Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Water Cleanup
Fast Response
Reviewers confirm quick response
Claims 24/7
Self-reported — not confirmed by reviews
Unknown
Based on review analysis
6 concerns
Billing disputes and aggressive collection: 3 reviewers report being charged after declining service ($2,700 attempt after customer canceled contract, multiple DocuSign requests sent without confirmed approval, $915 charge initially refunded only after escalation), suggesting billing follows service rather than consent., Critical service failures causing property damage: 2 severe cases where technician errors directly caused basement flooding—one technician flushed toilet knowing main line was blocked (5 rooms flooded, 4 inches of water), another reattached water line incorrectly; both led to water damage requiring remediation., Camera/diagnostic work not completed or canceled without explanation: One reviewer's camera request was canceled after initial snake visit without explanation, forcing follow up a week later; another camera technician confirmed blockage but caused flooding during inspection., Misrepresentation and failure to deliver advertised services: 2 reviews report jobs sold with warranties or as 'complete' work that were not delivered (incomplete sewer replacement with warranty not honored, mitigation quoted at 14k then re quoted at 23k for less work)., Rude and dismissive customer service: 3 reviewers describe rude, condescending, or gaslighting responses from customer service and managers when disputes arose (threatened to charge for uncompleted work, told customer flooding was her fault, manager responded 'Ok, goodbye' without explanation)., High variance in platform ratings (Google 4.9/5 vs Yelp 2.8/5): 33 point score variance across dimension reviews and massive platform gap suggests reviews are polarized—5 star emergency response experiences vs. 1 star billing/coordination disasters.
Trust Score: 0/100 · Based on 1112 reviews
Our Verdict
#18 of 18 in Baltimore, MD
No standout specialties
- You're highly price-sensitive
- You need this for a complex or high-stakes install
Hire if: You need fast same-day or after-hours response
Hire if: You need a plumber who actually shows up when scheduled
Caution if: You want detailed upfront explanations
Caution if: You need rock-bottom prices with zero flexibility on the quote
Caution if: You need warranty-grade work on a complex or high-stakes install
How they score across what matters
Based on 193 reviews analyzed. Click a row for the quote that best illustrates the score.
What they do well (and don’t)
Green means reviews confirm they’re good at it. Red means reviewers flag issues. Gray means no reviews talk about it yet.
What 1112 Reviews Tell Us
Emergency Response
Quick emergency response: Multiple reviewers praise fast arrival on nights, weekends, and holidays (same-day service even day after holiday, arrived within 35 minutes during Saturday basement flood, Sunday afternoon toilet emergency resolved quickly).
What To Watch Out For
Excessive pricing on routine work: 6 reviewers report pricing that feels inflated—$450 for 6-ft snake on toilet clog, $850 to snake a drain (reviewer said $350 max would be excessive), $1,600 to replace tub handles/faucet, $10k quote for 15-ft sewer line (competitor did 65 feet for $14k), $11k estimate for sewer repair.
Lack of upfront pricing transparency: Reviewers report being offered minimal options before work begins, one-sided quotes with no itemization, and refusal to provide details about what the issue is or how pricing was calculated before closing the sale.
Poor coordination on complex/multi-job projects: One detailed review describes 20-day ordeal where internal teams did not communicate, customer had to text daily to keep work flowing, machines rented for 9 days when only needed 2 days, missed appointments due to locked van, and final invoice ignored.
Incomplete or substandard major work: 2 reviewers report sewer line replacement sold as 'complete' but old pipe section left in place, cracked sidewalk, water service line failure in same excavation area, and partial refund offered instead of completing the job as sold.
Billing disputes and aggressive collection: 3 reviewers report being charged after declining service ($2,700 attempt after customer canceled contract, multiple DocuSign requests sent without confirmed approval, $915 charge initially refunded only after escalation), suggesting billing follows service rather than consent.
Critical service failures causing property damage: 2 severe cases where technician errors directly caused basement flooding—one technician flushed toilet knowing main line was blocked (5 rooms flooded, 4 inches of water), another reattached water line incorrectly; both led to water damage requiring remediation.
Camera/diagnostic work not completed or canceled without explanation: One reviewer's camera request was canceled after initial snake visit without explanation, forcing follow up a week later; another camera technician confirmed blockage but caused flooding during inspection.
Misrepresentation and failure to deliver advertised services: 2 reviews report jobs sold with warranties or as 'complete' work that were not delivered (incomplete sewer replacement with warranty not honored, mitigation quoted at 14k then re quoted at 23k for less work).
Rude and dismissive customer service: 3 reviewers describe rude, condescending, or gaslighting responses from customer service and managers when disputes arose (threatened to charge for uncompleted work, told customer flooding was her fault, manager responded 'Ok, goodbye' without explanation).
High variance in platform ratings (Google 4.9/5 vs Yelp 2.8/5): 33 point score variance across dimension reviews and massive platform gap suggests reviews are polarized—5 star emergency response experiences vs. 1 star billing/coordination disasters.
Quality & Professionalism
Individual technician quality: 7 reviewers specifically praise named technicians (Jeff, Dal, Israel, DAL) for being knowledgeable, efficient, professional, courteous, and thorough.
Work quality on standard jobs: Reviewers report successful clogs cleared, leaks fixed, drains snaked to the alley, and clean-up after work completed.
Communication
Poor coordination on complex/multi-job projects: One detailed review describes 20-day ordeal where internal teams did not communicate, customer had to text daily to keep work flowing, machines rented for 9 days when only needed 2 days, missed appointments due to locked van, and final invoice ignored.
Pricing
Excessive pricing on routine work: 6 reviewers report pricing that feels inflated—$450 for 6-ft snake on toilet clog, $850 to snake a drain (reviewer said $350 max would be excessive), $1,600 to replace tub handles/faucet, $10k quote for 15-ft sewer line (competitor did 65 feet for $14k), $11k estimate for sewer repair.
Lack of upfront pricing transparency: Reviewers report being offered minimal options before work begins, one-sided quotes with no itemization, and refusal to provide details about what the issue is or how pricing was calculated before closing the sale.
Customer reviews
Reviews from Google, Yelp & more
Israel was very helpful, knowledgeable, efficient, and kept the house clean while working. He resolved the issue and gave some helpful pointers for the next time it could happen. There was a longer wait for service than estimated but to be fair it was a Sunday in the middle of a snowstorm and the technicians were busy throughout Maryland, and Roto-Rooter did fit me in the same day when other plumbers couldn't do it. Would definitely recommend.
Jeff F came through with Roto-Rooter, he was on time, very kind and honest and quick to survey the issue. We had some water backup and a small drip/ leak in the basement main line. He assessed the issue and went out to snake it all the way to the alley! Cleared the piping and now our plumbing is back to working efficiently and no more dripping or leaking. Also got a camera view of the condition of the plumbing from the house to the alley, which was great information to have. Would definitely recommend!
Jeff was an excellent, professional, and courteous worker. Work done in a timely manner.
TL;DR I would not recommend for big projects as they will try to bill the max amount to the insurance company. Also you will need to be coordinating for company since the internal teams do not speak to each other when working with them for multiple jobs since I needed to text them daily to keep the work flowing. Work started on Feb 03 2026, at first everything was going well fast response and solution giving. Proceeded to work with them since time to repair and cleanup was going to be short. Insurance would cover the cleanup but not the pipe repair which I was okay with. They quoted me around 3k for cleanup to disinfect and remove carpet. The disinfect happened fairly quickly and they needed to wait for the chemicals to dry for a couple of days. On the 5th they said everything looked good and they will begin carpet removal but I told them the issue has not been fix so they decide to wait, bad idea since the 2 machines were being rented per day. They decided to leave the machines even though the carpet was dry and they would come back later to remove the carpet after the excavation team will dig up the old drain pipes (I still have not received the invoice for that project but I needed to finance the work through a bank not sure what they charge me for, they gave me an estimate only.) It took a while to schedule the excavation team and they finally came out on the 9th to do the work which they completed in a day (awesome by the way) but they left a mess since the sanitization crew would clean up afterwards. The excavation team also had trouble finding the metal drain pipe which led them to break more of the basement foundation. I though they had a metal detector or something since I asked them if they had something to find the metal pipe and they said yes. They also made a mess of the walk way but cleaned it after I complain since they were only going to remove the carpet that the sewage water contaminated. Also the excavation team broke one of the machines which was probably a good thing since my energy bill kept racking up. The following day on the 10th they were suppose to come to remove the carpet and machines but the employee got lock of there van and couldn't come out until the following day. As of Feb 23 they have still not come out to remove the carpet. I have sent responses asking them about the charges on the machines that I was renting for 9 days which they only needed to be out there until the carpet was dried which was the 5th. They proceeded to ignore me and pass the bill to the insurance company. I hope this reaches someone in the company that actually cares and resolves my issue.
2 yrs ago we had a clog len the plumber came cleared it out then next day told us with their video our sewer line needed replaced, for the entire job line inside and out it was quoted 14k we had multiple companies come out give quotes and no one ever verified with their own camera it was a true break, finally got someone and they told us to leave it alone.. after all that I completely mistrust plumbers as all those companies would have taken our money with out blinking twice. Fast forward to this week we had another issue we could not get a drain line clean, only plumber to answer was Roto Rooter. They came could not clear the line, sent their video he could not access the line to view past a few feet. We understand probably needs replaced/fixed right at the joint under the clean out. I'm even more disgusted with Roto Rooter then the other companies we dealt with in the past. For 1 they quoted us 10k for up to 15ft.. the highest of previous quotes was 14k for 65 feet inside outside, digging outside permits and back fill. 10k for a fraction of the work is just astronomical. Your camera rep also pushed on my husband to fill out credit check applications about 6 times before he finally left. I then received multiple calls and a DocuSign without having confirmed we wanted roto rooter to take the job. We did it ourselves for less than 1000. In my opinion (and through both experiences I have had quotes from 7 companies) plumbing is a sharky business and please people do NOT freak out and go with the first quote. Had I replaced the entire line the first time we could have re routed for 5k and not spent 14k. Don't let the aggressive sales pitch also sway you, don't rush to make a homeowners claim, don't rush to fill out credit apps. Please get quotes from various companies.
DO NOT USE ROTO ROOTER!!!!!!!!! On June 19, 2018 our hot water pipes under the kitchen sink on the first floor burst and was running all day. When I got home, there was about 6 inches of water in our finished basement, which has carpeting, finished bathroom, and a laundry room. It also flooded the first floor, but not to the extent of the basement because all the water was draining and going directly underneath. Our first instinct was to turn the main water valve off, take a video of everything,and start bucketing water out of our basement, which was a little difficult because of the stairs and there are no doors that lead directly outside in the basement. We have to go up about 7 stairs to access a door, which is fine. My fiance was able to use his shop vacuum and I poured water into the shower drain in the basement (I would like to point out that all the water that I dumped into my shower was clean, clear water, you will find out why I am mentioning this later on). I called my insurance company unsure of what the next step to do was and they immediately told me to call a plumber and a water restoration company and then to give them a call back. With no hesitation, I called Roto Rooter because you guys are supposed to be the best of the best and we needed to make sure our home was in good hands. Me and my fiance, George, were able to get about 5 inches of water out of the basement before the plumber came to fix the kitchen sink and before Joseph Seubott, the main water restoration manager, got there. The plumber was able to fix the pipe under the sink, which we paid 308 dollars for and Joe made us feel at ease when he walked with us in the basement and the first floor to tell us that everything was wet and to not touch anything else because we were in good hands and they would take it from there. He said "put down the buckets, this is our job now". We immediately felt like this was going to be taken care of with no issues and boy, were we wrong. After Joseph came, he sent one guy named Nick (not sure of his last name) to come take out the carpet by himself and to install dehumidifiers. I am not sure why they only sent out one person because that was a lot of carpet and was extremely heavy. He was able to suck up the remaining water out of the carpet into the big heavy vacuum he brought with him, only to dump it in our shower drain, which could potentially cause a drain blockage with how much debris was left in the shower after he left. He took out all the carpeting in the basement, put it all in heavy duty trash bags, and left it all on our driveway soaking wet for about 4 days. (George had to move the bags because a portion of them were on our lawn. He had to pull them off because they were slowly killing the grass.) He put 2 dehumidifiers in the basement and left that and his vacuum there because he was too exhausted to pull it out of basement by himself. George offered him a green tea, which he accepted and went on his way. The next day, there was no one available to come out and service the walls, so we had to wait until Thursday, June 21st for anyone to come out. Meanwhile, the hardwood floors are warping severely, the smell of mildew and mold was overpowering, and the water was spreading into the places that were not damaged before. We thought this was a normal thing, we didn't know any better, maybe it was my fault for trusting their judgement. On Thursday, Nick and Mike came out to the house and he thought that they were just demoing the basement and leaving, when I had to tell and show him that the upstairs hardwood flooring was SEVERELY warping (you could CLEARLY TELL). He never once looked around the house with me, never told me what he going to, just did what felt like the bare minimum to be done for the next day. Our furnace was temporarily shut off because of the damages, meaning the AC was shut off for a few days. Because of this, I offered some cold water to both Roto employees, which they both accepted. Mike was in charge of the cutting of the dry wall and Nick took out all the hardwood flooring I pointed out the fact that i was deeply concerned about the walls and cabinets in the bathroom, island, and kitchen because thats where all the water was draining into the basement from. He didn't seem to care and went about making a phone call to which seem to be a female and ripping out all the hardwood flooring and leaving all the nails behind for us to step over and not covering up any furniture before doing so. Larry, a supervisor, came out to make sure that they were doing a good job and assured me that everything was going great and Mike and Nick knew what they were doing. He gave us a lock box and left. Again, we do not know standard protocol on this type of work, so we trusted you guys. . . We were FINALLY able to get a hotel room because we had no showers and we were so exhausted.
Roto-Rooter was hired by my neighbor to fix their leaking water line on 10/27/23. In the process of fixing their water line the Roto-Rooter plumber hit my water line causing damage to the line and causing water to flood basement. I run a small business out of my basement so the water damaged my office and some inventory. Throughout the rest of that day I was assured by multiple people that Roto-Rooter would "make this right". About 4 hours later Roto-Rooter clean up company shows up to try and save what they could. They put some fans and some heaters in my basement to try and dry it out while taking some rugs that got soaked outside as well as my damaged inventory. After they got done they advised me they would show up the next day 10/28/23 at 2pm. Overnight on 10/27 my breaker kept tripping due to the amount of fans and heaters going in my basement. I advised them on the morning of 10/28/23 that my daughters room cannot even have a single light on or it will cause the breaker to trip and same with the upstairs bathroom. I received no response, but knew they were supposed to be at my home at 2pm to check on things and would probably address the issue then. At 2:35pm no one had showed up so I decided to call the tech that was supposed to come out. He advised me he would be there "between 3-5pm, but definitely before 5pm". I advised him that I have moved me and my family to my parents residence about 15 minutes away since I cannot use the basement because of water, the upstairs is limited on electricity, and it was 80+ degrees in my home (because of the heaters). So if he would text me or call me before showing up I could meet him over there. At 5:38 I receive a ring door bell notification that they were there. At this time I was out of town at dinner since the tech advised me he would "definitely be there before 5pm". They rung the door bell and left without calling me or notifying me they were there. At around 8:00pm on the same day I received a call from the tech's helper and apologized for their tardiness and assured me that they are here to "work around my schedule". I advised them I would be home in the morning of 10/29/23 and they replied that the earliest they could get to my home would be 2pm. I advised I can be at my home at 2pm on 10/29/23 so these issues can be addressed. On 10/29/23 no one shows up to my home until 3:18pm (I know this because of my ring notification). At 2:35 that day I decided to leave my home assuming they were not coming and received no contact from them advising they would be late. I received a call at 3:37pm advising they were at my home, but left and I advised them that I was giving my daughter a bath at the time of the ring notification. I then asked why didn't they give me any sort of heads up or notification that they were going to be late. The tech on the phone from Roto-Rooter let me know that he was dialing the wrong phone number for the last 2 days which is why I did not receive any updates or notifications from them. On Monday I receive notification from the employee who is in charge of this claim and states that "a tech will be to your residence today to address the issues" I asked for a time and he could not give me one. So I waited at my 80+ degree house for hours before leaving and returning to my parents residence. After unsuccessfully trying to pin down a time by contacting numerous different individuals within Roto-Rooter I assumed they would not show up. And in fact they did not show up at all on Monday 10/30/23. On Tuesday 10/31/23 a Roto-Rooter tech finally showed up on time after notifying me a hour before he was going to show up. He took their equipment and left. Since this contact with the tech on 10/31/23 I am writing this review on 11/2/23 and have yet to receive an update on my carpet that was damaged, my inventory that was damaged, my carpet padding that was damaged, my time lost from work, my future electric bill, the giant hole in my yard from the neighbors job and anything else that Roto-Rooter caused from the very beginning. So basically to summarize this long review if you want to hire a plumber who makes mistakes and then the company lacks communication, and drags their feet through the process which they caused hire Roto-Rooter. This company does not care about my small business, my family, my home, or anything associated with me since I did not pay them anything unlike the neighbor. Thank you for taking the time to read this review. If this situation does get rectified I will update this review.
0 stars. THE WORST!!!!!!! I called about a main line issue that left dried sewage in my basement. I told them WSSC had been doing work in the months prior, but they brushed me off. Chal came to snake the drain. I didn't have a yard clean out so he went through the basement toilet. He said it was not clogged, but rather blocked. We needed the camera. Camera guy never came that day. Not the next day. not the next day. I had to call (Charles Young) to find out what was going on . He said the camera request was canceled, but didn't know why. I was finally able to set up an appointment over a week after the original snake (b/c I went out of town for the holiday) I only had about four days to cancel the contract for clean up, so I canceled since 1. not covered by insurance and the estimate was $6,000 2. I couldn't schedule the camera guy in to assess the problem. Charles Young was rude and threatened to "charge me for the work we have already done". No work was done but over a month later he tried to charge me $2700. Their billing dept dismissed it. 10 days after the snake, Sess comes w the camera. He said the line is blocked. He cannot tell exactly where my sewer pipes are broken b/c it is so full of water but estimated the location in my yard. (Knowing that my main line is blocked) he reattached and flushed the toilet and, of course, sewage came into the basement! We went upstairs. He gave me their estimate: $11,000 with only a 5 year warranty. I went to the basement the next morning AND IT WAS FLOODED! I called Sess and he tried to gaslight me, saying it was my fault and it was flooded because the main line is blocked. um no. Clean water was pouring out of the toilet that he flushed and had no where to go. 5 rooms were flooded. I shut off the water to the toilet, sent him pics of my basement with about 4" of water all over and ask him to send help. HE SENT SOMEONE TO SNAKE THE LINE. what the **** is that going to do?! He already knew it was blocked. He didnt send anyone to help get the water out of the basement. The guy came, snaked the line and said it was blocked. shocking. A few weeks after I got the water out of house and started my insurance claims process, I called Roto-Rooter (James I believe) and told him what happened. They immediately refunded me the $915 (!!!) that they charged me to snake and camera the line. Thank you for that! (I wish I had asked for more. After the initial snake, they brought dehumidifiers and air scrubbers and checked the moisture daily. Jarrett and the other guy whose name I forgot, sorry! was excellent! But it did spike my electricity bill. And all of that work was erased when Sess flushed the toilet and all the dried sewage was rewet.) I had to get a plumber to look at the toilet for my insurance. Sess did not properly reattach the water line after using the camera AND he flushed it when he knew the main line was blocked. The flooding and water damage is from his negligence. I know it was an accident, BUT he gaslit me and didnt send any actual help for a problem he caused. i spent hours filling a damn bucket with dirty water and throwing it into my lawn so I have no problems putting his name out there. I am now dealing with the aftermath of a flooded basement in an older home including remediation, asbestos abatement, and destroyed property. Also: the whole main line issue was because WSSC did not properly reconnected me after they did work, which Roto Rooter was not interested in hearing. I WILL NEVER CALL THEM FOR ANYTHING. EVER.
I have never before left a review but feel that I must warn that this is a phenomenally predatory business. I had a backed up underground gutter drain and called Roto-Rooter after the man who cleans my gutters said it would cost $200-300 for Roto-Rooter to come snake it. When a tech arrived (several hours late, but I wouldn't even bother to write a review if that were the only problem), he initially offered an exaggerated fix of blasting the pipe clean with his jet truck, at a cost of $2,400. I said I was not prepared to spend that much money, thanked him, and said I'd call back if I couldn't work out another fix. Only then did he mention that he could snake it instead.. but the price tag was still ultra-inflated, at $1300. Again, I said that I wanted to try other, less expensive options, thanked him and said I'd be in touch if necessary. I told him that the man who helps me with my gutters had said it would be $200-300. He said that I was mistaken and basically just kept lingering at my property, trying to pitch the service. As the minutes ticked forward, I came away with the impression that he felt bad for me and wanted to help me out, and that the pricing he was giving me might legitimately be what something like this cost. Still, I said it was way too much, thanked him again and said I'd be in touch. He asked me how much I could pay, and acted all nervous like he was going to get in trouble with the company. I said that I really wasn't prepared to pay more than $500, without exploring other options. He finally agreed, but I felt so bad - like somehow I was the one taking advantage of him - that I offered to pay $650 instead. Ha! He was of course happy to accept. When he left, I felt so strange about the whole interaction. I googled Roto-Rooter's average price to snake a drain and found that it was, in fact, around the range I had suggested. I called Roto Rooter to ask for clarification as to the basis of its pricing. First, it was nearly impossible to get anybody on the phone who could speak to this. People would answer the phone, but everybody claimed to be clueless about pricing. Then I got somebody on the phone who had pulled up my receipt and said $650 is the standard price. So why was I quoted $1300, then, I asked. Oh! Because the guy had come in the jet truck. And why was I pitched the $2400 service to begin with? No answer for that. The person referred me to somebody else who never called back, and so I finally called yet again and somehow got connected to Brittany in the office. Her response: "I looked up your ticket in the office & I also spoke with the technician who performed the work. Our charge for a downspout cleaning is $847.00. The technician gave a discretionary discount which is more than the $75 coupon that was online taking the cost to $650 + sales tax." So $847 was never a number that came up, and $650 was purely my suggestion. Long story short, this Roto Rooter will size you up, prey on your need to fix a drain or whatever, pitch you the most insanely over-priced solution and will lie repeatedly about how it came up with its prices. I gave Roto-Rooter the benefit of the doubt and made literally a dozen calls to ask for some credible explanation for all of this, but the bottom line is they charged me what they thought they could get away with. There are honest plumbers out there. Stay away from this company.
PLEASE BE AWARE!! DO NOT USE ROTO ROOTER!! THEY ARE SCAMMING HOMEOWNERS!! My son and his fiancé just purchased their first home on Thursday, they noticed the utility sink in the basement was backing up which seemed to look like brown paper towels or cardboard when they would flush the toilets on Saturday, we called Roto Rooter to come out because we assumed the lines were clogged from the material. Roto Rooter advised it would cost $689.00 to snake the line, if they could not get the line unclogged it would be a charge of $200.00. This includes a camera to look at the pipe to make sure nothing else was damaged. The gentleman gave me a discount and charged $500.00 to snake the line, He was able to unclog the pipe. HERE IS WHERE THE SCAM BEGINS!! The Camera Man "Doug" arrives to use the camera. Immediately on arrival he says to my son, OH you just bought this house. He forces the camera down the pipe from the inside of the basement. He tells my son he has major problems, there are rocks coming inside your house through the pipes. I have a recording of the camera and we did not see any rocks whatsoever. He told us the pipes needed to be excavated and replaced. He told my son there was no clean out outside his home so that would need to be installed as well. He quoted my son $8,000.00 to dig up the yard, replace the pipe and install a clean out!!! Dough told my son he could not stay at his home; he could not run any water at all, or it would cause major issues. My son and his fiancé had not even slept one night in the house yet, they had just purchased their home. I told my son to take the estimate and tell them have a nice day!! We received a second opinion and ROTO ROOTER was totally lying!! There was a clean out right on the outside wall of the home, there was absolutely nothing wrong with the pipe besides it was slightly off which most likely has been that way for 60 years!! The second opinion we received placed a camera down the pipe, the camera went in the pipe very easily. "Doug" had to force the camera down the pipe and manipulated the camera to remove the ball so it would show there was damage when there was no damage. A day my son and his fiancé should have been happy about purchasing their first home turned into the worse day thinking they just bought a house they could not even use at all because this company wanted to try to get money out of a young couple that just purchased a new home. PLEASE DO NOT GET SCAMMED BY THIS COMPANY. There have been several lawsuits against this company for the same exact thing over the years in different states as well.
Update 021826. I've traded voicemail messages with Roto Rooter representatives about my experience and would like to add the following: Pat responded to my review and elevated the matter to higher management. Given previous Yelp review comments, this was a pleasant surprise. RR Management responded to my VM message. Also, my review was apparently shared to a wider, yet selected, audience within the company to seek clarification. Demonstrating concern and seeking to learn from my experience was also surprising and, IMO, a very positive attribute of the company culture. Consequently, if I were to rate the organization based on management commitment to customer satisfaction only, I'd assign at least 4 stars. Readers: I've now written to Pat at Roto Rooter as requested to provide more details as requested. My plan is to update this review if needed. Thanks! Original review follows...... Clearing a slow toilet drain to a septic tank was successful. Cost $1,138.24. invoice 13-24864537 on 1/31/26. RR location on invoice-Baltimore, MD. Though NOT an emergency, we were grateful that RR was able to respond in 24 hours by providing a technician with truck and all equipment needed to do the job. Communication with the office on technician arrival status was very good. FYI - I first used a plunger and my own 23 ft power snake without any success. The technician claimed to have augured our system 100 feet and pulled some flushable wipes out of the line. This was puzzling as such wipes had not been used for over 3 years. These were not, apparently, the problem with our drain. Consequently, power auguring continued for over 5 hours with nothing else to show! We were told the drain to septic tank might have settled and/or become otherwise obstructed. Thus, it was recommended a separate camera inspection be done and for us to be prepared to pay for the basement floor to be jackhammered for access the problem and allow RR to lay another line. Estimated cost between $5k and $10k. We were surprised by the level of effort, duration, and cost to clear a toilet drain. Soon after this work by RR, the septic tank was pumped. This was routine service. No drainage blocks were detected. Our plan is to continue to be careful about what is disposed in the toilet and monitor for any slowness. And.........we'll start saving for the cost of a possible home excavation project. So service was prompt and clean. The price was unexpectedly high, and we remain concerned about future problems.
I called Roto Rooter to handle a simple task: fix a leaky bath faucet. I attempted to fix it myself but broke a part in the process, requiring me to keep my main water supply off until the issue was resolved. Roto Rooter promised to have someone at my place within the hour, which I thought was great--but they didn't live up to their promise. The plumber showed up nearly 25 minutes late and quoted me $1600 to replace the tub handles, faucet, and pipe part because he claimed that he wouldn't be able to replace the single part on the broken handle. I argued with him because the part seemed standard but ultimately gave in because I needed the job done asap. He said he could install shut-off valves for an additional $400 so that in the future I wouldn't need to shut off the main water supply if there were any issue. $2000, with little thought and without any more details. Half that amount would be too much. Then the plumber said he had to pick up what he needed to do the job from Home Depot. What kind of plumber doesn't carry the parts he needs with them? He came back an hour later and did the job. The tub handles he replaced were put on in the wrong direction. I let it go because I wanted it done and him gone. But then I noticed that the brand new tub spout he installed had a deep scratch on it. He didn't bother to bring it to my attention and I wasn't letting it go. He offered to replace the spout that night but by this time it was 8:00 pm. He said he would come back next week. We'll see, he wouldn't let me write the issue on the contract I signed, probably so that his boss doesn't know he screwed up. I get the invoice and, low and behold, it's exactly $2,000, with a charge for parts that is not itemized and charge for his travel to Home Depot. Seems like the plumber just made up the price when he gave me the quote and justified it later. I would bet money that if we compared any two invoices for the same work by the same plumber there would be huge discrepancies. It would have been much cheaper for me and my family to stay at a hotel for a few nights until another company was available to do the job at a reasonable price. For the sake of your wallet, home, and time, don't hire Roto Rooter. I will never again use the company, nor can I recommend them to anyone.
The technician who was sent to me tried to scam me, and it was extremely obvious. I scheduled an appointment with Roto Rooter after my dishwasher failed to drain all the water after each use, leaving a large puddle of water at the bottom. I had a flyer stating that they give free estimates, and made sure to ask about that upon scheduling the appointment, since I can't afford to pay someone to come out here if they can not fix the problem. The technician who showed up was here for less than 20 minutes. All he did was start the dishwasher, cancel the cycle, and look down sink's drain while it drained. It took him a few minutes for him to tell me that it's not an issue related to plumbing and that he couldn't fix it. He then pointed out that my dishwasher was protruding out from the counter at an angle towards the bottom, instead of being a straight 90 degree angle, which could be the problem. That was helpful to point out since I just didn't notice, but then he told me that I owed him $110 for his service. I explained that I was told that there was only a charge of a repair was made. He responded by telling me "well you didn't know what was wrong, and now you do. But I'll give you half off, you just pay $55." The way he quickly reduced the price and tried to prove that I owed him money by showing me a list of prices, noting that a repair costs $110. I told him that he did not repair anything, he just pointed out that it's crooked. There was no hostility or arguing, but I did ask if I could talk to the company about this on the phone because it didn't make sense, and he immediately said "it's okay you don't have to pay" and quickly left as if he had just seen a ghost. I called the company just to make sure; I was right, I didn't owe him a dime. Those who I spoke with on the phone at Roto Rooter were great, but the technician who came here was pretty bad at trying to pull off such a painfully obvious scam. It was pretty sad..
I hired Roto-Rooter for what was sold and financed as a complete sewer line replacement from the house to the street, with a five-year warranty. That is not what was delivered. During the work, a section of the original pipe (approximately 75 years old) was left in place, despite the job being sold as a full replacement. A clean-out was installed in the sidewalk even after I raised concerns during construction. The yard was excavated and left in poor condition, and two sidewalk slabs were cracked completely through by vehicle weight, in addition to scrapes and damage to other concrete and the driveway. During the backfill they cracked one of the new cleanouts and they had to be called back out to replace it. Shortly afterward, the water service line in the same excavation area failed, resulting in a major underground leak. The County confirmed the leak was between the meter and the house — directly impacted by the area of Roto-Rooter’s work. I have spent multiple days off work trying to coordinate follow-up because of missed or unconfirmed service windows and lack of communication. A branch manager later acknowledged issues with the work, but the proposed resolution was a partial refund rather than completing the job as originally sold, leaving me with damaged property and ongoing risk. I also contacted Roto-Rooter again for a separate branch-line issue and paid a diagnostic fee, only for the technician to confirm what I had already identified and leave without performing a repair. This has been an exhausting and costly experience involving incomplete work, property damage, and poor follow-through. Based on this experience, I cannot recommend Roto-Rooter. UPDATE: Pat thank you for the response. I have already been in contact via email regarding this matter and have provided detailed documentation. I’m happy to continue working toward a resolution and look forward to corporate review and follow-up.
1/23/2025-1/27/2025 Beware of their predatory sales practices. They came and immediately tried to pressure me into calling insurance, quoting me $2000-7000 for a burst pipe and water mitigation services, which ultimately only amounted to a fixed pipe (not included in the quote, and $1350 extra) and air dryers. They are trying to charge me $2600 in addition for the equipment, monitoring, cleaning, protective equipment, and their own travel to and from my house. They cannot explain the charges and told me that because I was not in the business, "I would not understand." This is after I emailed them a couple times to no response other than, "You already paid the $2000 deposit, this invoice is just for the $600 extra." They are claiming that they performed 8.5 hours worth of work, when they were only in my house for less than 2 hours. Their work has been so inconsistent and unsatisfactory that I now have to call another trusted professional to come out and check the work behind them. I received three different diagnoses on what needed to be done to mitigate the water, with no real examination besides using a moisture meter. Their "cleaning" charge amounted to a guy putting a towel down and wiping it around with his foot. I asked why I was paying for them to have gloves, and got shamed because that meant I didn't want them to have protective equipment. When asked who should be paying for the gloves, I told them that it's THEIR responsibility as an employer. Wendy Smith was extremely rude and combative, and the manager for the mitigation department avoided my emails and ducked my call, so obviously they expect insurance to just pay for everything without a second thought. My deductible is high enough that this does not qualify, so now I'm left paying out of pocket to a company that did the same amount of work as if I rented some fans from Home Depot.
Business details
Service area
Based in Baltimore. Serves 21 nearby cities within 20 miles:
Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Water Cleanup