Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Drain Services

Hey Folks,
I had a stopped up sewer line the friday after Thanksgiving. Roto Router arrived early in the day. The tech was nice and knowledgeable. My never again has nothing to do with the service provided or the courtesy extended. The 2 hour minimum charge was the issue. It took the tech less than an hour to resolve it and I’m out 376 dollars. I can’t help but feel taken advantage of by the 2 hour minimum charge. I couldn’t find any info online as to what to expect on pricing. I’ll not call for them again.

I am disgusted with the service I received last week from the local Roto-​Rooter group in Morgantown, WV. I am going to recap the events leading to today:
I called because the hot water heater stopped working on Saturday October 18, 2014. The plumber arrived in the afternoon and looked at the unit. He seemed confused as to what the problem was, and said it could be the blower, but could be the gas valve too, and then turned back and stared at the unit and said, I hope it is not the wiring. I began to get concerned since it seemed he would have no problem replacing parts and I would be paying for them until he got the right part. The plumber then asked for a $ 160 check for a service call. This made me even more concerned since nothing had been accomplished and the plumber was unsure.
I heard nothing from him after Monday afternoon came around. I finally called his office. They were unaware of the call at the office. He said he would call the plumber, and see what is going on. I never received a call back.
I then called the plumber since he would not call me. He said his boss said there is no gas valve available so the entire tank would have to be replaced.
I called the RUUD manufacturer for troubleshooting information. They told me to have the plumber check the voltage on the air blower and the gas valve. Whichever did not have the proper voltage had to be replaced. They also told me the gas valve was not available anymore, but there was a replacement part. They asked me to ask the plumber to call them since they had logged in all my information and would help him through it.
I called the plumber to pass this information on and got his voicemail so I left a message.
I called the office back. I wanted them to know that there was a replacement part. He urged me to call the plumber and said he is your contact, and didn’t seem to want to help and mentioned they were closing up the office and they needed to go home.
I received a call back from the plumber and I urged him to call RUUD. I told him about the replacement part. He seemed surprised there was a replacement. Then he said, «what about the blower part» I said I didn’t ask about the blower. He said, we should replace them both. I reminded him the RUUD said to check the voltage. I also gave him the 800 number for RUUD since they were anxious to talk to him. He said OK, he would call me back but would not call until Tuesday because he was installing another tank. He never called back as a matter of fact, I never heard from them again.
Thursday, day 6 without hot water for our entire family, we finally called another company. The plumber checked the entire unit and determined the blower was working fine. He called RUUD and we talked to them about the unit. They came to the conclusion that the problem was the gas valve. The plumber immediately left to order the part for me. He never asked for a dime and told me I would not get billed until the job is complete. The part arrived today October 28^th. The plumbing company installed the new gas valve and I now have hot water.
I was willing to chalk this up as a bad experience and move on until I opened my bank account to see that Roto-​Rooter cashed my check for $ 160. I was hopeful that they would do the right thing and tear it up. I received nothing from this company to earn such a large check.
The right thing to do would be to return the money in good faith. The competing plumbing company J&S, far outclassed the local Roto-​Rooter group in Morgantown, WV.