Rescue Rooter reviews and complaints

I wished I would have seen the many complaints for Rescue Rooter about overcharging people before calling them. We were having a problem with water backing up in our basement. We called Rescue Rooter, they came out and said the pipes in the basement floor were rotted and needed to be replaced and said it would be $9, 200 for the work, unfortunately we signed a contract before getting another bid. Before they began the work my father in law who is a General Contractor found out and had his plumber come look at the job, his plumber said he would do the job for $800. We talked to the manager at Rescue Rooter and ask him if we could pay them for their time and get out of the contract. He was VERY rude, screamed and yelled at us and would not back down. They did the work; which we were not happy with. They had to pull up our carpet, which they did not do carefully, they ripped it right up the middle and we had to pay a carpet installer and extra $160 to repair the torn carpet. They left 4 big holes/scratches on our walls and left a big mess that we had to clean up. we feel that for $9, 200 they should have been more careful with our walls and carpet and done perfect work since they were 10 times higher than our second bid. We will NEVER use Rescue Rooter again. I would not recommend them to my worst enemy, they totally take advantage of people and do not care. Please do not use them, you will regret it.

I was having a problem with my garbage disposal. Hector from Rescue Rooter came out, looked at it for less than a minute and told me it couldn't be repaired, but he could replace it for $463. I asked him to leave, called another plumber who unjammed it with an alan wrench at no charge.
I think Rescue Rooter is totally dishonest and completely unethical. I would NEVER recommend them and would NEVER use them again.

I had a refrigerator line burst under the house. Intially the Rescue Rooter sales guy came and looked underneath the crawl space found the refrigerator line and said its a big problem I need four guys for this job and it will take all day. I was worried about the potential damage of excess water under the house so I lowered the quote to $1500. It actually took two guys, one hour and 3 feet by 1/2 inch plastic pipe to fix the problem which should've cost a maximum of $500. I spoke to the manager about why the sales rep quoted so high, could not explain themselves instead they sent an email charging $495 for" finding the source of leak" even thought its suppose to be free to come and find out whats going on.

I am a former employee of Rescue Rooter, and I am here to confirm all the complaints on overcharging.Every one of these complaints are justified.The fact is that they shoot for a 60% profit margin on every single thing they do.This is their goal on every single call they go to, they try to justify this by telling customers about their awsome warranty, whatever!Every service plumbing company out there offers the same warranty.What they fail to mention is that they do have a 100% satisfaction guaranty, You can get every penny back if you're not satisfied with your service or product, but seldom if ever mention this.They prey on the elderly, and truly aim to rip off everyone they service.Not that the tech's themselves are shady, it's the management team and corparate officers that demand 60% profit be made.They treat their employees like dirt, huge employee turnover and not alot of people banging down the door to work there, thats why you get inexperienced tech's who call themselves plumber's to service you.I quit because I could not keep a clear consience while charging what we were charging.Instead of helping people with our slumping economy, ARS/Rescue Rooter RAISED prices three sepeate time in the year I worked there.All that is important to them is the bottom line.Steer clear of these guys, use your local plumbing companies, who have less overhead and will treat you fairly and with integrity.

I called the phone number to schedule an in home install of a garbage disp. They said hey would arrive at 2/3 PM.
At 12:30pm I got a call from them saying He would be late probally 3/4pm, I agreed and said OK. At 1:30 another call ...The tech had a flat tire and would be at my house at 4:30...The tech showed up at 4:45 and I asked how much to replace the broken disposal with the same machine I had ran out a purchased. He went to his truck and came back 12 minutes later(had to ask his manager for a quote)...Here's what he quoted...$394.00 to exchange the machine but if I did it right now he would charge me ONLY $294.00 plus he would snake out the drain for an additional $202.00 and then I would have a 1 year warrenty. Oh by the way I called another LOCAL plumber and he did the job for $110.00 with the same warrenty...BE AWARE of rescue rooter

I called Rescue Rooter to unclog a garage sink that shares a common wall w/the kitchen sink. I was quoted $475.94 for the Hydro. Somehow the Hydro got stuck on something & when he pulled it back it had root(raised foundation & pipes are under the floor not in the ground) Then they sent the camera down to see the issue, well it got "stuck" They went under the house & now the pipes are rusted from the inside out, $6179, I cant afford that, the dropped it to $4179...nope still out of my price range, they dropped it again to $3800. I reluctantly said yes. They cut the wall & a pipe, nowhere near where the camera got "stuck" & somehow got the camera out, broke my clean out, disconnected the pipes under the kitchen sink instead of turning the shut off valve &where to come back in the morning. Call a 2nd plumber out that night, he said all was untrue. He did not see the pipes rested and rotted. I cancelled the service that was scheduled for the next morning; I got a call from Randy berating me about believing another man over him because he sat in my house, he went on and on about his reputation he can prove his diagnosis with a scope(so it could get stuck again?) Randy even said the other plumber was not looking at the same pipes he was, or didnt know what he was looking for. My husband went under the house & made a video the pipes, nothing to support Randy. Our neighbor used his $24 snaked & a pressure nozzle on the water hose and the clog was GONE. It took $20 of supplies to fix the cut pipe. I not only feel taken advantage of I also feel as though Randy tried to intimidate me during his phone call after the cancellation.

Rescue rooter came to my home for a simple toilet stoppage. Within one hour, the plumber managed to break my plumbing to the point my entire plumbing system was not workable. I was without water and toilets for over 30 hours. In order to fix the problem Rescue Rooter created the plumber quoted me $10, 000 to $35, 000. He also advised me that the company offers financing, so I shouldn't worry about it! I CALLED A REPUTABLE PLUMBER AND MY REPAIR was $545, to repair what Rescue Rooter did and to fix the plumbing problem. VERY VERY SCARY. ALL PEOPLE NEED TO BE AWARE OF THIS SCAM.

This company charged us for work that was never done. Did not give credit for coupon. Said they did a sewer scope & locate, only went 15 feet and then stopped. Then, gave us a quote for 8500 for 50-60 feet of sewer line replacement. How is that so if you stopped at 12 feet and never marked anything? Fought with several different managers, to no avail. Sleezy company with low morals and super super over priced. Save your money - go somewhere else!

My in-laws had a pipe leak on the mobile home and had Rescue Rooter come out and fix it. The repairman had to go to Home Depot to get the parts, which i think that is kind weird.He was only there for 20 min.and charged them $500.00. I really think that they were prayed apon being that they are seniors.On top of that they still had another leak and he said that it would be another $500.00. This is an outright RIPPOFF! I WILL BE SPREDDING THE WORD TO EVERYONE I KNOW AND ALL MY FAMILY!

Thanks,
Devin Spooner

Had a really slow drain, Rescue Rooter failed to open it (actually completely plugged it instead). So, after paying $300, and them spending 2 hours at my house, they gave up on it, and quoted me for services including installing a bypass outside my home, jackhammers, digging, tree removal... all said, about $5500 to complete. I called Gator Plumbing instead, they cleared the drain for $100. Saved me about $5400! I will NEVER call Rescue Rooter again.

These people are almost not worth my time in doing this but I just had to warn other potential victims. These people are dishonest, manipulative, deceptive, and outright appalling to deal with.

After contracting them to do a seemingly simple job these idiots proceeded to try and "up sell" us to have all this other non-essential work done. They made it seem like we would be fined by the state or something for not having our plumbing "up to code."

Apparently our pipes were a ticking time bomb and our water heater was seconds away from bursting into flames. (not actually the case)

A second quote from a locally owned, honest plumbing company gave us a real bid for about half the price or these jerks.

Stay away... you have been warned.

I have never posted such complaint on internet as I felt it would never justify my time to do it. But this time, I feel i do have the obligation to tell everyone to stay away this company.

I had none-urgent issue on shower fiversion valve. I called their office. the receptionist was very nice and she confirmed that the trip to the property was free and I woudl have no obligation to use them after they gave me the quote.

They did send a guy very quickly to the property. He took the part out and I told him it was O-ring problem and they needed to be replaced per my research on the internet. He agreed by seeing the part. Then to my big surprise, he didn't have the o-rings on his truck -- can anyone believe a plumber doesn't have such very basic parts with him? Then he said he would need to go back to the company warehouse to get them. Afte rmore than an hour, he cam eback and said the warehouse was closed -- can anyone believe he even didn't know the time the warehouse would close? So he installed the part back so the people could still use it that evening.

Following day, he came back and got the part out and eventually fixed it. Then he gave me a price at $220+. I said this was too much. I asked to talk to his supervisor. That guy's attitude was horrible by saying I was the type of customer they didn't want to deal with and thretened me by saying if I wanted to pay or not. I said I felt this was not a fair price as I would not know if this was his own pricing or their company's. And the important part was they never gave me the quote/estimate before working on the job.

When I called their office. The lady checked with those 2 people and they lied to her that the plumber gave me the quote already on the first day and over the phone. Ha-ha, I said OK, I had the witness that I was with him on the first day for the whole time. And we could check the phoen record and see if he called me that day before the job.

I will talk to them when that plumber gets back to office later this week. I will not give in to that type of people. They got a wrong prople to rip off this time.

12/14/09 was below freezing. After many days of below freezing temps 24 hrs a day, a pipe to my washing machine in the garage split. A very small hole but it did a lot of damage. I called Rescue Rooter. So many customers that it meant I had to wait a while. While waiting, I turned off the water to my house. Released all pressure from my hot water heater after I turned the breaker off. I removed all of the sheetrock around the leak. I made everything ready for the repair person. The repair required cutting out and replacing a total of 8" of copper pipe. Putting insulation sleeve around same and turning water back on to make sure repair was complete. Everything this person did took less than 40 minutes, even the little bit of debris made by the repair.

I was told when I made the call that there was a $95 estimate fee which is waived when repairs are made. The amount of the repair depended on what was done. When I was told by the repair person that my bill came to $419.04 I couldn't believe it. I asked how the repair could cost so much? He pulled out a pricing list from Rescue Rooter and said this is what they set the charges at. I've since talked to plumbers that friends know. They explained that big companies like this take advantage of critical times of the year. You need the repair and they take advantage. What little bit was repaired did not come to this. The ironic part of this whole business was that a PR person called and left a message asking how well the service went. I knew I wouldn't be able to respond without getting upset so I never called back. BEWARE OF THIS COMPANY. They should be investigated for price gouging. They must have made a fortune this past winter.

I called Rescue Rooter to come out and fix a clogged toilet, and nothing more. Two guys showed up--one to do the dirty work, and his foreman who spent the next half-hour "inspecting" my home and coming up with a laundry list of repairs that he deemed essential. They ranged from a new toilet ($650) to completing replumbing the house ($5200), plus installing a water purifier ($4300). When I was reluctant, they brought out the scare tactics--told me that the chlorine in the water that I'm drinking is causing my kidneys to fail and possibly giving me cancer! They saw how attached to my pets I am, and basically told me I was mistreating them, too, by letting them drink less-than-perfect water. They also said I was ruining my brand-new washing machine. Mind you, they didn't actually test for chlorine; just told me it's "a problem" in my part of town. I kept telling them that I rarely smell chlorine, and other than my very old toilet, I don't really have any plumbing problems, but they kept at it. I finally told them, look guys, I'm just not going to spend this kind of money today. The foreman left soon after that, and the other guy quickly cleaned a minor clog under my toilet--$250 to take my toilet off its base and clean out some toilet paper. He left a mess behind that took me a half-hour to clean up--brown splashes and puddles on my bathroom floor and walls, wiped his hands on my husband's bath towel, and threw his dirty booties into my paper recycling bin even after I told him not to. Guess what company is never getting another call from me again?!?

This company tried to sell me $8000 of plumbing line repairs by telling me, based on seeing one tiny little root, that my sewer line had failed and needed to be replaced. This was after I told them repeatedly that the back up I had and they they responded to was the first line back up I had in over 10 years.

I ended up paying another company to come out, roto-root the line and put a camera down -- line is clean -- cost me $250. I later found out that Rescue Rooter's field personnel work on commission so they are hot to sell you unnecessary and very expensive repairs. If they tell you that you need a new line or a new connection at the street, have someone else come out and look at your plumbing before you take on an expensive repair.

Please read all: My story with a pumber who over-charged for a faucet replacement:

Last night, I came home to find out that my kitchen faucet is leaking. This is the first time that I have encountered a plumbing problem in my new 5-years old house. So I called “Rescue Rooters” in Houston TX to get an estimate. They told me that a plumber will show up the next day between 8:30 am and 9 am. So I had to call in (to my work) and take couple of hours off, waiting for the plumber’s arrival, who showed up at 10:30 am. Once in, he checked the kitchen’s faucet for the leak and told me that the faucet that I have is not good and that one of the brass-pipes that connects the faucet to the water pipe beneath the sink is broken (the Souder or weld that connect the brass pipe to the sink is broken and can’t be welded again) and that the brand of faucet that I have in my kitchen-sink is not good and that the problem that I have (that is the leak) is typical in those kind of faucets.
After 5 minutes, I asked him for his estimate. He opens a book and shows me that to have a better faucet (Brand: Price Pfitser) will cost me 500 and also that according to the book it will cost me about 200$ for installation. That is a total of total of 700$. I then told him what about if I go ahead and buy the faucet from another store (Home Depot) and he will install it only. He said that it will costs me 200$ ad that I have to call one more time to schedule anther appointment.
The next day, I went to Home Depot and talked to the guy over there how confirmed that the type of faucet that I have at y home is problematic and that once the brass pipe breaks it needs to be replaced. Then I went ahead and bought a new faucet from Home Depot (please note that the faucet I bought was the same brand as the one suggested by the Rescue rooter’s plumber). Note that the Faucet from Home depot costs me about 168$. While the same faucet from Rescue Rooter’s would have cost me about 500$.
When I opened the box which had the faucet in it: it had all the step-by-step instructions. So I ended up removing the old faucet and replacing it. Since it was my first time to replace a kitchen-faucet: I spent about 1 hour to remove the old faucet and install the new one. And thanks god, it works fine with no leaks.
Just I want to recap what happened: Rescue Rooters: New Faucet and Installation: 700$; While the same faucet from Home Depot is 168$. I have saved more than 500$ in just working 1 hour.
I want to ask: why are they ripping us off? It is not fair? Why are they selling the same faucet for more than double what it is being sold in other stores? If the Rescue Rooters would have told me that everything would have costs you: 300$; I would have said “go ahead and do it”, but he asked for 700$! Also, if it took me an hour to remove the old faucet and replace it with a new one (and this was my first time); most probably it would have taken the experienced “resue-rooter-plumber” about 5 to 10 minutes!

I called Rescue Rooter for a toilet back-up. I have an odd drain vent to 2 toilets thanks to a previous owners enterprising plumbling skills but have had success with a simple snaking in the past. The first charge was close to $300 for a snake, which the tech could not get into the right pipe. Next came the $575 camera which showed that the pipe split to the 2 toilets was a V and he still couldn't feed the camera into the correct pipe for the problem toilet. The price than went to $2200 to break open my concrete front porch and install a new vipe vent to access the 2nd line. This I relunctantly agreed to (being a pluming dummy). Once the correct pipe was reached the camera was re-inserted and roots became visible - although very light roots. Then came the hard sell by a manager who showed up on site. I was told there were hairline fractures throughout the iron pipes and they would collapse if the plumber tried to pressure them out. They told me I'd need to install Permaliner pipes to fix the problem. They put the estimate together and broke it down like this: for just the liner they usually charge $13, 000, but since the job was a work in progress they'd take a piece off the top and could do it for $11, 000. WOW. My heart sank as the manager/salesman explained that if I didn't do it my pipes would collapse and then I'd have to tear up all of my flooring to get to the problem. It was a hard sell meant to scare me and it worked. I agreed, but before they began work my friend, an experienced construction man, came by and advised me to pull the plug - which I did. I told them to do the original work bid (new vent, rough patch concrete, etc) for the $2200. Within 10 minutes of stopping the expensive work, I got a phone call from the manager telling me that his boss would like to give me a break on the price and asked what I'd be willing to pay. I told them $5, 500 for everything. They called back a few minutes later and said they'd do it for $8000. I said no and they finished the orignal job and then left. So they marked down the price almost 40% in 10 minutes. To me, it shows just how willing they were to gouge me in the first place. NEVER CALL THIS COMPANY!

the guy came out to snake my front line, for 350.00 dallars. He said
he could only get out so far. and for an additional 390.00 dallars he could put the camara down to see where it was broke. When that was done the estament came out to 13.600.00. when that was cleared and the camara put down again the line was supposedly broke at the main. that cost 6.800.00. I came to find out from friends at church that the job should have only been around 6.000.00 to the most 8, 000, 00 .