Roto Rooter Plumbing And Drain Service

I called Roto-Rooter at 7:30 am in a panic as I had a flood in my basement. Roto-Rooter called at 8:00 a.m and said that someone would be here within two hours to get to Oakville - rush hour traffic and all - DOUG was actually here by 9:00 coming from Woodbridge. Doug was the service person and he was lovely, very personable and knew what he was doing and put my mind at ease that he would fix the problem. There was a clogged drain or pipe or whatever which was caused by years, I guess of using those baby wipes. Doug used this huge snake to fix the clog and then took the camera to see that the lines and city lines were clear all the way to the street. He was gone from the house within about 2 hours as it was a messy job for him to deal with. Doug cleaned up after himself and took away all of his tools of the trade and now has just left me with a mess to clean up from the flood as well as dealing with the insurance company. Oh what joy. Thank you to Roto-Rooter and DOUG for fixing the problem.

Roto-Rooter was out to our house within 30 minutes of calling and it wasn't an emergency. Ravi Patel was the serviceman that helped us. We had a clogged drain spout attached to our garage and with a snake and a hose he was able to unclog it. He was extremely friendly and kind. He even gave me economical suggestions on how to prevent the problem from happening again. Thanks again Ravi!!!

There were some positive aspects to my experience but some very negative ones as well.

From the beginning to the end the customer service was great. Everyone was friendly and helpful. I even complimented the lady on the phone for how helpful she was.

I did ask about whether or not they provide free estimates and I was assured twice that they did. Our toilet simply wasn't flushing and I wanted to find out if it was a problem in the pipes or if it was the toilet itself. If the problem was something to do with the pipes then I would go ahead with the work. They understood and told me that wasn't a problem; they would come and check it out.

When the technician arrived he took a look and just told me there was some build up in the "jet" and that it just needed to be cleaned. I thanked him for his time and began to walk him to the door. He said he had a clothes hanger in the car and he could do it for me. I thanked him.

When he returned he fixed the problem in two minutes. I asked if I owed him anything (thinking this would cost $80 max). He said "yes" and he went to his vehicle to do the calculations. When he returned he showed me the bill for $185. I was very surprised but paid it without disputing.

I really do feel like I was taken advantage of. I made my intentions clear from the beginning. I wanted an estimate and they said they would provide one. They never did. Anyone could have fixed this problem. I understand that a service fee is sometimes necessary but this was just too steep. This is more money than I make in a day and I spent it on 5 minutes of service.

I spoke to them later on the phone about this issue. They agreed that the dispatcher should not have told me they could provide me with a free estimate but did not offer to make things right. They just said "We'll make it up to you sometime in the future".

WARNING: DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY.
Clogged kitchen drain. Polite technician arrived to snake the problem. 20 minutes later, claimed the drain was clear. The next day, the drain was clogged again. I called again and technician came back to snake the drain again. This time the snake broke in our pipes. They had no way of finding it and between 4 Roto-Rooter staff over 4 days and 10 hours on site. They told me that they would charge us to recover the broken snake and for subsequent repair damage to walls, ceiling and floors (to recover snake). BRUTAL.

The shower in my basement was draining very slowly and no attempt to unplug it would work. I had heard of roto rooter so found their Toronto office 44 Zorra 416 504 4444 on google. Answered by a live operator, straightforward to schedule a call, they quoted the price $219 per hour (with tax that's $250), which seemed high, but i know they've got equipment to pay off, travel, etc and I don't expect companies to work for free, so I assumed it cost what it cost. Two guys arrived on time (not sure why two guys were needed but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt), courteous, professional. They brought their equipment to the basement bathroom, 20 minutes later the drain was running well. I paid what was quoted, and they wrote a 30 day guarantee on the invoice. 42 days later, the drain was just as plugged as before. I called and you guessed it, the 30 days had elapsed so I was out of luck. The young lady on the phone could send another crew for $250 per hour. I tried to explain, reasonably, that whatever the problem had been, it clearly wasn't fully corrected if it reappeared so quickly. Naturally, I would have been completely satisfied if they had treated this as a warranty call at no charge given it was only a few days past the 30 day guarantee, but would have paid a nominal amount, perhaps $100. I didn't need them there that day, it would have been fine if they came when they had another call nearby one day. But the lady on the other end offered no flexibility at all. I attempted to help her see the customer's point of view - I had paid a great deal of money and the problem still wasn't resolved, and she thought it was fine that I would end up paying $500 to clear a drain with no expectation that the problem would be fixed. We got nowhere. I calmly told her I would never use them again, would never recommend them, and would tell about my experience on social media. She didn't care, in fact, she hung up without any kind of goodbye and no apology or empathy for my situation whatsoever. So, as promised, I'm sharing my experience.

Ironically, If the drain had remained open, I would have happily told anyone I know in the same situation to call Roto Rooter - it's expensive but I guess you get what you pay for - unless you don't get what you pay for. In fact, I might have written the exact opposite review than I'm writing here. Funny how customer service or lack of it can lead to success or failure for a business. This is a lesson that young lady hasn't learned, but I hope she someday does.

Anyway, the story has a happy ending - my wife, more resourceful than me, got a referral for a plumber from a family member. He arrived and used a device which is a metal cylinder, which he pumped air in to compress it, then held it over the drain opening and fired a blast of compressed air 4 or 5 times and the drain worked like a charm. He charged $80 (he even asked if that was ok). He also promised to come back again if needed at no charge (in fairness, I haven't tested this promised but he seemed sincere). So, that's what I should have done in the first place: for $80 I got the same result as $250, and a claim, at least, to stand behind his work.

I encourage anyone in the same situation to try this first before considering roto rooter.

A handyman, who we deal with, recommended Roto Rooter Toronto to inspect the basement drain when it backed up. It was a partial block & the water was clear with bits of toilet paper coming up through the basement drain. Called Roto Rooter & their communication & punctuality was good. The supervisor came on Saturday afternoon to inspect the issue & checked our outside drain through the cleanout caps in the front lawn. He put the camera down the pipe & diagnosed the problem being a 1 inch gap between the exit pipe from our house to the clay sewer pipe. Also stated that the clay pipe was sagging & broken at the city connection. The quote given to repair the pipe connection, from the house to the sewer pipe only, was going to be $2800. I was told that I would have to contact the city to get them to check the city connection. I was uneasy about the water backing up & paid the $500 deposit to get it initiated to be repaired. I was told not to flush toilet paper until the pipe is fixed on Wednesday. After all of this, I checked Homestars to see what Roto Rooter's rating was. From previous reviews, the common repair for backups was to repair the outside pipe at the cost I was quoted & more. It didn't make sense to me to have Roto Rooter fix our end of the pipe, then have to arrange the city to come after & repair their end. I was going to call Roto Rooter to cancel, but then the supervisor, who had been out on Saturday, called to let me know they could come a day earlier for the repair. I cancelled the repair with him because I wanted to get a 2nd opinion & the high cost factor. He told me that he would be by on Tuesday to refund part of the deposit, which worked out to be $160, after the charge for the Saturday appointment was deducted from the $500 deposit. He said that he couldn't keep money that he hadn't worked for. Called the city, after cancelling the RR work order & an inspector came out the same Monday afternoon. He couldn't get the camera down the pipe to see what was going on at the city end, due to tree roots blocking the pipe. Another city crew was booked to snake the pipe & do a camera inspection. The report stated that the reason for the backup was tree roots. Even though the pipe has shifted due to age, it's not leaking & is draining as it should. To this date, which is over a week now, I haven't seen any sign of Roto Rooter with the balance of the deposit. Judging from the reviews, repairing the outside sewer pipe at a cost of $2800-$3000 is standard practice. In some cases, their repair made the backup worse. Giving incorrect/exaggerated info & soaking the customer with a high cost repair isn't good business. I'm taking the $160 loss & thankful that it's not $2800. Learned from this experience to not take a recommendation without doing research on HomeStars, etc., beforehand. They have lost my business for good & I would not recommend them to anyone I know.

Had a block sewer drain. The team that came out was prompt and was told the old clay pipes needed to be replaced. A week later all the underground pipes were replaced and the floor cemented.

Now, whenever it rains water comes up from the seam between the new and old concrete. RR is refusing to take responsibility and is offering a 10% discount on the $3k job it will cost to repair. This is after waiting 4 months to get to speak to a manager!!!

Also, the 2nd floor bedroom has a gurgling noise every time we run the washing machine. That was also new since the 'repair'.

Extremely dissatisfied. Will never use them again. The follow up service is horrible. Once they take your money, they're gone.

Am very pleased with the service i received. It's 1 am on Thanksgiving Monday. Just before going to bed I went to my basement laundry room to see that there was a pool of fluid at the floor drain. Went to the basement bathroom to see also back up of fluid in the shower floor. Ran the taps in the basement to confirm my fear that the main line was clogged. Called few companies, Roto Router, was the only one that offered to have a person on site in under 2 hours. Spoke to Jason on the phone who was concise and gave me a quote over the phone. The others i called stated there would be a fee to come by and then tell me how much it would cost once there. Needless to say i went with Roto Router. Edward, was the guy they sent. He was polite. He first checked the main outside. Determined it would be best to approach from the basement. He came in. Took his shoes off before entering. Was careful bringing his equipment to my basement. Ran the snake to clear the drain. Cleaned up and was done. I was very satisfied. Thank you!

Great service and wonderful staff! They were on-time, clean and organized. I was very pleased with our experience. I would recommend them to friends and family who required any work!

This company is just filled with people who want to take your money. We had Edward come in and fix the upstairs toilet because it was clogged and the basement was leaking under the toilet. He "cleared the blockage" by changing the gasket and charged us but as soon as someone used the toilet it got clogged again. We called them and he came back and said the toilet bowl needs to be changed for an extra 285! I said no because I no longer trusted their service. I called another plumbing company that came here before and they fixed the problem with one visit.
I kept calling the "office manager" David to try to get my money back, and they keep dodging my calls or say that they cannot do a refund and they keep hanging up on me in the middle of my conversation.
So please, find another plumbing company other than this company.
The people are very unprofessional and rude.