The Drain Co

Complete joke. We called at 1:20 PM to get a price on lighting the water-​heater. They said $ 125.00 to come out. We said we’d call back in a moment — and the woman (who identified her self as the «owner’s sister») said «Well you better hurry and call back before 2pm or else it will go into double-​time and the quote increases».
Dear The Drain Co,
Do you think we are that vacuous… (insert footnote #1)
Footnote #1: Vacuous — adjective: showing a lack of thought or intelligence; mindless.
I thought I would define that word for you, because clearly you are that dense to believe you can pull one over like THAT on people. Shame on you. There is value in quality service untainted with swindling ways. I suggest you reanalyze the manner in which you deal with potential customers, because continuing with the aforementioned methodologies is going to leave you with a Unilocal status of «Closed — permanently».

I cannot speak more highly of the Drain Co. My tenant texted me that the toilet was backed up and that it was a scary sight. He tried flushing a couple of times, only to watch it get dangerously close to overflowing. Mark was there within the hour to clear the clog. What a relief!

I had a bad blockage in my main line. The tech who came out was very nice. He had to change blades 3 times because the blockage was very serious, I just assumed I would get charged extra for having to change blades, but to my surprise it was still the low base price. When they say they clean your drains and not your pockets, they mean it! I highly recommend the Drain Co.

Great service! Very prompt, friendly and reasonable!

Star and Mark are so nice and kind. Will absolutely be calling them back for future work as their professionalism and great communication were unparalleled not to mention extremely competitive prices (that natch their quotes) and overall great job well done. Thank you! We love not having to buy bottled water anymore, the filtered water is great :)

The Best Service Provider ever!!!
Emergency on Thanksgiving they were right there to help!
There knowledgable staff gets to the root of the problem right away…
No one could ever beat there customer service
Professionalism or anything else!
Highly recommend …
They even warranty there work if problem re surfaces!!!
The Best

I’ve used the Drain Co. several times over the years. They are fast and efficient and reasonably priced. The customer service person knows a lot about plumbing and can give you good advice on plumbing issues. They’re my «go to» drain cleaners.

Last night, my parent’s had a family dinner/​party at their house in Sylmar. This morning, we noticed that the water wasn’t draining in both bathrooms. We called several plumbing companies but many of them were closed or unable to come until the next morning. Then we called The Drain Co and everything changed!
Kent came out today, and we are extremely pleased with him and today’s plumbing services. He arrived within the timeframe he mentioned, and he was able to get the job done quickly. As soon as he walked through the door and saw our plumbing situation, he knew exactly what to do. Once he finished, he sat down with us and told us step-​by-​step what he did and answered all questions we had. He also gave us some advice on upkeep! Kent is well-​knowledgeable, efficient, and friendly– the perfect plumber!
I’m only in town for a few days, but I definitely recommend The Drain Co to those who live in the SF valley!

After they came out we called to explain it still wasn’t draining well. .. Despite a busy day, Kent came out and re-​routered the pipes in the dark cold winds. Bravo and thank you

Although my initial experience was not ideal, the owner (Star) reached out to me and corrected the discrepancies. She was patient as I told her what went wrong but she was quick to resolve the situation. I am still a little disappointed with some of actions of the actual plumber, but its refreshing to know that the owner cares enough to satisfy the customer and right the wrongs. All on all, the job was completed and our plumbing now works. I just wish it was done in a more professional manner so that I didn’t need to call the company and address my dissatisfaction.

I have used this company for years, but never again. I hired them two months ago to clear a main line. They had to remove the toilet to clear the line. They cleared the drain, but the toilet came loose. The tenants did not report this problem immediately and the Drain Company would not stand by their poor installation due to the time lapse. The cost for this service was over $ 190.00 and if the toilet was installed properly it would not have come loose. They wanted to charge an additional charge to correct their poor installation. A company should stand by their work and I will never use them again. This company lacks good customer service.

I’m one of those people that always use Unilocal but has never written a review. So this is the 2^nd review ever that I’m writing for a company, primarily because I was soooo happy with them. We had a clogged toilet, shower, and tub. I had another plumbing company the day before and said we have roots in our pipes and the only solution is to cut our bathroom marble tiles, cut the cement underneath, and get to the pipe where the roots were. He said there is nothing else we could do. It was going to be expensive, not to mention all the mess.
So I checked Unilocal and called The Drain Co. First of all, they called me back first thing in the morning (since I’d called them at night), the person on the phone was friendly, and the;y scheduled someone to come the same day. Blas Payan showed up right on time (I was actually stuck in LA traffic and showed up 15 min late, but he waited for me). He was friendly, easy to talk to, clean, and explained to me what he was going to do. He used a long snake line with blades at the end to cut through all the roots. He used the snake to go through our pipes all the way to the street (to make sure everything was clear). I was SO happy he got our bathrooms working again.
Granted, every 6 months or so I need to have them come back and cut through the roots again, but I much rather do that than tear up our entire marble floor.
The cost was so great that I couldn’t wait to write the check and get them out of there (thinking they might have made a mistake). Blas was there over an hour and checked every sink/​tub to make sure they were all working before he left.
I’m never calling any other plumber again. They are it for me.

I have found them to be very reliable. I have past experience with them which has always been great.
However, this last time I am exceptionally pleased. It’s a Sunday and I am traveling and I get a call from my spouse that there is a persistent leak in our bathroom. I gave my spouse the number to the drain company and a few hours later I got a message that the problem will solved.

I have used this company twice before and for the most part I do not have an issue with the actual plumbing services provided and this is why I chose them a third time when I needed an emergency service. The problem I had this time was due to a pricing issue that I frankly felt was deceitful. I apologize in advance for the long review, but felt it was important to include all the details.
Prior to using them this time, I had similar services done in my home. These included snaking my kitchen drain and my bathroom. Both times the plumber provided an accurate price up front when I asked them the cost and completed the job without problems and I gladly paid without disagreement.
This time… another story. My building has old pipes and I had a built up clog in the pipes. The plumber quoted me $ 225 if he had to take the toilet off. Fine no problem, do what you have to do I tell him. My issue was when he presented me the final bill later. $ 300. As he writes the bill he says, «They say I have to charge you for the stairs.» I say what stairs? (I live on a downstairs first floor unit and have never previously been charged for stairs. He says, «The ones outside, 5 of them. It’s $ 55.» At this point I am frustrated but it is 8:45 pm and I had expected this job to be done way before it actually was. I tell him I just want to be done and tell myself I will deal with this later. If you can do math, the actual plumbing portion I was charged was $ 245, not the $ 225, but I won’t even complain about that.
I called the company the following morning and spoke with Rheanna. I told her my issue with the pricing and that I had never been charged for stairs before (probably because those plumbers didn’t think a few steps were such a hassle that required the extra charge). Her response? A snarky, «oh well you got discount then before, you should have been charged more.» She proceeds to tell me their website says they charge for anything more than 3 steps. I counted these steps and including the top, it was exactly 4. Not 4 giant steps, just four average sized steps on a walkway. Worth $ 55? Doubtful. I explain to her that these stairs are a few steps outside on the walkway inside my building and not up to a second floor unit. I tell her I could understand the charge if they had in fact charged me the prior two times for the same type service or even if this current plumber had told me upfront instead of sneaking it in at the end. Frankly if I had known, I would have told the plumber to use the other gate that goes all the way around the building, but a route with no stairs to get to my unit.
She pretty much was unsympathetic. I also told her the plumber cracked the cover to the toilet bolts and never bothered to tell me and did a sloppy job re-​caulking the toilet (I now have to go buy caulk and redo it myself). I noticed this when I went back to clean around the toilet. They told me they would replace the cover.
I was told she would speak to the owner, but frankly I am not holding my breath. Someone was suppose to drop off a replacement bolt cover and come look at these stairs, but that hasn’t happened. This enough for me to say NO for any future business. I feel that folks out there considering giving this company business should be aware of this extra charge and take that into consideration when using them, otherwise they will be getting a surprising add on to their plumbing costs without prior knowledge.
***update: I see that the owner of this business has posted a comment trying to make amends. This is my response: I feel that your efforts are being made as damage control for my negative, but honest review. When I originally called after having this issue, I was told they would speak to the owner and call me back. I waited a week before posting this review in an effort to see how they would respond, and initially received no response. It wasn’t until after I posted this review that they attempted to call me to resolve the issue. They called me only once, not multiple times as they indicated, and it was two weeks after my initial complaint was made. Customer service should be proactive not reactive.

We called out the Drain company and they were out withing 5 hours of our call. They were able to clean out our kitchen drain with out a mess. Thank you for the quick response.

Two months ago I called The Drain Company out again to do my normal every six months router job. Recently, I realized that they were in the same business to business bartering group I was in. I had barter money/​credit with the «club» and now it was time to use some of it. When The Drain Company found out I was paying with the club money, they DOUBLED my rate. When I called Star about the situation she made excuses and flat out lied about doubling the price. I lost all respect for her. It’s bad enough that she’s an absentee business owner who when I call her says to call the office. I assume she’s too busy to relay messages to her employees. I’ve always ignored it. Now I’m fed up. I don’t like being taken advantage of.
Two months after the work, I found the receipt to scan into the computer. There on the invoice was $ 135 scratched out and then «ITEX $ 270» written next to it. There are plenty of plumbers who do router work for $ 60, I don’t need this kind of hassle. I’m easy to deal with, I AM A REGULARLY SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE CUSTOMER. Being the nice guy that I am, I even called them two days ago and got Vickie in the office. I told her about the past and how frustrated I was, but I was going to give them another chance. See, I read the business cases about customers who stay with companies that wronged them as long as that company made it right. Vickie said she was going to call Star who was out of town (I’ve never ever heard of her actually working in the office!) and get back to me. It’s been two days. No call back. Good bye forever Star and The Drain Company. I’ve had enough of the BS.

The most honest drain company I have ever dealt with. They were right on time.
The entire company from the first call in through fixing thr problem were very professional. I will recommend The Drain Co to all of my friends and family.

They unclogged our backed up sewer line last week and the same problem happened again one week after. We called them to see if they would resolve the issue since it obviously wasn’t fixed the first time.
At first the lady who answered the phone was arguing with my dad, but they eventually sent the manager or owner to resolve the issue and all was once again peaceful in the land of our bathroom floor.
Update: After the fact, they charged my dad’s credit card for around $ 200, without notifying him. He thought they had fixed the unsolved issue for no additional charge, since that was the whole point of calling them back. So then he had to cancel his credit card and file a dispute. :(

The Drain Co is very honest and dependable. They are very quick in their response time and very knowledgable in their work.
We have referred many people to them this past year and highly recommend them to you as well!

I don’t give out 5 star reviews unless they’re truly earned.
I had a main line clog late Sunday night. I did my research overnight and called two companies first thing in the early morning. One was too busy to do the job right away and the other was the Drain Co.
The plumber arrived at the stated time. He worked his butt off, went beyond the call of duty, but equipment failure led to his demise. The guy deserves an A for effort. Thanks man.
An hour later, another plumber arrived at «The Drain From Hell». Ramon was a true professional, confident he could clear the mess which had already claimed one victim.
As he worked, he explained the possible causes for the backup, he also began offering alternate solutions if his first attempt was unsuccessful. There were times when I doubted him, but in the end he looked at me with this confident smirk, and said, «there it is.»
Dang Ramon did it! All I could do was smile with joy. I am so grateful for TDC and Ramon. I want everyone to know how professional these guys are and their dedication to their trade. The price was very reasonable.
I will be recommending my family and friends to TDC.