Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Water Cleanup

I called Roto-Rooter during a plumbing emergency, and while they responded quickly and got someone out promptly (which I appreciated), the professionalism of the technician left a lot to be desired. The technician, Austin B. arrived on time and ultimately completed the job, but several interactions during the visit were surprising and unprofessional. Upon opening my 8-year-old son’s bathroom toilet, he immediately exclaimed “Oh gross” loudly. Considering he was there to address a plumbing issue, that seemed like an odd reaction. Also, yes… he’s 8… Throughout the service call, he repeatedly mentioned “needing a cigarette” and brought up his “road beer,” which he described as root beer mixed with liquor because he doesn’t like the taste of beer. He also made it well known that he’d have accepted one of the hard ciders sitting in my kitchen if I had offered one. After the service; When his card reader wouldn’t connect, I offered to let him follow me to an ATM. He said that wasn’t really allowed, so my wife left to get cash from the bank instead. While waiting, he commented about getting a few hands of poker in and then pulled out his phone and started playing poker in my kitchen, not a full hand even just really wanted to talk poker? Very confusing stuff, To be fair, the drain was cleared and the problem was resolved. The company’s response time and scheduling were great, which tells me management is probably doing things too notch. But the technician’s behavior was not what I’d expect from someone representing a professional service company in a customer’s home, maybe dial it back and stick to the task at hand. The whole experience was worth a laugh afterward, but it wasn’t a particularly professional one. Had it been my wife home alone dealing with it, slightly different story.

This people are not what they claimed to be. They promised and say they guarantee their work but they tear your plumbing up, tear your yard up and completely destroy your basement flooring. They lie to you to get your money then disappear. If you call and ask for a manager the manager and owner is always unavailable. I had the service man come the door knocked one time and I immediately called him back and he said he was already in another city and I was looking at him sitting in front of my house on the security camera. Left a message from the sales person after he quoted the cost of additional repairs that they caused. I called a real plumber who said he never heard of what they told me the issue was. The sales person called me back thinking he is going to get more money from me and I told him my plumber was going to call him back about an issue from their services then he says I driving. Save your self money, time headache and more issues and do not use them. Please call some one else if you want the job done correctly!

I don't know if this is the right location, but the invoice I have says Detroit. I had a sewage backup in my two basement floor drains and utility sink. Roto Rooter came out and attempted to snake and jet the sewer lateral. The technician was not able to fully clear the line so his foreman came out to camera the lateral. They said that a portion of the cast iron sewer under my basement floor had a "blockage" that was making it difficult for them to get through and that once the lateral left my house, they ran into another "impassable blockage". They told me I would need my basement floor dug up and a portion of the cast iron removed and replaced, and that I would need my yard dug up where the "blockage" was to have that portion of sewer removed and replaced as well. They quoted me $13,608 for this work, and charged me a total of $1,052.71 for the work they did. I had a second contractor come out and perform the same snaking and camera, and they said there was no damage anywhere in any of the pipe and they were able to clear the "impassable blockage", which was some roots. The second contractor charged me $330 for the same amount of work.