24/7 Plumbers

I had a sink that was very slow draining and has been a problem off and on for many years but the usual baking soda/vinegar fix wasn't working any more. I called them at 8:30am and was told someone would be coming before 1pm. I received a call about 10:40am saying we were next on the list. I received another call about 12:45 pm saying the technician was delayed a bit on the previous job but we were still next. I received another call around 1:30 saying the technician was on his way. He was here a few minutes later. Aaron came in, diagnosed the problem, and told me the cost and about their guarantee. After I agreed, he brought in all the necessary equipment and got to work and was able to locate and remove a large clog pretty far down the drain pipe (maybe 10-15 feet) in fairly short order. Aaron was very professional and friendly. He knew exactly what to do in order to remedy our issue. Although I may have been able to get someone else at a cheaper price, I felt that I would give Roto-Rooter a try since I've heard their adds for years and this is what they're known for. After the clog was removed, he verified that the other drains all functioned normally and then cleaned the area. I feel it was money well spent. My issue was resolved within a few hours from the initial call to them, I was kept up to date until the technician arrived and, due to Aaron's many years of experience (I believe he said he has worked for them for 11 years) and training, he was able to complete the job quickly. Based on this experience I would not hesitate to recommend them to others.

John #2786 did a great job! Thanks to Mike as well for all his hard work and assistance!

Had an amazing experience with them! Sergey fully explained everything to me before I committed to the service and he had everything fixed in less than an hour. I will always use them in the future!

As a follow-up to my review. The next day I called a guy from Sterling. He unclogged the drain AND pumped the septic system for $465. Roto Rooter wanted $432 just to snake the shower drain. The guy from Sterling also showed up right when he said he would. As Brian D. said DO NOT USE THEM.

DO NOT USE THEM. They called me this afternoon 15 minutes before my schedule window was to start and cancelled the service for the second time in 2 days. Both times they simply indicated that they couldn't get anyone out. I called to speak to a supervisor and was transferred to someone who picked up the phone and sounded like she was at home and told me she wasn't a supervisor. Then on my second call to a supervisor the guy tried to end the call with "if you need something in future, please call us" after I told him I would never call for service again. By the way, I called another company who is sending out someone this afternoon. THE SAME DAY.

We called Roto Rooter after the sink in one of our bathrooms was slightly clogged (not fully, but water was backing up). A technician was sent to our house a couple of hours later and began working. The technician began work on the bathroom without laying down any protective gear (such as plastic), and walked around the house in dirty boots. After some time, the technician was unable to unclog the drain in the bathroom that was experiencing the problem, so he walked into our second bathroom and began attempting to unclog the drain from this bathroom. As a side note, this bathroom was having absolutely no problems prior to the technician working on it. The technician began making an extreme mess on the vanity in the bathroom with dirty water, and I asked him why he did not cover it with plastic (especially because it is a wood vanity). He began giving my attitude, used the F-word at me, and was extremely rude. At this point, I told the technician to immediately leave my house because he was no longer welcome inside. The technician left the house with the original bathroom in worse condition than when he started, and the bathroom that had no problems was also now backed-up. A technician who later came to my house actually discovered that this technician had physically damaged my sink and drain pipe in the bathroom that had original problems, and I was told that it would be my expense to get this fixed. At this point, I called the dispatcher and asked to speak to a supervisor to tell them what had happened, and to get somebody else out to my house to fix the problem since there are no usable bathrooms in the house. I was told that a supervisor would call me back in one hour, but after an hour, there was no call. I called the dispatcher again, and was told that the original one hour timeframe was incorrect and that a supervisor would be calling me "eventually." I eventually received a call from the supervisor 2.5 hours later. The supervisor told me that he would be sending out another technician to my house within the next hour to address what the first had broken (and that I should be receiving a call from the dispatcher within a couple of minutes of the estimated arrival time). Another 2.5 hours pass and it is now 9:45 PM, and I finally receive a call from the DISPATCHER that the technician is on the way. The technician took another 1.5 hours to actually arrive to my house. He began working on both bathrooms, and attempted to do the exact same thing as the first technician. The technician attempted to unclog the drain for another hour, could not do anything, and left my house just as the first had. It is now nearly midnight, and both bathrooms are still unusable in my house. I once again called the dispatcher and asked to speak to a supervisor, but was told one would call me in the morning. What kind of 24-hour service is this if I cannot speak to someone about a major problem? The next morning, the supervisor called me back, and informed me that they would need to call out a plumber to my house (to fix a SIMPLE DRAIN CLOG), and the plumber would have to open up one wall to gain access to the pipe. I politely said absolutely no thank you to the supervisor, and I made sure that I would not be billed for either of the technicians coming to my house because they accomplished nothing, and caused more damage than there originally was. The supervisor informed me that they would indeed be sending me a bill for both technicians. I called another local company after this conversation. They sent a technician to my house one hour later, and within TEN MINUTES, both drains were unclogged (and at a fraction of the price Roto Rooter charged me). If Roto Rooter actually has the dignity to send me a bill for their completely useless work, I plan to send them the invoice directly back, along with a letter from an attorney and the invoice from the plumbing company that actually solved my problem. Moral of the story: never go with Roto Rooter. They are inappropriate, charge a fortune, and simply cannot run a successful business under their current status. You're much better off going with a local company. It's time that everybody hears about their terrible business practices. EDIT: I'd like to follow up to this review. I emailed the Roto-Rooter agent who commented on my review within hours, and he has yet to follow up with me two weeks later. I hope this is another testament to Roto Rooter's lack of customer care.

My toilet got clogged on Christmas Eve day and I called Rotorooter at about 4 PM and they gave me a 4 hour window up until 8 PM. At first that seemed ok but it was all I could do to get the toilet fixed because there were 5 of us and only one non working toilet. After sitting around the house by myself because the rest of my family was celebrating Christmas Eve I get a call at 8 and they tell me that suddenly nobody can fix my toilet tonight. I was not happy. I was then told that the earliest that anybody could get there is the next day between 10 AM and 2 PM. I stated that that was unacceptable because I have 3 kids who live at this house and that I was told that it was going to get fixed today. Then at 10 PM I get another call that stated that a tech just became available but he could not be there until about 11PM...on Christas Eve. Then I get another call from the tech and he stated that he was over 2 hours away and that that night would not work. The tech (Steve #4171) was awesome! He told me that even though my home was not in his area he would be at my house at 8 AM on Christmas Day. He would have been if dispatch didnt send him the wrong address. Once he got there and did the work Steve was great and I was very appreciative of his great customer service and he did a great job over all. I am very displeased with dispatch and the runaround that I received. I asked to speak with a manager and I was told one would call me back but nobody ever called me back except the same terrible dispatcher that was no help at all. I am very displeased with Rototrooter and will never use this service again.

I called RotoRooter because my new kitchen drain line was clogged, I'll review my install plumber later, and I thought since I am doing a lot of other work in this place it'll be quicker/more economical for someone else to snake the line. Turns out that Roto-Rooter will come to your house on a Sunday without any extra cost...in fact they'll come for free to give you an estimate on the work. BONUS!!!! So I asked the person on the phone what a typical kitchen snake job like mine would be, I asked 3 times mind you. Here's the skinny. The guy shows up and I show him the kitchen line and tell him the plumbing history (very brief, it's all new except the vent and line to the street). He says, "I can snake that for you right now and give you a 6-month guarantee for $399". I was like jeez that is a lot of money, is that typical? He says "We have a flat rate for this service" WHAT??? If there is a flat rate, then why didn't the guy on the call tell me it when I asked 3 TIMES? RR guy says "Well, I think they want us to get our foot in the door, because once we are in, people are likely to just say go ahead" EFF YOU ROTO-ROOTER. I asked the guy to leave. I couldn't snake the line myself which is an issue for the future, BUT, I went onto the roof, poured drano down the stink pipe, rinsed with hot water, and 7 minutes later...NO CLOG. Total repair like $8 in material maybe, some ingenuity, and 2 hours. Way less than a flat rate of $399. DO NOT CALL ROTO-ROOTER

$840 for clogged washing machine drain (Sudbury, MA). Called roto-rooter to fix a clogged washer drain, no other drains in the house were clogged. The guy showed up 2 hours late, and quoted me $560 to snake the line, I knew it was very high but agreed, I was in a situation where I had to get the line cleared asap, unfortunately he too realized my situation. Once he snaked the line, he proudly claimed that had no effect on the clog. He had snaked the wrong line, and then claimed there were 2 clogs, based on no evidence. This time he again wanted to snake a line not connected to washer, had to argue for 10 mins to just snake the washer line and not go looking for clogs in random pipes. He then made a claim washer line needed special tool, and his tool got beat in last job. At that point I asked him to leave, he then claimed he can snake the line, which he did and that cleared the clog. Unfortunately the whole endeavor cost me $850, and he made complete mess of my basement, that is now stinking of sewage. I had used roto-rooter a few years back, and their service was satisfactory then, so did not care to shop around. This proved to be very expensive. They are not professional plumbers, but professional exploiters. #never-roto-rooter

The heavy snow this year put my sump pump under extra pressure once the melting snow turned the ground area into small creeks, so the sump pump decided to quit. The result of this failed sump pump was water in my finished basement. My call to Roto-Rooter has resulted in a new sump pump and in water removal from my basement. The plumber was friendly and professional. He arrived at the scheduled time, and the work was completed for the price that he quoted. While the price was a little higher than another serviceman who looked at the pump, I valued the professionalism and the view toward quality that the Roto-Rooter plumber demonstrated. Similarly, the water removal was done with professionalism, and the workers always arrived when scheduled. I also was impressed with the attention to quality. There was a clear desire to ensure that the job was well done. The process was explained to me thoroughly so that I understood why Roro-Rooter needed to do each part of the clean up process. I am pleased with their service and anticipate that I will be pleased with the results over the long run. ayj Granby, MA

I can't say enough good things about this company. I was out of town when I had a main sewer line clog and back up while my house sitter was there. I had a local company come in and they quoted me $1700 just to determine the problem and clear the line and told me sewage would go all over my my basement and I would likely need a clean up company to come in. This all happened at 9pm. I needed a second opinion and called Roto-rooter and they were out within the hour. Ron called me and went over the cost right away with me and assured me sewage would not go all over my basement. My flat fee was less than 1/3 of the other plumber!!! Ron called me when it was done and told me a tech would be in contact to come put a camera down the pipe to give me more info on the issue in a few days. I was so relieved!! What was a super stressful situation and about to cost a ton of money was made less stressful by the quick response of Roto-rooter and the reassuring and friendly words of the tech. Would highly recommend!

I called Roto- Rooter yesterday to unclog a toliet line. A technician did come promptly and attempted to unclog. Last night I noticed the water was still going down very slow. I called Roto-Rooter back this morning and explained the situation. The person I spoke to on the phone was very nice, polite and accomodating. This afternoon Aaron came and evaluated the situation. It turns out he had to remove the toliet and found the clog way down the line. He put on a new wax ring and replaced the toliet. He tested the line several times to be sure it worked. Aaron was very informative about the situation. He also mentioned we may want to try the Roto-Rooter product that you use 1-2x month to keep lines clear. Aaron also explained the fee. We got a refund from yesterday's bill on todays. I was very pleased with the service today. Aaron was very knowledgable, polite and neat. I would ask for him again if I needed Roto- Rooter service. Thank you. Nancy Hesselton

Terrible experience! "24/7 service" - such a lie! Called on Thursday to get a water heater replaced, they gave me a time frame of Friday 12-4. I call on Friday morning at 11 to confirm and they said they'll be there. I get a call on Friday at 2:45 letting me know that the tech will be there in one hour, which would be perfect! Then at 4:00 I get a call saying tech will not be able to make it, no reason given. I ask to speak to manager and get completely ignored! How is it 24 hour service any day if they book appointments and continuously cancel as no shoes! They offer 10% off and reschedule for Saturday.... Guess what! Same exact thing Saturday, I call around 1:00 to confirm they're coming and get told no tech is available!! Overall wasted two days and about 7 hours of my time waiting for a tech to come! Dispatch and customer service is very rude and not professional! What am I gonna do with 20% off if my poor tenant has cold water!

Out of all the plumbers in the area I called, Roto-Rooter is the only one who would show up right away. I had just moved in to my house after it was being fixed due to a fire a year ago. The guy was super professional, and knowledgeable. I ended buying their very expensive "maintenance" liquid mix and it works great. The whole thing came to $700 which was shocking to me. I knew my ins co would pay for it as it was related to the fire incident and not having had water running through the pipes for a long time. If I had been responsible for the invoice, I would've freaked out. That's why I knocked off a star. So yes, they are good, reliable and guarantee their work (the guy came back a week later to fix it again at no charge - not his fault, it was bound to happen due to the severe clogging) BUT they are super expensive. Before asking them to fix your problem, ask for an estimate.

We called Roto Rooter because our kitchen drain was clogged. We were given a window of between 3:30 and 5:30 same day service which was great, and the plumber arrived promptly and was very professional. The plumber did a fantastic job and it turned out to be a very bad clog.It took him a long time to get all of the sludge out of our pipes, but worked until the job was done and the drain was good as new. We ended up with several buckets full of sludge from the drain, so this was not your average clog. It was worse than average. I would give roto-rooter 5 stars, but the price is a little steep. It cost $475 Keeping in mind that we got same-day emergency service and the drain took several hours to clear, this certainly isn't as steep as it sounds, but it is steep enough to put roto-rooter on our list of places to use only in an emergency.