I called Mr. Plumber to come out and do a scope down out sewer drain before we closed on our home in Lenexa. Since it was built in the 70s, I wanted to make sure there weren't any tree roots or issues prior to closing. Scope was done for $180 and we got the green light that everything was good and there were no signs of tree roots or cracks in the pipe. We moved in a month later and the first night in the home (not even 12 hours living there) the sewer line was clogged and we had sewer water in our basement. Sewer water had started to seep into the carpet of the finished portion of our basement. Did I mention this was the FIRST night in our new home? Needless to say I was angry, sad, and out to get someone who missed this. Out of panic, I googled 24 hour plumbing and called the first plumbing service that came up on Google, which happened to be Roter Rooter. (side note: our awesome Realtor entered our address for our Home Warranty incorrectly, so we had no Home Warranty information and didn't know who to call. AB May would have came out and fixed this clog for $75 had we known that was an option). RR was at the house in 40 minutes and snaked the pipe 100 feet, cleared the clog, found tree root and dental floss and charged me $279. They also told me that sewer water had gotten into our walls and half the walls needed to be ripped out. They sent a guy out later that night at 9pm on a Saturday night to assess the damage to the carpet and walls and had someone ready to go to rip out the walls on Sunday. (This would have cost us about $1000 had we gone through with it.)
In my attempts to figure who's responsible for this clog because no one had been living in the house, I call Mr. Plumber on Monday to tell them what happened. We took precautions to make sure something like this didn't happen with the sewer line and it still did! Mr. Plumber is a family owned company and they were very nice and offered me a refund IF one was needed. They had the same tech come out to my house the next day and review the video of the scope with me. It turns out that due to lack of use, the pipe backed up because of "stuff" getting dry/hard and causing a dam in the pipe. Our pipe is only 60 feet before it hits the city main line. Roter Rooter snaked the pipe 100 feet. The extra 40 feet went into the city line, which is where they pulled out the tree root and dental floss.
In the end, the lack of use caused the pipe to back up. The damage to the basement was minimal and there was ABSOLUTELY NO NEED TO RIP OUT THE WALLS, which Roter Rooter highly suggested. Per inspection from an insurance restoration specialist, all we needed to do was replace the wet carpet pad, have the carpet professionally cleaned and sanitized and get a dehumidifier for the basement. I unfortunately didn't get my refund, but Mr. Plumber did their job and I now have trust in their company that they are honest people and do good work.
Roter Rooter, on the other hand, is a scam. They get extra commission of some kind if they refer other companies to do work on your house. They are expensive and they try to rip people off. They don't care about you, they just care about making money. They also wheeled their machine over my carpet that had been sitting is sewage. There was no need to rip out walls but they had people ready to do it and charge us $1000 for it on a Sunday.
Our first night in our home was an unfortunately experience. I officially have the worst realtor in the world for screwing us on our Home Warranty. We're covered, but we're out $279 because we called the wrong company. I also have the worst luck that the lack of use caused this back up. However, due to these circumstances, I still felt the need to give Mr. Plumber a good review. They did their job and though I hope I never have plumbing issues again (here's to hoping) I will call them or refer other people to them because I know that they will be honest, friendly, and willing to work with me.
My final note: Don't EVER call Roter Rooter. read more
