Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Drain Services

4.22.16 Update: Pat, the manager, saw my last review on Unilocal and contacted me right away. He wanted to make things right so he sent out a new plumber today who completed the job free of charge and (per my husband, I haven’t been home yet), the leaky tub faucet is fixed. I appreciate the quick response and turnaround on this and the fact that we were not charged the additional fee of $ 300 that the first plumber wanted to charge us.

Absolute Jobe. These idiots quoted a sink repair at $ 6 had it done right for $ 100 elsewhere. The guy was extremely rude too. You will be overpaying if you use this mediocre staff.

Amazing speed! We called Roto-​Rooter around 12 pm, they made an appointment between 2 and 6PM, and then Florin came around 2PM. He fixed our plumbing issue around 3:10PM. Our issue is because there is some build-​up in our drainage. It caused leakage when we used our washing machine. Florin explained what happened and fixed it through our kitchen sink. He also told us how to do easy maintenance to prevent this issue again. Perfect service and speed!

Perfect service! Called just this morning about a clogged toilet. They said someone could come over between 2 and 6. The plumber, Farhad, arrived by about 2:30 and not only solved the problem super quick, but was also really pleasant to deal with. I’ll definitely be calling Roto-​Rooter again. Thank you so much!

I called to make an appointment for a clogged kitchen sink and got transferred to Rita in your Tukwila office. Rita politely explained that I needed to be transferred to Dispatch. She stayed on the line and made sure someone took the call and she gave me her direct number 206−757−2812 ext 24 701 in case I got disconnected or had any further issues.
The tech, Troy was dispatched to my home in Lacey, WA and arrived in about 30 minutes well before the expected 5-​hour window that was given. Troy was very courteous and was sure to use every precaution including wearing boot covers to not damage or track dirt onto to our hardwood floors. The clog was freed in a matter of just a few minutes and Troy did a great job cleaning what little mess the operation caused.
I will definitely use Roto-​Rooter again and recommend you to my friends and family for their plumbing needs!

Great service…
My kitchen sink was backed up, I tried to snake it myself, but it did not clean out…
Called in and Ryan was at my door about 2 hours later. He was very professional and had the drain cleaned out in about 10min…
He gave me a $ 50 credit and some free drain cleaner product…
The bill was a bit large for a 30min fix, but what are you going to do?!? My sink drains!!!

Ron and Pejman just left and I couldn’t be happier with their services. They came quickly, determined what the problem was and unclogged my toilet in less than a half hour. They were very nice and friendly — I won’t hesitate to call again or refer people in need of a good and reasonably priced plumber.

Roto-​Rooter got the job done, after 2 visits and a bill that exceeded $ 500. Supposedly they are available 24 hours a day/​7 days a week, but when I called in the morning on a Saturday, nobody was available in my area until Monday. I had thought that the problem was with an clogged air vent on our roof and notified them of this when I scheduled the appointment. On the phone, they said that this would not be a problem. The service man was schedule from 8am to Noon. They called at around 12:30pm and said he would be arriving in about a half an hour. When he did arrive at around 1pm, he said that it was against their policy to go on the roof, but that he thought it was a clogged line and it would cost $ 500. Out of options and tired of waiting, I told him to proceed. He jetted out the line and said it was fine. Within a day, the toilet was still having problems. Called them up again and they had somebody here the same day. The second guy ran a camera down the line and was very helpful. He found a root ball at the very end of the line and cleared that out. The second visit was free of charge, but since the 1^st visit was SO expensive, I’m not really sure I saved any money. If I had gone with a local, smaller company it probably would have been about $ 300. They say in their advertising that you won’t pay more in the middle of the night or on weekends or holidays, but I’m pretty sure that is because you pay those high prices anytime of the week. In the end they got the job done, but in the future I will really try to use somebody else.

I do not like giving poor reviews, but I think it’s important other people know what they might be getting themselves into. Roto Rooter was not at all my first choice to unclog my laundry drainpipe. Unfortunately, all the other local companies I contacted didn’t get back to me or didn’t «service my area.» Now, I don’t think I’m alone here when I state that a clogged drain is one of the most basic plumbing issues a homeowner can have. Yet, I had to have THREE separate visits from Roto Rooter to properly unclog it.
The first two visits were from the same gentleman. He arrived hours outside the estimated time window, even showing up close to 10:00 p.m. when I had requested 6:00 p.m. Despite showing up at such a late hour, the plumber proceeded to make a ton of small talk. (Later on, I learned that his shift ended at 10:30 p.m. and I think he was dragging out the visit so that it would be his last one for the evening.) He showed up with a broken snake but wanted to try it anyway. He claimed success at fixing the clog, since he filled up the washer and drained it and the water did not spew back out of the pipe as it had been. However, I explained to him that his «water test» did not emulate what was causing the problem, which was when the washer drained twice mid-​cycle and drains at a much higher rate. He said he was more than happy to come back if the problem reemerged, which it did the very next morning when I tried to do a load of laundry. On the second visit, he showed up again with a broken off snake. Admittedly, he spent a much longer time trying to snake the drain. He performed the same drain test and left. Once again, water came back out of the drain when I tried to run a load of laundry. When I called back a third time, a different plumber was assigned to «reasses the problem.» This time, the plumber brought an intact snake and managed to get some gunk out of the pipe. This visit took care of the problem.
This plumber also gave a couple pieces of advice which seemed helpful on the surface but were not realistic (i.e. he said we could just saw off the offending bit of pipe and replace it with PVC from a hardware store… as if the average homeowner wants to replace piping when unclogging does the trick. He also recommended we put women’s pantyhose over the output hose to catch lint before it goes through the drain system; however, this is actually a terrible idea if you have a standing drainpipe like I have. That idea is valid only if your washer drains into a sink).
Lastly, their rates are absolutely absurd. Up front, I was asked if I had a coupon. I admitted that I had printed off the $ 50 coupon off their website. The plumber did not give me any pricing until learning about the coupon, which I imagine is then built into the numbers they give. I was first told I would be charged $ 359 plus tax. To snake a drain. I about had a heart attack, but after playing hardball and asking him if he determined his pricing based on his commission pay, I was able to knock over $ 100 off the final bill. Also, if you do use Roto Rooter, MAKE SURE they give you their 6 month warranty. Since these are all commissioned plumbers, you could get lucky but you could also get stuck with someone who has no idea what they’re doing. In conclusion, I would not use Roto Rooter again after this experience.
01÷20÷15 UPDATE: I received a call from Wendy at Roto, then another call from Lance, who was made aware of my less than stellar review and wanted to make it right. Lance was personable and issued me a refund and I was assured that my experience is not the norm. I ended up investing a lot more time than I should have into getting my simple plumbing issue fixed, but I very much appreciate the company going out of its way to rectify the problem and prioritize customer service. Thus, I’ve increased my review to 3 stars.

Our hot water heater tank began to leak on Sunday evening. It’s in my home office in the basement so I was pretty worried. Rotorooter sent a plumber (Cyrus? I am terrible at names) in under an hour. He got the water safely drained, explained options for replacing our old heater, installed the new heater and showed us how it works. A few slow leaks appeared overnight (we have an old house, and anytime you do something, more problems appear). After some snafus with the schedulers, another plumber, Arash, came to our house. He was a real pro and diagnosed the problems fast. (He also had a very cool camera with a fiber-​optic part to look inside the walls and find the leaking joint.)
The system is now working beautifully. Arash also took the time to fix a joint under the bathroom sink and explained we’d want to replace all of them sometime, as they are old and failing. We plan to use this company again for upgrading our plumbing. Great employees.

I’m giving them 4 stars because the job had to be done twice. Regardless, they still came back (after a few days) and fixed whatever problem they missed last time. Arash Moshfeghi was especially helpful to when he came to do the follow up repair. He gave me options and wasn’t pushy. He also saw that I was in a wheelchair and really did everything he could to make my life easier.

Flood in the basement… called one company who couldn’t come out til after hours. Called Roto Rooter and Paul came out within a half hour! He had to run a cable through the main line from my laundry room. Happily it wasn’t tree roots as I was suspecting, but he noticed the Kirkland brand laundry soap and told me that brand and Charmin Ultra Soft are the worst for clogging up sewer systems because they don’t break down easily. Guess what we use? I never knew that! Paul also noticed another problem that will eventually need to be addressed. He was very informative! And he fixed the problem!

(I think I have the correct Roto-​Rooter office selected, but I’m not sure. The Bellevue and Lynnwood offices are closer to me, but here goes.)
Today, Farzad from Roto-​Rooter came out to help us with our slowing drains. He was awesome! Incredibly knowledgeable and great at troubleshooting. We’ll be requesting him in the future if we need more help. Totally ask for him.
Here are the details:
He tested the drains and seemed confused because they drained OK to him. He asked me some diagnostic questions and guessed that our drains must’ve improved after we had the septic system pumped last week. He also told me to watch how the basement toilet flushes in the future if I see issues, to rule out clogged drains and identify a problem with the septic system. He recommended an enzymatic treatment and sold me a gallon. I was thrilled with this outcome!
Then, since he had time, I asked him to look at our garbage disposal. He fixed that too!

I own a tattoo shop in shoreline and had a nasty clog in my sink and these guys got here fast and fixed my problem and got me back doing what i do best, and not messing around with a clogged sink. thanks guys

We had a main line blockage that hit us Saturday morning. Waste water backed up and flooded our lower level. Our home warranty folks contacted Roto Rooter and I couldn’t be happier. Mr Narcis, the technician found a blockage quite a way out that he cleared. He next contacted their emergency services folks to clean up all the waste water contamination. Marcos Rodriquez and Artemio Palefor arrived and were very professional and helpful in getting the damage under control. I thank them all very much.

We are having a bad clog in the sewer line outside the house before it enters shared mainline. Had a few different plumbers coming but could not figure out the issue. I called Roto-​Rooter and service technician David (employee no. 148) came within one hour. I told him briefly the difficult situation and he started working on it with different kinds of tools and strategies. Though we couldn’t fix the problem today but I was moved by the diligence, work attitude, dedication David put into the work, and the good suggestion /​recommendation based on current situation, and the reasonable price.