Mr Rooter Plumbing

My experience with Mr. Rooter was horrendous.

We have a technician named Alex come to our home after we had a simple clog. Alex uncapped a pipe and said he snaked the area. He left the cap uncapped over night which caused our entire basement to flood overnight. I called the next day to have someone come out to correct the issue. We were still unable to use our water because of the damages they caused. I called the company at least ten times and still no one has came to our home. A male named Gabe called and said he was the owner of the company. He said he could not fix our issue and refused to come back to our home. When I calmly explained to him that all I wanted done was for the home to be snaked properly he began cursing. He called me a «fucking bitch.» Please do not deal with this company.

Horrible and Unethical! I asked about 10 times if the charge would be $ 79.99 to snake a drain as per their web ad. They said yes every time. When he got there (4 HOURS after the scheduled time) he said the cost would be $ 234. When I asked why he made up some crap, like he didn’t have access because there was a Ptrap under the sink. I nearly bust out laughing. What was he expecting??? That a kitchen sink wouldn’t have a trap under it!!! So he backed down quickly and said he would «honor the $ 79.99 THIS time» (JERK!). After the job was over he refused to hook up the pipes under the sink again and said there would be an additional $ 234 charge to put the pipes back together. They left and the job was incomplete. We have since been trying to find another plumber to come back out… so far all have stood us up.

My 81 year old father in law needed help when the pipes backed up. Ruben (tech #2352) came out and told him it couldn’t be snaked because his main line was cracked and needed replacing — quoted $ 8000 for the repair but if he did it right away they would drop it to $ 6000. Being smarter than these thieves thought he was, my dad called me and we got another plumber out. HE ran the snake down and fixed the problem for $ 200. No cracked pipes — this is a clear attempt at elder abuse. Beware of these guys and get a second quote for big jobs.

The plumber Marcus was great and I highly recommend him. However, I did call them at 3:15pm and he was only able to come at almost 7pm. I guess they are really busy as it was a Saturday. But I wasn’t able to get any other plumber to come and the one that was willing to come on Sunday would have charged $ 300 for the first hour of work.
So overall I was happy with Marcus the plumber and also happy that they were able to service me on Saturday.

I called Mr Rooter at 7PM Thursday Oct.16^th 2014. They sent Mario to unclog the bathroom sink. Mario did a great job and The S.F.Giants clinched the pennant at the same time. Thanks, Mario. Problem solved withIn 2 hours of the first phone call.

Excellent service and turn-​around. I called Mr. Rooter second after calling another local plumber who tried to delay me until the next day. I was asked by the operator: what was my best 2 hour window for the day? First, this is huge, because most people just say here’s your 2 hour time frame and too bad if you can’t make it. It took them less than 3 hours to get here onsite, and they unclogged my toilet within 15 minutes. It’s very reasonably priced, and the technician, Alex, was extremely polite, well mannered, and got the job completed quickly and efficiently. I’m glad I called Mr. Rooter today for my problem.

Unfortunately our main sewer line backed up one afternoon and started to back up into the shower and bath tub. Mr. Rooter sent out a technician (Adam). He told us he would run a camera down the line to see what was going on. Right away he wanted to dig up and cut into the main line in the front yard for $ 1500. Since we didn’t have a clean out in the front yard it sound beneficial since we had an old system. Once he tried to scan where the line was he discovered his batteries were dead in his locator and dug it up blind.
Once he got into the line it was discovered that the line was bad and should probably be replaced. I asked him to work up a number. He went to his truck and came back with a $ 11,000.00 number to do a reptile but would not tear up our walkway which was one of our main concerns. He got the pipe flowing temporarily and said he would return in the morning. Problem is that at 8 o’clock in the evening and being worried about sewer backing up in your house they have you by the ba – s.
The next morning he and another guy show up and immediately start tearing up our walkway, no discussion, no notification, no nothing. My wife was pissed. I had to leave work to come home to find out what was going on. I was told, «Well, I had no other option.» Problem is that he promised something else the night before.
By the next day they did have the new line in and connected, but my walkway was destroyed. Then it took him 4 more days to pass city inspection. All we ever got is a copy of an inspection report. Still have yet to actually see a permit or have any knowledge that it is actually signed off. In addition they want 10% of the money up front, 80% the day they put the pipe in and the final 10% once that pass inspection. They literally asked for 100% payment before being complete. These guys are completely unprofessional. Once it came to backfilling and replacing concrete, they had no idea what they were doing. In order for it to be done right, I had to buy the rebar and install it myself, as well as mix and pour the concrete.
All in total if each technician makes $ 100 an hour and I put a really high dollar of $ 2000 in parts, it cost Mr. Rooter about $ 6000 dollars to do the work. So watch out, they are looking to make a 100% profit on top of what it costs them to do the work. A high profit margin would be 20%. Again you need to watch out because I found out that their technicians work on commission and they are greedy. They know they have you in a bind and they are going to soak you for every penny!

I actually do not like to report negatively on Unilocal but the public must be warned about a potential scam
Supervisor Gabe was called to our property. He claimed he ran a snake through the line to clear it. When the line failed to clear, Gabe put a camera down the line and stated that the water was too murkey to see anything. He declared the pipe offset and used high pressure scare tactics on my rep to make him think he had no option but to pull a permit and displace our tenants and pay $ 3900.00 to replace the line and another $ 700.00 to fix the clean-​out put in last year by super honest, reputable, and great plumbers whose name I cant mention here. After Mr. Rooter left the property with the line still clogged my regular plumber was called. Randy came out and cleared the line immediately and charged only $ 97.50 for the service. I asked my regular plumber. if I would need to replace my line and I was told that some day I will need to replace the pipe to the street. But that wont be until the line starts backing up every few months something I will plan for.
Mr. Rooter refused to give me a refund for the $ 283.00 charged for the camera work. I should not pay anything, as the original snake was either not done (fraud) or done incompetently. In addition, Gabe bad mouthed the previous plumbers work in the clean out and was suggesting that I pay $ 700 to have the clean out turned up and out at a different angle. It only cost $ 400.00 to get it done last year.
«snake the line, fail to clear it, then scope and say that the pipe is offset. Then charge $ 4,000 to $ 16,000 (depending on how old or disabled a client is) to replace pipes.
In 2011 Mr. Rooter settled with the state contractors licensing board. They are currently on probation for the same activity until 2014you can look it up online.

First of all the if I had the choice to put –ve stars I would do it. This is a lengthy review but my intention is to caution people to be not fooled and not go through the same pain I went through.
I woke up on a Sunday morning for a nasty surprise. One of the bathrooms sinks was flooding and the kitchen sink was clogged. I right away try to find a couple of plumbers and try to setup the maintenance work.
I felt very fortunate when I found Mr Rooter works on Sunday and called them and scheduled an appointment for afternoon since that was the earliest I could get. In the mean time I tried fixing the issue using liquid plumber. I poured the liquid and waited for a few hours as instructed and tried flushing hot water but nothing happened so I started to drain the water as much as I could.
In the mean time Mr. Rooter turns up @3PM and after smelling says he can’t work since the liquid is harmful and suggests we wait until next day. It sounded sensible since I didnt want the guy to get hurt. He suggested they work on flexible timing so scheduled for work next morning 8AM so that I could go to work afterwards.
Next morning @7:30 I get a call and the guy says he has a meeting that he forgot about and can’t make it in the morning but has to wait until evening. I was not very happy so I decided to call them and let them know that I would look for other plumbers and so they decided to send in the guy who turned up at around 8:45AM.
Now Mr. Rooter looks at the kitchen sink and the suggested we do the work from the upstairs since it could flood the house if they open the p-​trap downstairs so the neighbors upstairs were happy to help as they were affected. But after looking at the sink upstairs Mr. Rooter suggest that its not possible to remove the p-​trap without cutting and calls his manager who says he will comeout in 40 mins. He finally turns up after 1:30 mins and brings in a new twist to the story.
He has bigger ideas. Instead of running the snake he decides the best plan is to to cut open the drainage pipe and cleanup the drainage and other stuff which initially he said to be close to $ 650. As I started saying its too much for my budget, he says he can cut open the p-​trap upstairs and run the snake. But that would still cost me around $ 400. Now I started getting suspicious and started telling them its not what I wanted. In the mean time he decides to cleanup the sink in the toilet and try to remove stuff out and finally gives up after 10 mins and says he can’t do much so he will charge me $ 50 for it and get it over with.
I was shocked and kept insisting that open the p-​trap below the kitchen sink but the manager was not at all ready for it. So I told them I will remove the p-​trap myself and they do not have to worry about the remove and assembling back. So I told Mr. Rooter’s manager I will open the p-​trap and he doesnt have to worry about all the stuff like documenting the issues and all non-​sense he told me about when I asked him to run it through the p-​trap below the kitchen sink. After manager left I asked the Mr. Rooter to run it through the kitchen sink. Though he was reluctant in the beginning as his manager had suggested him that was not a wise plan. After convincing him for a few mins he decides to run the snake and so I opened the p-​trap and he started the trails.
First attempt it looked as if he was ran it, after a few feet he said he hit a snag and said the snake can’t n go any further and gives it a few more attempts before giving up and said he can’t do much. So he gave up without even trying to help me. I kept asking him to check with his manager if there is any other option that could help me. He tries calling his manager who keeps disconnecting his call every 15 seconds and says oh network problem.
Finally its the time for the bill and he comes back with a bill for $ 129 for doing nothing and when I question him the charges all Mr. Rooter had to say was that is what his manager asked him to charge. I paid him the money and asked him to check with his manager what other options I had. Mr Rooter says he will call back and took my phone number but no call came. i waited for a few hours and no call came. I finally called a reliable plumber who just ran the same snake and it got unclogged. Now that left me suspicious on what was that Mr Rooter running the snake or was he pretending to be running the snake. Only Mr. Rooter knows.
I hope this helps others not to get ripped off.

I don’t know how Mr. Rooter got all those high star reviews. For me, I won’t use a company can not keep their promise.
Had my main drain line clogged last night. Since I won’t be available in the afternoon, I want to get the problem fixed in the morning. I called Mr. Rooter 6:30AM, the time their office is opened. I was told someone can come on 8−10AM and someone will call me before they come. Great! I waited and waited. Get a call at 9am, telling me that someone will be my house around 10am. No problem. I just need to wait more. 10:15AM, I got another call, tell me that oneone will be here in the morning, I have to wait till afternoon, or tomorrow.
I gave up, and give a call to another plumber (active plumbing, who is 5 star in Unilocal), who said will come in 45minutes to 1 hour. He come 1 hour right after the call, and get my problem fixed in half hour.

Had our main line from house to the street back up at 9pm on a Friday night. Definitely was afraid we’d get gouged with some kind of after hours and/​or weekend fees. Their call center was friendly and efficient, and promised someone within a few hours — between 11pm and 1am that night. They quoted my $ 79 for their ‘internet special’ for drain cleaning. I said ok, and then 30 minutes later got a call that the guy was on his way. Robert showed up — very professional and nice guy. Taught me a lot of interesting stuff about plumbing while he was setting up. I explained the problem (root blockage) and he went to work. Had the job done in about 20 — 30 minutes while I watched TV. Saved our weekend at a supremely affordable cost. Will definitely call them again if the problem happens again. 30-​day guarantee is also a plus.

Its November and he finally came out after i called the office and went around him. I got an issue with the way the pipes were done but theyre not leaking and the smell is gone and he was very polite too. Changed the pipe as was promised 3 – 4 months ago so I’m happy. I’ve got the warranty so I will have to call them for any issues with the drain lines but honestly the work done under the house, on the pipes themselves only, is good work. But someone else on his team did that.

We had a bathroom sink that we couldn’t use because the water would not go down.
We are very pleased with Mr. Rooter Plumbing. Giovanni was excellent, professional, and very clean. He cleaned up everything before he left and wore booties when entering our home. The advertised price on line was $ 79.00 and that was our exact cost, no more. If the trap had to be removed it would cost more. The trap did not have to be removed. Also, he was well within the time frame given at the time of our call.
We are pleased and will call them again. We will tell others. We paid by check which they prefer. Beverly A.

What started out as a clogged garage sink turned into a much bigger plumbing issue. I was glad to have Giovannni to take care of it. He explained everything to us; reassured us of the quality of the materials and service; and was very respectful, courteous and accommodating of our needs. He is a very skilled plumber. We will call him again if we need to but really hope we don’t have to.
The overall cost of the service left us with sticker shock but we had an extremely large job: removal and replacement of all pipes under our almost sixty year old house. He even replaced the drain/​overage in the bathtub as well as clean the sludge filled sink in our garage. He is a hard working and knowledgeable professional.

Luis came in right on schedule, checked what’s going on with the clogged kitchen sink, then ran the snake through the drain exhaust from the outside. Soon enough the blockage was gone and the water freely flowing through.
Courteous and professional, he was in an out in less than an hour.

I had Mr Rooter out 3 months ago, and they said I had an offset pipe, and the problem recurred after about 1 and a half months. They even said the water was too dirty for them to see with the scope.
I had another company out and they had no problem getting the roots out, and from the scope we could see that there was no offset pipe.
I won’t be using Mr Rooter again.

I am so happy that I called Mr. Rooter for service on my main drain system that was clogged. I was getting ready to go out the country, packing bags, and Ruben brought calmness to the situation. It was a pleasure meeting Ruben as he took the time to explain everything. He was friendly but yet professional. Because of Ruben’s experience and personality I will gladly refer my friends and family to the business.
WAY TO GO RUBEN!
Ron B.

They were great. Thanks Fernando for the awesome job. We needed a bathroom sink snaked out on a very old home, built in 1953, cement slab one bathroom. He was so neat and clean, laid plastic everywhere. I think he was in and out in an hour. I would use these guys again for something more involved and expensive, I like
their work ethic. Thanks again guys. Note: we paid by check, he said they preferred that over a credit card.

I had a main line leak and they sent out a service tech Jason Bonilla. He came out promptly He was very professional and knowledgably and explained to me what was going on. I would recommend him to come out to any plumbing needs.