Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Drain Service

We went back out and honored our warranty and rodded the line again at no additional cost as per our warranty guidelines. We are not responsible for the growth of roots in the line. When...

we initially left the line was open and there was flow. The paperwork was signed off stating this and our hold harmless agreement was also signed stating that we are not responsible for any damage that may be caused to the home.  When we went back out we rodded the line again and had a camera tech go out and camera the line at no additional cost to ensure that flow had been restored. We feel that we have done all that we can to make this situation right.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2014/12/30) */
Contact Name and Title: [redacted] Office Manager
Contact Phone: XXX-XXX-XXXX
Contact Email: [redacted]
Spoke with the customer and we are issuing a refund for $666.75. The customer is happy with this resolution.

Contact Name and Title: [redacted] Office Manager
Contact Phone: [redacted]
Contact Email: [redacted][email protected]
We sent another tech back out to resovle the issue and we offered a refund of $322.50 for the first service tht we performed.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/04/16) */
Contact Name and Title: [redacted] Office Manager
Contact Phone: XXXXXXXXXX
Contact Email: [redacted]@rrsc.com
Our location is not the location that serviced this customer therefore we are not able to locate any information to...

resolve this issue for her. There is no phone number listed to reach out and let her know this but I did send her an email letting her know.

Roto Rooter was called out to assist me with a problem I was having with my sump pump and the piping. It seemed that there was an obstruction in the line (roots trash of some sort). He arrived with the machine he brought in from his truck asked me to sign some papers indicating that he was going to perform some work. He did not give me a free estimate as indicated on Root A Routers web site and there automated phone system. I indicated that I was stepping away I would be right back in a couple of seconds. He took it upon himself and did not wait for me to return and supposedly began rooting without waiting for me to return. I returned and he indicated that he was not able to get the rooter in the pipe and was not going to perform any additional work risking that the rooter could get caught in the piping. I stated that I never saw him perform any of the work he indicated and wanted to see the rooter being inserted and having difficulty going through the pipe. He should of waited for the customer to the present to perform any of the work he supposedly did. Would I recommend this company, [redacted] no. Will I use them in the future [redacted] no..

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 6, 2014/09/08) */
Contact Name and Title: [redacted] Office Manager
Contact Phone: XXX-XXX-XXXX
Contact Email: [redacted]@rrsc.com
Customer was informed we offer free estimates not free camera jobs as he requested. To run the camera through the line...

and clear the drain this way the charge is correct of $375.00. The customer choose to have another company to this job.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 8, 2014/09/09) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
As I stated to the rep that called me, the line was already cleared and I had that done previous, I was having them out to inspect the line and provide me an estimate that they advertise as free, to correct the issue and prevent any further future issues. The rep stated no problem and scheduled an appointment. As there website states free estimates and did not limit to what they would do to provide the estimate I feel that they should still stand by there advertisement as well as stand by there own associate, who I explained this all to when they called, and provide the free estimate service that they advertised and stated they would.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 10, 2014/09/15) */
We do not offer a camera for free and at no time was the customer promised this and he spoke with both the office manager and the excavation manager at which time this was explanined. He was offered a free estimate to have someone look at his line and have the camera work done for $375 to see what the issue was and if it was more serious include this price in that work but it was refused.

To whom it
may concern:
All
of Roto Rooter’s  technicians are trained
to the fullest extent. When a water leak comes in and it is due to a larger
than normal water bill, we check everything. Concerning this customer, the
technician arrived at the property on December.2.2014 at...

12:42pm, he  went into the mobile home, and checked all
the fixtures for leaks. There were no visible leaks. All technicians are
trained to check all homes and meters thoroughly.  The technician found a Hose Bibb that was
left on, and he shut it off, he then checked the meter and there were no leaks
at that time. He spent 2 hours on the customer’s property and found no leaks. I
spoke with the customer on April 16,2015 ( 4 ½ months later), and explained
everything that had been done on December 2,2014. I stated that no leaks were
visible or present. We only charged $146.00 that day for 2 hours labor. I told
the customer that I would gladly send back the $146.00, but she waited for 4
months to call, while she still had a higher than normal water bill. Leaks can
happen at any time, on a mobile home, this is more apt to happen due to cheap
piping. In closing, we do not  want to go
to a home and not service a problem. Roto Rooter is here to help any customer
to the best of our ability. On the day that the technician went out, he did
find a leak on the neighbor’s water main, and repaired it, this took the
technician an additional 2 ½ hours.
                                        ...⇄ /> Thank you

On 6/23/16 at 2:45 pm we received a call from Mr. [redacted] for a toilet clog and we were scheduled to go out on 6/24/16 between 8 am and 12 pm. We arrived on time and our sewer and drain...

technician assessed the issue at hand. He quoted our price of $225 and provided a discount of $40 bringing the total down to $185 for a toilet auger. Mr. [redacted] signed off on our invoice agreeing that this price was given to him upfront and that he agreed with this price. Our technician proceed to do the work and once completed Mr. [redacted] signed off on the invoice that all work was completed to his satisfaction. Our toilet auger comes with a one week guarantee. On 8/30/16 at 11:56 am Mr. [redacted] called in stating his toilet was clogged again. Prior to this we have no record of him reaching out within the guarantee period to let us know there was an issue with his toilet. Had we been contacted during this time frame we would have gladly honored our guarantee and augured the toilet again at no additional cost within the one week time frame. At the time of this call we explained the guarantee to Mr. [redacted], what he paid for at the time of our visit, and did offer to send someone out to quote him for any work that would need to be provided. We explained that prior to doing any work the technician that would come out would evaluate the issue and provide him with a free estimate and he could choose to have the services performed or not. He opted to not have us come out.
As we were contacted more than two months past our initial visit we withheld our end of the guarantee and have done everything within our powers to resolve this matter for the customer within reason.
Tell us why here...

Below is our reply broken down by each paragraph from the original complaint.
1. Our technician arrived on-site and provided a written estimate of the work he would do and explained to Mr. [redacted] that it was a toilet auger for $225 and that a coupon of $40 would be applied bringing the charge down to $185. Mr. [redacted] signed the paperwork agreeing to have our service technician do the toilet auger for the $185 with the one week guarantee which is also written on the invoice that was signed for by Mr. [redacted]. We also offered for $549 to remove the toilet and rod the mainline however this service was refused.
2. We are a flat rate company and depending on the job that is required we charge a flat rate regardless of day, night, weekend, and or a holiday. We have no record of a call coming in from Mr. [redacted] complaining about the price however our technician charged correctly for the services rendered. We do not charge an hourly rate for any rodding that we provide. Had the customer chosen to have the toilet pulled and the main line rodded it would have come along with a 6 month guarantee however again it is stated clearly on his invoice that there is only a one week guarantee therefore Mr. [redacted] was aware that he only had one week should the line back up to report this issue to us and we have no record of being contacted again until August 30th to inform us that he was having issues with the toilet. At this point we offered to send another technician out to look into the matter and provide a free quote. 
3. As previously stated we performed the services which were paid for and had we been called within the one week time frame or within a reasonable amount of time from our first visit and not 2 months later we would have gone back out and augured the toilet at no additional charge to the customer. In addition, we have no record of any previous notes or calls about the toilet backing up prior to August 30th.
4. In an attempt to resolve this matter we offered to send a technician back out to augur the toilet at no cost but this was refused.
5. We provided the quoted and agreed upon services on June 24th. Mr. [redacted] signed off on the invoice agreeing to have a toilet auger done with a one week guarantee.
In conclusion Roto-Rooter will gladly send a technician back out to auger the toilet only at no additional cost or we will apply the $185 towards the work that one of our technicians states needs to be done to restore flow to said toilet.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  LVX supplied a copy of their standard contract, and notice that it is unsigned.This is the first time that the [redacted] have seen this contract language.No work was ever performed by LVX.    We expect a refund of our $717 deposit.
Regards,
[redacted]

We are apparently at an impasse. The [redacted] say they didn't understand that deposits are meant to secure jobs and that refunding deposits without cause would invalidate their purpose. We say that they should know this, that our contract stipulates it, and just because they didn't return the signed contract to us with their payment doesn't mean that they didn't see it. We often take credit card payments by phone and pick up contracts when the job starts.Please note that they have filed this same claim with their credit card company and that the deposit money in question is no longer in our possession. We have contested that claim, but don't intend to pursue it beyond the ruling of the credit card company.

We have been unable to reach this customer via phone since this was sent to us and we have attempted to call them daily since August 9th
size="3">, 2016.
We performed the work according to the proposal and the line is open and flowing as according to the proposal. While digging we found that one joint downstream had roots in it as well that we were unable to see originally due to the condition of the pipes. We also removed those roots and the cleanout is fixed as per our original proposal. Due to the extra roots that were found in the line further down than what was quoted we supplied the customer with 3 additional quotes to repair this part of the line as well. As of today the customer has chosen not to go with any of these options and he has not paid for any of our services to date therefore no refunds will be given.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
The negligence from your first employee led to us incurring all the sewage back up. In addition it took over a hour while we were taking in sewage before your company agreed to send someone back out! Furthermore, your first employee never reinstalled our close out drain but rather placed it on top. 
Sincerely,
[redacted]

We have discussed and reviewed all paperwork that the customer has submitted to us and we have agreed to issue the customer a refund in the amount of $1100.

[redacted] was in communication with GM [redacted] via email regarding complaint to our branch. [redacted]l agreed that a partial refund would resolve the complaint. Refund was submitted. A week later the branch was made aware of the Revdex.com complaint that was filed before resolution to branch...

complaint. [redacted] has since reached out to [redacted] and he has agreed that the Revdex.com complaint can be closed.

Review: I believe they are outrageous in their charges. First they charge $150.00 to just show up, they then charged $95.00 to an hr to find the blockage. It took them 2.75 hrs to find it. I was not home and my neighbor was supposed to be here with them. I came home and they were still here. The one man ([redacted]) had been out in my yard painting arrows and lines to guide their next crew how to enter my yard with their equipment. He hadn't even found the problem and he is out in the street setting up emergency locates. This visit cost me $437.00. The next crew comes and at another $150.00 charge to show up and $200.00 an hr just to find the problem. They dug and found old clay pipe that needed to be replaced. They found out that it is a community line between me and my neighbor. They quoted a price of $8500.00 to fix the problem. They ran the camera to check the line but neglected to video it for the city as requested. They also gave me a quote of $6092.50 plus tax to run a separate line for just my house. I was told that the charges for the work already done was included in the quote for the whole job, but in this estimate they only mentioned $1000.00 for labor already performed but the bill they left with me for that day was $1809.96 ($1100.00 labor, $150 service call $285 camera, $144 materials, plus tax). They were here for 5.5 hrs I was charged $200 hr for them to work up 2 estimates which took them an hr to do ( 1/2 hr each one).Desired Settlement: I realize that this type of work is expensive but I feel that I am being taken advantage of and that no company has the right to price gouge in this way. They were listed in the [redacted] directory so I was under the impression they were local(25mi) but are coming from Lewiston ID and charged me $150 twice to just show up. I want to be treated fairly and honestly. If they were only giving me $1000 credit for the work completed I feel that is all I should have to pay for their work on 4-1-13.

Business

Response:

RESOLVED COMPLAINT WITH CUSTOMER. CUSTOMER UNDERSTANDS OUR CHARGES AND WHAT WORK WAS DONE!

THANK YOU

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID 9505596, They removed 2 of the 3 $150.00 service charges and 1/2 hr of labor ($45.00) plus tax from my bill.

This company was going to charge me $2000 to fix my septic. The tech that came out to give me the estimate said he would silence my alarm until they came out to do the work. The next day, the alarm once again began alarming. I called to ask that it be silenced as previously promised,and I spoke with a Mr. [redacted] who is apparently the owner of the business. He was rude from the get-go, and refused to come silence the alarm without charging me ANOTHER fee.He then proceeded to tell me that he didn't want my business. He needs to take some anger management classes because I was nothing but polite and was only asking for something that was promised to me, in writing.My son then came out to check out the septic, and fixed it for free. It never needed all of that work that they were going to charge me. It was simply a frozen drainage pipe.