quickly and correctly and was willing to pay extra for that. A technician showed up within the window stated. He looked at the leak and gave me a quote of $1200. As I expected, it was high, but as long as it was going to be quality work with a guarantee, I was willing to pay it. He said he couldn't fix it that day and stated that it wasn't a bad leak, so it was not going to cause any serious flooding. After telling him my availability in the evenings, he wanted to push the job to the end of the week. At that point, I was not going to have him do the work, but once I made that clear, he said he'd get it done this week. We made an appointment for Tuesday at 5:00, and he wanted a $250 deposit, which I provided.
He arrived Tuesday at 5:00. Though it wasn't a big deal, I would like to note that he didn't even offer to wear booties in the house (I used to work as a cable technician, and this was standard). In any event, he starts working and essentially cuts out around 5 to 6 feet of the old, rotted steel pipe. Though there were threads in both the lower and upper fittings, he did not use them. Instead, he used rubber couplers to join the PVC to the remaining iron pipes. I don't know if this is industry standard, but you would think that it would be best to use the threads if at all possible; however, I assume that the threading itself may be rotted and not provide a good seal as well.
After he finished, about 2 hours later while cleaning up the basement, I decided to check on the pipe. I noticed water on the floor. The pipe was leaking from both the upper and lower couplers. This has to be a routine plumbing job, so it is difficult to understand how an experienced plumber could not get this right, especially for the price.
It was now 9 PM, so I texted the number he gave me. No reply. I called the general number, and the representative said a plumber would be out in 2 hours to fix the job. 5 minutes later, she calls back and tells me that the original technician communicated to the office that he was not finished with the job and the job was not fully 'coded' in the system. She then said she did not have any senior technicians that could come out that night. At this point, I started to smell BS and asked whether or not the work was guaranteed, and she said she could not tell me because it was not coded in the system. I then asked her, 'Doesn't Roto-Rooter offer a general guarantee of work? If so, could she explain what it covers?' She goes on to say that without seeing the information the technician needs to put in, she can't tell me anything about guaranteed work.
Her attitude at this point was getting more and more dismissive. She had zero empathy for the fact that I just overpaid--probably by a factor of 3--for poor-quality work, which she can't even articulate the terms of the guarantee offered by her company.
I then ask if there is anyone I could speak to who can tell me what my rights are under Roto-Rooter's guarantee, and she becomes increasingly indignant, stating, 'I don't understand what you are asking.' I stated, 'I think it's fairly clear: I had work done, which was paid for, but it failed, and now I have to wait an indefinite amount of time for another technician to attempt to fix the work of the last technician. Hence, at this point, it is relevant to me to know what the guarantee covers. Is it a money-back guarantee? Do I just have to have them keep re-doing the work until it is satisfactory?'
At this point I fully read the invoice and the legal text therein. It clearly states that they can choose to "do the work again at no labor cost or REFUND YOUR PAYMENT". The next day after leaving a poor review on Google (how they got 4.8 stars there is a complete mystery), leaving messages on their customer service line, and sending emails, I got a call from a customer service representative. I gave him my concerns and asked to be refunded. He said that is something they rarely do.
The whole point of me turning to a well-known brand like Roto-Rooter was to avoid these rinky-dink problems and low quality, but it's clear that the extra money you're paying for their service goes to promote the brand and advertising, not quality technicians or customer service.
