Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Water Cleanup

The service was AMAZING!! They were fast prompt and professional. I wasn’t expecting such an excellent service, but I got more than I bargained for. They were so informative and even gave me tips on how to move forward with better care for my plumbing system. I will definitely be using this service again. I am very pleased with my results. The two gentleman need to be recognized for such an awesome job. Great work guys!!

Great! Khaden came out in about 2 hours. He displayed exceptional customer service. Khaden listened, examined, recommended service, and completed service. Khaden appeared to have a high level of expertise. He recommended action for reducing/preventing clogged pipes. Initial issue was slow draining water, leading to leaking.

Israel and Mike were out at the specified time and did a fantastic job clearing my septic line. They went above and beyond to make sure I would not need to have my sewer pipe cleaned again anytime soon. Jayson came by after and checked my whole sewer line with this camera. They found a little more Roots so Israel went in and took those out as well. The whole process took over 2 hours. I was happy with the service and price. I recommend using coupons if you can. These guys are fast and good and worth a little bit extra.They went above and beyond to make sure I would not need to have my sewer pipe cleaned again anytime soon.

If there was a way to select 0 stars that's what I would rate this company. My mom called them to do some water restoration after a thunderstorm impacted her sump pump and she had some water in the basement. Someone from the Schaumburg office came out to her home and before even doing anything wanted to see her home owners insurance. Once he saw it then he stated his sales speech. His top team was sent to clean up the damage in her basement. This top team moved cardboard boxes onto wet floor(the boxes were not on the floor initially) they were on the vinyl tile that they removed because they said she needed it removed. In my opinion those boxes could have been put on the furniture that was in the basement but no these fools put it in the wet floor! They installed a separate circuit for their fans and this top team plugged all of the fans in the outlets in the basement and Not in the separate circuit which had over 10 separate outlet plugs. Took out our AC circuits called the same tech who initially came out asked me if it was ok when I called to come out the next day? It was 85 degrees! Problems 1/2. Then two days later our area had a massive thunderstorm so large that our neighborhood lost power for over 24 hrs!!! I called the same tech who told me 'we don't help people without power!' Umm you are marketing yourself as a water restoration company(which obviously you are not!) I finally convinced him to send one of the two guys who did the cleanup work to my mom's house because I said we signed a contract for them to remediate water. This guy shows up and says he needs to find a generator. Takes off for 4 hrs and keeps calling me to tell me he can't find one and he needs to take his wife shopping. I find a generator, ask my handyman to go pick it up which he does brings it to my house and all the other guy from Roto Rooter does is stand there and watch someone else do the work. Made up my mind to cancel the contract and informed my insurance. They said go ahead, hired another company who came in and cleaned up the mess that was left after I told Rotor Rooter to leave. Because of this fiasco, my insurance company sent out 3 adjusters who asked me to explain why which I did. They came up with the amount they would pay out for the work that was done. Meanwhile AP keeps harassing me on payment. I won't pay until insurance pays out the claim. Once the insurance company does I'm on the hook for the balance of the contract that I cancelled because of shoddy work??? Take my advice never ever use Roto Rooter for any work plumbing, water restoration clean up or anything. They over charge for work that they don't know how to do! They are crooks and seriously running a scam! I finally got fed up and turned this mess over to my attorney! So no they didn't do the service my mom requested, quality of work was shoddy and value was not great at all.

If you're considering Roto-Rooter, do not hire them. My experience has been a nightmare. It started before Memorial Day when I had a plumbing emergency. While doing laundry, water began coming up around my toilet base and through the tub. Roto-Rooter was the only company open 24/7, so I called them. They initially quoted me $250 to snake the drain but had me sign a form saying the cost could go up to $2,500. It ended up costing $750 just to snake the drain. A few hours later, I got a call saying they found another issue that would require a $13,000 "temporary fix" or a $17,000 "permanent fix." I consulted my insurance, and Roto-Rooter assured me everything would be covered. I reluctantly agreed to the $17,000 fix, only for them to dig up my yard, remove my wheelchair ramp, tear out a tree my grandparents planted, and leave me without water for days. When they finally returned, they claimed they needed an additional $4,999 to finish. My dad, a retired sheriff, called law enforcement to document their behavior because it was obvious they were trying to strong-arm us. They refused to finish unless we paid. We had no choice but to hand over more money. Fast forward to months of ongoing issues: my yard is still a mess, and I had to hire another contractor to repair the sidewalk they destroyed and reinstall my mom's wheelchair ramp in October. After that job, I noticed my electricity wasn't working. My circuit breaker had tripped, but I couldn't figure out why. Now, just a few days before Christmas, I woke up to an electrical surge and my circuit breaker tripping again. I called an electrician, and after thoroughly inspecting my outlets, switches, and fixtures, they found nothing wrong inside the house. Then I remembered: Roto-Rooter tore out my yard light pole during the plumbing job, leaving a live wire exposed in the ground. The electrician confirmed that the exposed wire was the issue. This means that for months, my family and I have been living with a live wire in our yard, unknowingly moving it around. My dad and I both handled it several times without realizing the danger. Roto-Rooter's negligence could have killed me or my family. All these ongoing problems--months of repairs, electrical issues, and the cost of fixing their sloppy, destructive work--trace back to Roto-Rooter's incompetent and predatory practices. My insurance company even told me they don't recommend Roto-Rooter because this kind of extortion and shoddy work is their standard operating procedure. I've spent over $21,000 dealing with them, plus countless hours and additional costs fixing the damage they caused. I still don't have all my receipts, despite months of requests. These lying, conniving, thieving snakes are not just scammers--they are dangerous. Save yourself the heartache, financial drain, and risk to your safety. Do not hire Roto-Rooter. They are con artists who prey on people in desperate situations and leave chaos in their wake. #RotoRooter #ScamAlert #Fraud #Negligence

Six months of hell $20k in the roto rooter hole. I had a toilet plug up near the end of October that flooded the bathroom. I had an older house but a bathroom I had remodeled about a year prior to October. New walls, paint, piping and a somewhat pricey tankless toilet that never plugged up. Even my old toilet never plugged up. So Roto Rooter, to their credit, came quick on a Sunday. It's been pretty much downhill from there. They wanted to excavate a good chunk of the basement, the storm drain and install a cleanout in the front yard because they detected two blockages. I couldn't figure out why, and I was especially skeptical of the storm drain since it didn't seem to have anything to do with the sewer line, but I'm not an expert on those things. The project manager said he woud do everything at a discount of $15k and since it was an older house, I figured I might as well handle it now. They also tested for mold and water damage and didn't find any. The first day the project starts, in early November, the project manager doesn't show up and people begin excavating in the wrong direction and away from the sewer line, to the piping of what might've been the plumbing for a nonfunctional bathroom in the basement. I asked to stop and talk to the project manager and one of the plumbers, right in front of me, decided to keep cutting one of the pipes. I put things on pause and reschedule for when there's an actual plan. Everything ends up getting dug up, even the pipes that weren't included in the blockage and the storm drain, but I was told the price would still be the same. We also reroute the drain for the air conditioning from the condenser pump by running a tube over to the sump pump. Well, I got charged $20k, then when I ask what happened to the discount, they can't seem to get a hold of the project manager while at the same time, threatening to send me to collections because I didn't sign a slip that I never received (though I had the financing approved). In December, I finally get a slip but apparently I could only get a discount down to $18k. I'm done, or so I thought. In February, my toilet plugs up again. First guy comes by and says its because my toilet was improperly set. I also have mold in my new bathroom floor now because of the setting. So I ask if it's covered under warranty. Roto rooter's office says they'll handle it free of charge and send out another team of expert plumbers. No, the plumbers say, the toilet wasn't improperly set, but the toilet itself is supposedly the issue along with the amount of toilet paper being used. They say they can either fix it now for $1k or come back tomorrow for $2k. Also, since they diagnose it's not Roto Rooter's fault, I'm also getting charged for the drain cleaning, so it ends up being about $2k anyway. Thinking about it for fifteen minutes was taking up too much of their time and I had to make an immediate decision. Feeling helpless and wanting to be done with it, I agree. So they remove my toilet and cut into the remodeled wall to make room for a standard toilet and cover the hole with plywood (which of course, doesn't match with the repainted, remodeled walls). The new standard toilet plugs up more than the remodeled tankless toilet I had. And, as a kicker, with the warmer weather, I just started running my air conditioning and when I went down to the basement an hour ago, I was disappoitned to see that the rerouted drain from the condenser pump is now leaking. Every time I talked to someone from Roto Rooter, I got a different answer. Discounts, whether it came from the project manager or from their office, were just verbal and never ended up on paper. Meanwhile, being threatened with collections when I'm the one actively communicating and asking "where's the receipt to sign? why is the amount incorrect?" I feel I was upsold on "repairs" I didn't need and, in the end, after $20k, my toilet is plugging up more than it did before. Perhaps there's something from the toilet paper itself that's doing it, I don't know, but you'd think a professional plumber company could diagnose that instead of ultimately making things worse and more expensive. In any event, the next time it plugs up, I'll probably check Craigslist before Roto Rooter.

WARNING: TRUST ALL OF THE HORRIBLE REVIEWS ABOUT THIS COMPANY! Our sewage main backed up late at night on a Friday, two days after my wife and I had just returned from the hospital with our first child. After a quick Google Search for 24/7 plumbers, I decided to give Roto-Rooter a call. At around 11:30 the next day, a technician came out and discussed the different services available. After discussing with my wife, we decided to root the main (a must in order to use water) and the camera search because we could see what other underlying issues could be there, totaling in at just over $1,100. We were also told we would be getting a digital version of the video taken of the pipes to refer back to if we decided to delay work. After about 15 minutes of rooting the cleanout drain, the technician told us he had cleared the blockage, and showed me the cleanout. The water flow was still extraordinarily slow. Soon thereafter, the camera tech arrived and took a video of our plumbing inside and outside the house. After only about 5 minutes of running the camera, he called me outside to show me his findings. According to him, there were tree roots that had broken through the T-joint on our sewage main, which was what was causing the back-up. They explained to me that this would need to be fixed immediately, because we couldn't even flush toilet paper without it causing a blockage (again, according to the technician). We were quoted $7,500 for an excavation of the soil (which included removing a couple of small bushes), fixing the t-joint, and backfilling the soil. The cameraman said he'll talk to his boss to see what he could do price-wise; coming back about 10 minutes later with a "discounted" price of $6,800. This price was all contingent on if we agreed to do the job with their company. The camera tech even had the balls to say "I mean if you don't book with us, I'm going to get my $500 either way." In other words, book our services or we're going to charge you full for the other two services. Also, when I asked the camera tech when we would be receiving the digital video, he replied that they didn't do that and I would not be receiving it, claiming they only used it for "court hearings." After wanting to get a second opinion and finding out that we have family members who repair and replace sewage mains, they were astounded by what Roto-Rooter quoted us. He said he could get two people to do the job, one hand-digging the hole and the other repairing the plumbing pipes. We decided to go with them instead of Roto-Rooter. Long story short, after they dug down to the break in the t-joint, they realized something ridiculous. They came back and told us that somebody had stepped on the main clean-out and snapped the t-joint! Now, I can't prove it, but we almost know for a fact that one of the technicians stomped on the cleanout, breaking it knowing very well that with us recently having a newborn, we would be very desperate to fix the issue and fix it quickly. This company is a total scam; everybody working for this company are con-artists and I don't know how they sleep at night. I would not recommend this company to my worst enemy. STAY AWAY!!! UPDATE 5/12/23: After spending over 45 minutes on the phone with a representative from Roto-Rooter's corporate branch, I fully stand behind my review. Throughout the entire conversation, the representative talked in circles, defended their employee's actions and behavior, and talked over me nearly every time she asked for details or clarification. She did not even offer up so much as an apology for the way we were treated. This conversation was another shining example of Roto-Rooter's disrespect towards their customers.

I'm iffy about what kind of review I should write. I do feel there was some over estimating of labor. We had clear blockage in our sewer line. I tried to do my own investigation and work but could snake anything out and was able to get about 20' in the line. I Called Roto rooter on Thursday. They came out when I asked. They had to pull the toilet in order to snake. The drain tech spent an hour or so but couldn't get past where the sewer line dropped a few feet to go under the foundation. The tech called a supervisor who brought in a camera. I watched the camera. Clearly it was sludgy and clogged. More work was clearly required at this point. That was all fine. The tech and supervisor were great. This was a $750 service. Note this DID NOT clear the line. Although the paper work says that the line is cleared and warranties for 6 months. That didn't make any sense and should have caught it sooner. If the line is cleared then why is further work necessary? I should just kept calling him back every day since it was covered in the warranty? The first quote for excavating up to a 10ft section near my foundation and under a concrete slab, to jet the entire line, and to install clean out was initially $11,500. I definitely hesitated with that quote. I definitely pushed back asking what part of the labor I could get done, such as tearing out concrete, etc. the field supervisor made a call and came back with $9,500. I then tried to get the initial $750 snake work removed since it didn't do anything. But I was told that would most likely not happen. I should've pushed harder especially after seeing the paperwork saying it was cleared. Ha - that's a blatant lie. So all in $10,250. I was initially okay with this and signed all the papers for the work to commence. I did ask for a break down of the pricing. But only received a generic description of the work. Now that the work is done I do wonder about the pricing. Three guys worked on this line. Two guys worked on the excavating and new pipe install 4' of sewer line and 6' of clean out line. I clocked about 9 hours of on-site labor. The guy who hydro jetted the line was probably on site about 2 hours. I guess that's for you to judge. They did partial work on Friday 10a-12p and then 4p-6p and finished on Saturday 1045a-345p The costumer service was great. I was popping in on all the work being done. Anytime there was a camera involved I was looking over their shoulder. And they were cool with that. Definitely wanted to see and understand the process. Which made me realize I should've just rented the excavator myself to install a clean out and then just paid for the jetting. All the work comes with a 5 year warranty on parts and labor.

TERRIBLE SERVICE AND MANAGEMENT. DO NOT HIRE THEM FOR YOUR SERVICE. RUDE AND DISRESPECTFUL TO THEIR CUSTOMERS. DESERVES ZERO STARS. I received service from Roto Rooter to getting sewer rodding done. I was given a two hour time frame when I initially called. Two hours later, I received a phone call that the technician was running behind schedule. The technician said it would be 400 hundred dollars for an outdoor rodding service when he came. We came to agreement to a lower price that would include both the rodding service and for camera inspection a couple days later included in that price. The technician mentioned I would hear from Roto Rooter a day or two later regarding the camera inspection...I never heard back, so I called the following week to get a status update. When I called to get an update, the dispatcher not only raised her voice at me and argued with me, but also hung up on me without listening to the full story!! They were going to charge me an extra couple hundred dollars to have someone come do the camera inspection. I told the dispatcher that is not what I was told and what was written on the paper. I also have video proof of the conversation through our doorbell with the technician stating the camera inspection was included in the price. I had to call back off a different number for them to answer and speak with management. The manager was not willing to listen to the story of what happened, but instead was defending the employees while also being rude. What kind of company allows their employees to speak rudely and raise their voices at the customers and hang up on them. She said she does not allow customers to raise their voice at employees, but was okay with the employees raising their voice at me and hanging up. What kind of training and service is that!! It was very rude and disrespectful. I DO NOT plan on using this company ever again. They try to scam you out of money for a service that won't take long, while being rude and disrespectful. Like other reviewers have mentioned, there are other companies providing higher quality services at a lower price, who have better customer services skills than the employees at Roto Rooter. It is unbelievable they allow their employees to talk like this to customers. Never using them again!

I honestly wished I read the Yelp reviews before I reached out to Roto-Rooter. Silly me for thinking a big business would actually have good process and people. As others have said, they subcontract out their work. Someone named David in an unmarked white van arrived. We had an odor coming from our sump pump. He promptly told me that our sump pump needed to be replaced. I almost fell for it too because he was initially convincing about how old our sump pump is and needing a backup pump and battery. And I had agreed to that work. What really got me suspicious was when he then told me that I had to replace the ejector pump too because the warranty is only 3 years old. I kept pressing him on warranty vs actual lifespan and he kept saying warranty is warranty and it needed to be replaced. Then started to give me a "if you buy two, you get 20% off the second today but if you decide tomorrow, the deal goes away. I don't make this up, Roto-Rooter does." He left to go get parts. He had said he doesn't make up the pricing And I promptly called Roto-Rooter to ask about the pricing. The receptionist said that the technician comes up with the price and Roto-Rooter has no insight. I told her to cancel the work order because this was so sketchy. She then said she had to call the dispatcher. The dispatcher called me, assured me I wouldn't have to pay anything and that I could cancel. When David returned for his tools, he wanted to charge me $411 for having done absolutely nothing but claimed it was for 1 hr of analyzing the problem. He said because I agreed to the work then changed my mind. I was happy to pay for his time but asserted that I was told I didn't have to pay. So I ended up paying $200. I had a small business plumber come out and they were able to quote me at $750 for replacing the sump pump when Roto-Rooter was going to charge me $1300.

I have never had a worse experience with any company in my life. My new condo kitchen sink drain was apparently clogged between my condo and my neighbors upon move in. I called roto rooter. They sent someone that day to quote me. They quoted my $400 to snake/unclog my drain. I said no way so they walked out and came back in and quoted $275. Wow. Nice. I said I'll look around because that seemed shady but had to call them back since no one else was available Labor Day weekend. This was Thursday so they came back Friday. They tried for 2 hours (one guy seemed to be training another guy) to snake/clean out my drain. They could not get to the blockage and then recommended I hydrojet the drain. They told me roto rooter doesn't do this but they do. I then called roto rooter to do they jetting and they said they would send someone out Saturday in the morning. I waited all day and someone showed Saturday night. He was the camera guy that needs to inspect the pipes with a camera before hydrojetting and said this was never a hydrojet job, this pipes won't even fit his camera and said he had to leave for an emergency but someone would call back. I had to call 3 times before someone finally responded, sorry, yeah, you need to have a tech come back and try and unclog it again. Maybe they went the wrong way in the pipes. I waited all day Sunday and was led to believe someone would come out. No one did. Same thing happened on Monday. My entire Labor Day weekend was spent waiting on this company. I will never recommend them or speak positively about them moving forward. Worse customer service than Comcast. D&B plumbing came out Tuesday morning and fixed the clog in 30 minutes. Do yourself a favor and book that lovely company and never touch Roto Rooter.

If I could give 0 stars, I would. This entire company is a scam. Years ago, I called them out, and their technicians were drinking beer while on the job. They price services however they feel. On Christmas, I called them out and their tech charged me $800 for a sewage back up, only for it to happen again months later. They keep telling me I need rodding and everytime they come out, they said they did it. Well April 28th, I had a major back up, where my entire 3600 sq ft basement was full of sewage. Dave came out, sold me a pecoating (sp?) service for $4500, only for the exact same back up to happen 05/27 so not even 30 days later. Now, they are out here again, doing the same rodding. I came in from a holiday weekend out of town last night to a home full of sewage. Nico, a call center rep told me they would have a clean up crew on the the way, last night. No one showed. They called this morning and said they would have a crew on the way, but I would have to pay for it. ARE YOU KIDDING? I have paid you over $5000 since December, with no results. Their call center reps don't operate off integrity. Not being honest about where they are located - as they are probably remote. If so, just say that. And now, a manager won't even get on the phone and talk to me. Call center keeps sending me to random voicemails, and no one is available. They were available when they STOLE my money, but now, won't even get on the phone. I am a single mother with a child in college, I don't have $5000 to give to this billion dollar corporation, to keep living in sewage. They took complete advantage of me, and are here right now, taking advantage of me. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY.

The plumbing itself is fine, the employees are a mixed bag though. I had been through 6 of their plumbers/excavation people for one project that escalated into a larger project. Some of their team members were informative and professional, some of the others are very much unprofessional. One of the plumbers (he gave 'where's my hug?' energy right off the bat) made a pass at me and admitted it was inappropriate only to persistently text me to 'check in,' when he could've replied via the email his office was cc'd on. Also I told him it would be weeks before I could commit to their proposal multiple times. I was obviously ignoring his messages and when I brought up how uncomfortable it made me to the office, they didn't apologize, dismissed my claim, and defended the plumber. It wasn't until I spoke with a manager that they apologized and assigned someone else. It was pretty violating to put trust in a company to come into my house for quotes and have direct my contact info only to hit on me. Like I don't want to pay you to come back to my home and gawk at me. Also there was another member of the team whom didn't show up to scheduled appointments for a week without contacting me and dispatch was pretty useless in tracking this person down. When he finally showed up, didn't even acknowledge he had missed those previous appointments at all.. It was a project for my HOA I took on, and roto rooter was their preferred plumber so I was tied to this company to get my problem fixed. They solved my problem eventually but it was a pain to get there and annoying to deal with their shitty team members. Use at your own caution.

My flush valve was broken and needed to be replaced. No other issues. All the plumber did was go to the store to buy the part and open the lid of the tank to swap out the part. When I did a google search of how much it would cost to fix the issue, it said within the $150-200 range. So imagine my shock when the plumber tells me $690 and this doesn't even include the cost of parts. I can respect this is a high cost of living area, but over 3x the price of a Google search is a pretty huge difference. I even asked to see a price breakdown just to make sure the plumber was not charging me for any extras and his price sheet did in fact say $690. I felt pressured to agree when it was quoted to me because when I booked the appointment, I received an automated email from Roto-Rooter stating that I would be charged a $99 service fee just for the technician to come out and that it would be removed once services were complete. I wasn't sure if this meant the quote or actual plumbing work and I was too flustered to ask. I used Roto-rooter in 2022 and 2023 and was never presented with a $99 service fee or been so taken aback by their prices before but I will definitely not be using them again after this experience. I also want to be clear - there was nothing wrong with anything the plumber did. He showed up within the arrival window, fixed the issue, and charged me based on his price breakdown sheet. All of the negativity in this review is purely about their business practices.

Be careful when booking appointments with this plumbing company! There fee for less that an hour typical plumbing service is outrageous! No parts, no water restoration, no leaks, simple snake drain was utterly ridiculous. Not only that, when I booked the appointment I (not my partner) was advised that I would be provided a quote before any work was done. The plumber arrived and had my partner sign to do work that I (the owner of the unit) was not informed of. First, I would have neve,,, ever paid that much for a simple drain snake,, $700+! Next, I felt that they took advantage of me by not letting me know the cost of the job. They said, oh no, we don't quote over the phone. Should have been my first red flag! I am so upset I am seeing red. When I called to complain about the absolute inflated rate, I was told that was their price and if I had a problem with what they charged, I would have to take it up with my partner and his credit card. Really!!!? You charged 3 times what other companies like Four Seasons, Shout out to them, I should have called them but Roto Rooter came up on my search first. Never....ever...never again! Then on top of all that, they gave a 6 month guarantee. For What? The issue only happens every two or three years!!! This company sucks rocks!!!! Lesson learned. Roto Rooter, you will not be in business much longer.. Unlike me, I hope everybody reads the reviews before calling your company. What a JOKE!!!