Roto-Rooter Plumbing was founded in 1935 in Des Moine, Iowa, by Samuel Blanc, who was frustrated with a clogged drain at his son’s apartment. Blanc designed a drain/sewer cleaning machine that used a motor from a washing machine, a cable, and a child’s wagon to carry it on. He called his device the Roto-Rooter and he began to sell his machine to individuals for $250.
Today, Roto-Rooter is owned by Chemed Corporation, who purchased it from the Blanc family in 1980. Roto-Rooter remains one of the largest providers of plumbing repair, sewer and drain cleaning, as well as water cleanup in both the US and Canada. The company has more than 3,600 employees.
The company still has headquarters, and a manufacturing plant, in Des Moine, Iowa. The manufacturing plant makes plumbing and drain cleaning tools and equipment for both its employees and other plumbers in the industry, as well as a variety of drain cleaning liquids.
Roto-Rooter Plumbing
Roto-Rooter Plumbing was founded in 1935 in Des Moine, Iowa, by Samuel Blanc, who was frustrated with a clogged drain at his son’s apartment. Blanc designed a drain/sewer cleaning machine that used a motor from a washing machine, a cable, and a child’s wagon to carry it on. He called his device the Roto-Rooter and he began to sell his machine to individuals for $250.
Today, Roto-Rooter is owned by Chemed Corporation, who purchased it from the Blanc family in 1980. Roto-Rooter remains one of the largest providers of plumbing repair, sewer and drain cleaning, as well as water cleanup in both the US and Canada. The company has more than 3,600 employees.
The company still has headquarters, and a manufacturing plant, in Des Moine, Iowa. The manufacturing plant makes plumbing and drain cleaning tools and equipment for both its employees and other plumbers in the industry, as well as a variety of drain cleaning liquids.
History
Used Roto Rooter with mostly success. Wanted to use them this year and they are terrible. I now have to pay a up front $60 travel fee to come to my house just to tell me the fees to drain clean – which we get every year as regulars maintenance.
If I don’t like their price – I loose my $60. the travel fee is not a mininum fee that is deducted if you get work done. No it’s an extortion fee, since they won’t even tell you prices over the phone.
This company used to provide a decent service but now is just a scam. This company needs to be sued – the owners arrested. Ripping people off is so wrong
on may 6 2020 roto rooter came to my rental property because of a leak reported by my tenants. barbara may 22 2020 they stated that the pipe in the second floor bathroom had to be replaced. they charged me fourteen hundred dollars and stated that i needed water remediation to check if there was mold in the townhouse. the water mitagation tecniichian asked me to sign a tablet to give authorization for them to contact insurance company. i signed this and later asked where my papers were. twelve days later i received a seven page contract hand delivered in my mailbox. this was deceptive and no where in that conversation was the word contract spoken. i would never have signed a legal document without reading it thoroughly. they were fast, pushy and said that they deal with the insurance companies. they texted me an estimate on phone for twenty five hundred dollars and their contract had twenty five hundred to fifty five hundred and up. wow this is just plain wrong and deceptive. they tore out a portion of the ceiling which i told them not to touch, and a kitchen cabinet was removed and destroyed. thes cabinets were in excellent condition and can not be replaced. i told them not to take any cabinets down without contacting me first. now i will have to replace all cabinets. i can not understand how this is allowed to continue. is this the way they treat seventy year old seniors. i have yet to receive a bill and i am sure it wont be good after reading these complaints. i wish that i had read reviews before calling this company. a lesson learned the hard way.
Mark Kreutzer
Saint Louis, MO 63129
(314)210-XXXX
markkreutzer@ aol.com
William R.Griffin
David P. Williams
Kevin J.McNamara
Roto-Rooter Group, Inc.
2500 First Financial Center
255 East First Street
Cincinnati, OH 45202
Just writing you to let you know what an awful business you have! I called for some minor water / waste clean up after a backed up drain in the basement. They refused to give me any prices over the phone (Red Flag) and said they had a crew in the area that could be “out shortly.” Four hours later I called back and they said they were now backed up but someone would be out “sometime tonight.” Since we had to go to bed I made an appointment for the next day and they gave me a four hour window.
So I took off work and in the third hour a tech called me to say they could come out but did I know there was a minimum $1000.00 charge for any clean up? I said no, since they refused to give price on the phone. So I called the company to address this, the person on the phone could do nothing but would “have someone call me.” Never heard back. So I emailed Pat Swanson , the Customer Service Satisfaction Manager. Like the previous customer service agent he said he would “have someonecall me.” Never heard back. So I left a negative review on Yelp (of which you have many.) Pat Swanson contacted me asking me again for my information so he could “have someone contact me.” I replied saying I had already done this and no action had been taken.
After a week, I got a call from Rick Maloney saying this was not the normal Roto Rooter Experience. So I just wanted someone at your level to know you should quote minimum pricing. I do not expect a quot sight unseen but it would have saved me an evening at home and taking a day off of work to tell me ANY job would be a thousand dollars, no matter what. Read your reviews and know your customer service is very low quality. I would focus on Pat Swanson, if he is managing Customer Satisfaction. It seems he passes on a phone number and an email to Rick Maloney who takes a week to call to do nothing. Being retired military, I know this kind of apathy comes from the top down.
I have done business with you before, but not again. I am going out of my way to advise other to avoid your company at ALL COSTS!
Mark Kreutzer, Master Sergeant, USAF (Retired)
AMEN! They have a very fine-tuned system of coming in, stating a big problem, and charging (in my case, 3.5 X the average cost of repair nationally). You are in a bad place obviously, if you need a plumber and then they give you the cost with NO itemized prices, etc…. I have been trying to get a legible copy of invoice for 2months. Amazing how they cannot find one?! I think I am going to have to let the world know what a scam this company runs!
I am joining the list of people totally dissatisfied with Roto-Rooter. Seems to be a rip-off operation.
433 dollars to have their expert spend 15 minutes to tell me that I have no clog.
No camera video. Had to wait for an appointment, so I wasn’t paying for prompt service.
Guy told me 400 seconds after exiting his van, before any inspection of my situation.
I had a terrible experience with Roto-Rooter
Back in the spring I called because my sewer drain in my basement had backed up. They sent a technician out who “cleared” the blockage. I asked about their water clean up service and the technician said he would have someone call me. No one called. I reached out again and the water clean up guy told me my job wasn’t really big enough and to just clean it up using some bleach. I called a different clean up company who did the job costing just under $1500 for removing flooring, drywall and sanitizing the area.
26 days later it happened again! The second technician came out and said the line was “ heavily slugged”. He cleared the line and actually cleaned it out so the problem would not happen again. I spoke with a manager, Bill, who at first tried to blame the 2nd flood on a toilet that he said was improperly vented. They sent their own plumber out who discovered that the toilet was actually properly vented. Bill agreed. At that point Bill lead me to believe that RR would take responsibility for the second flood and worked with me in gathering the information needed and all invoices for the work that was outside of the scope of my insurance claim for the first incident. The second clean up was over $3000 because more damage had been done. After the repairs were made he sent in the invoices and told me in situations like this it normally takes 8-10 days to be compensated. Well… when I emailed him asking for the status of my claim he said his manager and he looked back at the original invoice and the technician had said he cleared the line so they do not feel responsible!! I was astonished to say the least. When I complained to the company, the customer relations person who contacted me for my grievance did nothing except pass my complaint on to a manager. Guess who the manager was…Bill! The same manager who miss handled the situation in the first place.
I had to file another insurance claim, pay another deductible and now I was notified that my homeowners insurance company is dropping me! I am having difficulty finding homeowners insurance because most companies won’t even talk to you if you have two claims on your record and the quotes I am getting are substantially higher than what I was paying. Roto-Rooter has cost me a fortune!
Something needs to be done about this company. Justice will eventually find its way to the people. They can only scam, deceive and for so long.
SCAM. A Deceiving Business! They are One of the BIGGEST plumbing companies in THE US and CANADA & they are a SCAM and Dishonest company. Please make a Twitter Account & Follow me as I search to see how we can take class action lawsuit Against them @Fair2konsumer / Against RotoRooter on Twitter. I know there are thousands of ppl who have experienced the same thing I have & We need to come together. Roto Rooter thinks it has enough martketing and advantage to be the at the top and stay at the TOP. So they can get away with overcharging thousands of ppl every day. DO NOT be one of these people. BEWARE their technicians are trained to give the highest estimates possible just to maximize their income and roto’s cash flow. Technicians go to their car and write a number down based on the highest estimate that can be charged for the particular job. They dont have a way to itemize this number when u ask them & they cannot tell u HOW they got the estimate. I was charged $400 for 30 minutes labor that was done with simple tools. 5 other plumbers i called would have charged me Less than $200. TURN AWAY. RED FLAG and SUSPICIOUS company. Roto uses their image as the Biggest Plumbing company to get away with scamming ppl to pay them for “premium” service. Yet my technician had been late on the job. THEN he lied to me about how he itemized my bill with a rate of $150/hour when I told him I was concerned why it was so expensive. LIES. Roto does not use a rate/hour. So how was the estimate “estimated”?? Derp. He doesnt know, how he pulled out a high number from a magic hat… Use a diffferent plumber. Join my cause and Follow my twitter, I want to hear your story and see if we can bring a legal investigation into this company’s practice.
It hurts to see how wrong you are about everything, honestly.
There is a calculable labor rate/hourly rate, however it’s very rarely used because almost everything is a FLAT RATE.
If you think he went out to van to come up with a “scam number”I suggest next time you ask to see his flat rate book, where the price he gave you is likely listed under a flat rate code.
As far as the technician being late, you realize he doesn’t manage his own schedule right? He just gets a job placed on his queue and he goes to it, when it arrives and when he gets to the job are actually out of his control.
Roto-Rooter is a sh**ty company, definitely, in every conceivable way.
But you’re a sh*t person who has a lot of complaints and hasn’t even attempted to learn why things are the way they are.
Call another plumber, wait 2 weeks to get service, and stop bi**hing.
We are service???? Seriously???? We are rip-offs would be more accurate. On Saturday in Bucks County, I was charged $527.84 to clear a clogged drain from my garbage disposal. The technician (and I use the term loosely) was here for less than an hour. Now…….the water in the sink will not drain unless the garbage disposal is turned on. Oh, yes. I will be calling CORPORATE. Furthermore, there was NO ITEMIZATION on the invoice. Just this: Labor $527.84. Unbelievable!!!!!! Rip-off!!!!!! Unconscionable!!!!! My husband paid the bill. He asked no questions?♀️
Hi, I saw your comment and your situation sounds similar to mind. If you feel what was done to you was wrong and unjust, please consider Joining my cause by Following my twitter: Against Roto-Rooter @Fair2Konsumers
Please share ur story there with us. I am looking to file a class action lawsuit/investigation on this DIShonest company. They TOOK my hard earned money and gave me a lie instead to appease my concerns. Thanks
I am embarrassed to say I was charged over $2,400 to replace a very normal, easy to reach hot water heater. There is no description of what they did and after two months of trying to get a legible receipts they are seriously lying to me and making excuses. I will not go away!!
NO NO NO NO NO NO TO ROTO-ROOTER.
THIS COMPANY IS A POOR EXCUSE OF A PLUMBING, DRAIN, SEWER CLEANING AND ANYTHING THEY MAY SAY THEY KNOW ABOUT.
RUN…DON’T WALK IF THEY SHOW UP AT YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS.
THEY ARE UNQUALIFIED, UNORGANIZED AND SIMPLY UNABLE TO DO ANY JOB.
I WILL GET MY MONEY BACK AT SMALL CLAIMS COURT & I REPORTED THEM TO THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU.
HIRE YOUR LOCAL & HIGHLY RESPECTED LOCAL PLUMBER TO COME YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS AND HAVE THEM DO THE JOB PROPERLY.
I called Roto Rooter because of a real estate transaction & the sewage was backing up into a new first time home buyers tub at 3am in the morning. I called them & of course one day service it was BUT the Technician claimed there was not a clean-out on the exterior & that he had to remove the commode. I accepted his opinion thinking he knew & he received $312.00 for the job he claimed was complete only to find out the very next morning the same thing happened again & the new home buyer called them & they send out 3 Technicians that discovered that there was a clean out on the exterior & that there was a can inside & another $125.00 & the job was complete. The first Technician did not do his due diligence for he told me no exterior clean out existed so more money to remove the commode. I tried emailing corporate Tiffany Fowler & the email bounced back. I called her twice & did not receive a call back.
Hi, I saw your comment and your situation sounds similar to mind. If you feel what was done to you was wrong and unjust, please consider Joining my cause by Following my twitter: Against Roto-Rooter @Fair2Konsumers
Please share ur story there with us. I am looking to file a class action lawsuit/investigation on this DIShonest company. They TOOK my hard earned money and gave me a lie instead to appease my concerns. Thanks
My problems started in July of 2018 with a clogged drain. Called Roto Rooter and they showed up about midnight, opened my cleanout and ran snake about a total of six feet with 3 Feet being vertical in the cleanout before going into the drain. So about three feet of drain was cleaned and the water started flowing. Roto Rooter then closed the cleanout, charged $349.00 and left. On October 27, 2018 the drain stopped up again. I called RR and they sent a tech out. He was going to charge me $349.00 to clean the drain. I told him that I had recently had RR there to clean the drain. He tols me there would be no charge for his service. He started cleaning and hit the same spot as the previous RR tech. I told him that was all the farther the last tech cleaned to. He explained that the tech should have run the entire line to assure it was clear. He then made an appointment to have a camera inspection on Oct 31, 2018. As of Nov 09, 2018 I have not received and inspection and my calls to Roto-Rooter have gone unanswered.
Roto Rooter service is shoddy at best.
on 10/11 /18 my wife called they came out invoice #125334 .to free up my sinks in my bathroom. worked until10 / 25 /18 . Next thing we seen was as we ran the bathroom sinks black water was going into the tub .So my wife called up and they said saturday it will cost 331 .00 $ for them to come out and do the work . I called a day later and i talked to the tech and he told me he was going to charge my wife that price and i said i did this when i was a kid i know the drain is blocked by the main . and i also had everything apart for them and they still charged me 125 $ for 7 minutes of work invoice # is 125292 and i think they charged me for pipeshield and never got it he just talked about it . I want some kind of a refund or the bbb is going to her about this the better business bureau.
Hi, I saw your comment and your situation sounds similar to mind. If you feel what was done to you was wrong and unjust, please consider Joining my cause by Following my twitter: Against Roto-Rooter @Fair2Konsumers
Please share ur story there with us. I am looking to file a class action lawsuit/investigation on this DIShonest company. They TOOK my hard earned money and gave me a lie instead to appease my concerns. Thanks
These are the worst people to try and get answers from. Their management people do not listen to you. They turn a simple basement drain clog into what they call “water restoration” Mgr said it’s the LAW if you have water in basement. They claim to not charge for weekends,late night or holidays. Says so right on there invoice. I was charged extra for all services. My house is old. Has a stone foundation so every time it rains waters seeps thru walls and runs to basement drain. You CAN’T dry it up.But there man charged me to do it.Had standing water pumped out. Took over 3 hrs to pump about 300 gals(probably less) of water.Had 3 techs who couldn’t open drain.Finally on Saturday 2 techs came and did open drain. Had to pay them $300.00 that day.which I did Then I get another bill for $1,885.81 on top of the $300.00 I already paid.So for one simple drain clean out they want me too pay $2,185.81. Total BS!. How they won’t return my calls and threaten to take legal action if I don’t pay.
Hi, I saw your comment and your situation sounds similar to mind. If you feel what was done to you was wrong and unjust, please consider Joining my cause by Following my twitter: Against Roto-Rooter @Fair2Konsumers
Please share ur story there with us. I am looking to file a class action lawsuit/investigation on this DIShonest company. They TOOK my hard earned money and gave me a lie instead to appease my concerns. Thanks
roto rooter came and did a restoration for me…but in the interim they stole about 50,000$ worth of goods…mostly CD boxsets…and a host of other things…yes there was damage but only in one part of the room as the main broke…which was only 10% of the enitre…otherwise no damage anywhere else…to top it off i was told by the adjuster my things were going into storage while contractors worked to repair…3 months later i contact them but no storage service existed and the adjuster stopped taking my calls long ago…i’m contacting you just to get ideas and to join your movement…also i wrote maybe a CEO he said he was said he did an investigation and everything was destroyed…which i know is a lie because on the day they came alot was in excellent condition and not destroyed…i believed their storage story but in the end didn’t make sense because why would they care.
cannot get a call back my first call was at 12 noon fl, timeits now 3;30 fl time561030703844
I had roto router unclog my drain in the 21st signed paperwork for them to do the work n clean up n sanitize the stuff John Dixon comes out takes nearly a 500.00 chk from me says he’s bringing it back the next day then says the guy who lives down the shore has it took it home n will bring it Fri or sat the worker from down the shore said he never got a check John Dixon did John says he’s giving me his number in case of anything but only gives a corporate card another flood appears while we’re not home n spread even more it was at least an inch or more high my daughter opens the door and falls backward into my husband’s arms at around 230 in the morning on Black Friday morning the fire Dept had to come out gas is smelling a flood has gone to 3rooms n starts making it to the two bedrooms into the furnace area where we have a new furnace to the closet wat a nightmare n I’m being told in about four hours someone can come it’s been ongoing never got my check John Dixon said he’s going to call the general mgnr up n resign since I think he’s a lier I said good when he calls me I’ll ask if u resigned n if not tell him wat u said .worst customer service my house has been laying since Thanksgiving n they laughed n said ull have to clean it up I told them I don’t think so ull have to while I sit n laugh still no money still no resolution Maggie Vargas Willingboro NJ
My mother, Betty Peavey is having a major issue with Roto-Rooter in Millbrook, Alabama. This has been going on since April or May of this year. She received a quote to add a sewage line for her washer, sink etc. in April or May and was told they would be there in two weeks to do the job. Two weeks went by, no show and NO CALL. After leaving message after message for over two months with no return calls, the office assistant stated she was embarrassed to call my mother. During all this time, she could NOT WASH CLOTHES. Finally they came out and did the work, poorly if I may add. Asked for the payment before the job was complete, did not fill the trench or the BIG HOLE in the back yard as it should be so now my 78 year old mother can’t walk around in her yard because this will trip her up. And while digging the hole/trench by the house they damaged the eave on her home. She phoned them a couple of times and they NEVER phoned her back. she had to stop payment on the check and call them back in order to speak to someone. They came out and half a** finished part of the job, tried to fix house with hammer, but metal needs replacing. They never contacted her back after that day. I have gotten involved since they are discriminating against an old lady. And now it is going on two months and they still have not fixed her home, nor will they return my calls now. Two weeks ago I E-mailed someone name Pat at Roto-Rooter corporate office(from your website) and again NO RESPONSE!!!!! I want someone to take action and DO THE RIGHT THING and actually act like a business that cares about their customers. If I don’t hear from someone within the week, I will have no choice but take this to the next level. We have been patient long enough and it is time for this matter to be dealt with. Please please please please contact me ASAP.
My name is Lisa I had the misfortune of receiving your service thru our rental office in mckees rocks pa (meyers ridge) . Your tech arrived at my front door with filthy shoes traced thru my carpet . Left a bigger mess in my bathroom and hall. Black muck!!! This is a nightmare. I am disabled. I put towels down thru out my downstairs. You r man bob called and said it is my maintenance depths issue??? He was just as nasty as the man who did the sewer work. This is shameful. This disgusting mess needs cleaned!!! I will never let another one of your workers in my house ever again.