Roto-Rooter Services Company

On Friday evening,
January 25, 2019, I received a call from my granddaughter, ***, who
resides at my rental property at ***. She was
hysterical that sewer water with feces was flooding the basement and it was
about 4 to 5 inches of sewer water. I called Metropolitan Sewer district on
January 25, 2019 and made a report to them. They came on January 26, 2019and
told us the clog was from the main sewer line, but that the lateral sewer was
my responsibility. On Saturday, January 26, 2019, *** dad Rodney Lamar
called me and told me that he had called Roto-Rooter to come out and take care
of the water problem and they were there. I asked to talk to one of the guys
that was there and was told the problem and approved Roto-Rooter in the amount
of $536.47 (per credit card) to get rid of the water problem only. I also
talked to ***, project coordinator with Roto-Roter, who told
me that I would need mitigation and that my home owners insurance would pay for
it, because they always did. He told me to use the verbiage, “There was a soft
blockage in the main sewer line that caused the over flow.” He told me I needed
to call them, make a claim and he would run out by my house and get my signature,
which he did. I do not recall signing and initialing all of the forms on his
*** and being informed that I would have to pay if the insurance did not. Had
this been explained to me and the price of what mitigation could cost, I would
never have signed the ***. Shortly afterwards, within an hour or two I
received a call from my claims adjuster informing me that the claim was not
covered. I called *** on January 28, 2019 at 11:13am and left
a message for him to call me back because the claim was not covered and I did
not want them to do any mitigation. *** called me back at 12:36pm that same
day and told me I was probably not using the right verbiage and asked me to
give him the phone number to the claims adjuster, which I did. He called me
back again and said he did not get the right claims adjuster. I gave him the
number to my agent and repeatedly told him not to do the mitigation. I also
called and talked to the technician (I believe) ***, on that same day,
who was still at the property, and told him not to do the mitigation because the
claim was not covered by my insurance. He told me he would call his project
manager to see what they could work out with me since the equipment was still
there. I repeatedly told him not to do the mitigation and I would wait until he
called me back. He never called me back. In the interim, *** called me back
later and told me everything was dried out and that the price was three to
three-fifty. I asked him did he mean $300 - $350. He said no, $3000 to $3500. I
told him I did not give them approval to do the mitigation. I called *** on January 29, 2019, in the administrative
office of Roter-Rooter and told her about the problem. She even said it was not
the norm that Roter-Rooter was provide a service in that amount ($3000 - $3500)
without a down payment. She said she had no authority resolve the matter and
would pass it to someone who did and they would call me. They never did. I
called *** back on 1/31/19 and she referred me to ***. I called his office on 1/31/19at 9:24am and left a
message regarding my complaint and asked him to return my call. I called
*** again on 2/1/19 at 9:21am and left a message to call me regarding the
complaint. He never returned my call. On 2/5/19 *** called me from Roto-Rooter and told me
he was emailing me the bill. I explained to him I had told them not to do the
mitigation. They did not call me back to let me know what could be worked out
with their project manager. I told him I was not going to pay whatever the bill
was, because I had been scammed and taken advantage of because I had been led
on and hurried during the entire process, where I could not even think rationally.
*** had rushed to my house for my signature before I had time
to even think through or been given a thorough explanation of what I was
signing. I was taken advantage of because I am a senior citizen, a 73 year old
woman. I told *** that I was not going to pay the bill and that I would
go to court to fight this unfair charge. He told me that was unfortunate. I dispute the work they claim they did for mitigation, via
email to me, dated February 4, 2019, with a description of everything they
supposedly had done, with a price of $3665.25 (see attached). Previously, I had a back-up water problem in the basement
and had my ex-son in law do the mitigation, where he had to cut out a lot of
the drywall (about five fee). As a matter of fact, while waiting to hear back
from Roto-Rooter’s project manager. I called my ex-son in law and left a
message with him about doing mitigation again. I would never have used
Roto-Rooter in the first place because they are outrageously expensive.

On 7/24/18 we had a sewer back up and on 7/25/18 *** came out to see what could be done. Some of the water from the backup had touched a wood paneled wall in the basement. *** wanted very much to take the wall out for thoroughness but we did not want the wall taken out as it could be cleaned. We signed paperwork for clean up and carrying away any debris. On 7/27/18 the crew came out and my daughter reiterated to the team that we did NOT want the wall taken out. We only wanted the wall cleaned. We had 2 contacts *** and the cleaning crew. they came to do the cleaning on 7/27/18. After they finished we went down to see the work and found that they had taken most of the wall out anyway. We were very upset. We contacted *** and he told us that if we didn't like it to talk to his supervisor. He accepted no responsibility. We did contact the supervisor *** and he was defensive as well but had never been on the site. He said he would look into in but seemed to believe that the wall needed to be taken out anyway. We have since spoken with Aaron again and his attitude is that we should just deal with it. We asked for ***'s notes documenting our conversations. *** had a clipboard when he was here and taking notes. *** said that *** did not take any notes. *** said if we wanted to keep the wall we should have signed the waiver. We were never told of any waiver, It was never offered or discussed. Despite that we said no to the wall being taken out the business did what they wanted. Roto-Rooter is now charging us for the wall removal.

This company came out to my home on 5/4/18 to my toilet overflowed and went into the basement. They came out and they looked at it and they did what they were supposed to do in the basement. The toilet was still messed up. I have paid them over $2000. I can't use my toilet and I have to use the one in daughter's room. I am in a wheelchair and it is inconvenient. They have been back to my home at least 7 times. I can't still use the toilet. Whatever they did in the basement when they finished cleaning it, they turned off a switch because the water was not working properly in my bathroom. I have called their emergency line that is supposed to be 24 hours and that didn't even work. They were supposed to come back on 7/5 and they didn't. They are supposed to put a light in the toilet and see what the problem is. They told me they would call me back tomorrow, but I need this problem fixed now.

Our main floor toilet was leaking and we called. You sent representatives out November 20, 2017. I have busin*** cards for project managers *** and ***. ***. You said it had been leaking for a while from the flusher and tore out part of the floor and wall then went down stairs and said the ceiling was damaged from the leak. A large portion of the ceiling was tore out and you placed 2 large fans in the bathroom and lower level bedroom. That night it was too hot to sleep and the next morning I called to explain the fan was extremely hot. The carpet in the main room buckled and you are not taking responsibility for it. You told us to contact Woodard Restoration to repair the wall, ceiling, damage to the steps and cleaning. However, I do not want them do any work until the carpet is repaired. We got an estimate on the carpet for $450.Location involved - *** St. Louis, MO