Roto-Rooter Plumbing Sewer & Drain Cleaning Servce

Can’t get this out of my head so I need to post this. A few months ago I had RR come in to unclog and old bathtub drain that I could not clear despite my attempts. The RR worker came in and unscrewed a simple piece I was unfamiliar with pulled out the hair and that was the fix for $ 243. Granted he was familiar with old tubs but that’s pretty steep for a simple job done in 15 minutes.

The 2 fellows who came did a good job and successfully cleared my toilet/​bathtub/​sink clogged drain. I don’t fault them for the work. I fault the management for not providing them with and requiring either that they remove their shoes and put on clothe booties after being outside and/​or put some sort of plastic sheeting down before working in your house. My entry rug was covered with mud, my hardwood floors and stairs had mud tracked all over them, and they got some mud on my on my light colored carpet. Luckily my husband grabbed some newspapers and put them down on the carpets or they would have tracked mud all over the carpets too. The fellows said it was «too expensive» too use booties or plastic. (All painters, window washers, repair people buy them buy the gross at Costco so I don’t buy that). Totally unsatisfactory for a company charging $ 242 for a one hour minimum and $ 60 for every15 min thereafter. I Would not use this company again.

Scheduled Oakland RotoRooter on Saturday for a Sunday clearing of my blocked sewer line.
The technician (Cliff) did a great job clearing it, finishing both that and clearing my shower drain in less than an hour. Although they were delayed past the scheduled window due to being short-​handed, they kept me informed on their status and arrived within the updated window of arrival. The $ 30 discount coupon on their website was an extra plus.

Today, Sunday, my downstairs bathroom drain had a clog that I tried to fix myself. I eliminated the clay pipe sewer as the cause. I removed the toilet because it was leaking from the floor due to the clog and snaked that drain, to no avail. So I bit the bullet and I called two companies from Unilocal that had 4-​star and above ratings. However, neither of them answered the phone or returned my message.
So I called the big, expensive company Roto-​Rooter. I immediately got a live person and quickly booked an appointment. Tyler arrived within the two-​hour estimate and quoted me the 1-​hour minimum Sunday price. He surveyed the situation and had a good idea he could snake the toilet from inside and remove the clog. Sure enough, he did it and was on his way well within the one-​hour minimum.
I’m a happy camper and highly recommend Tyler and Oakland Roto-​rooter for emergency off-​hours plumbing issues.
By the way, I didn’t give them 5 stars due to the high cost ($ 275/​hr)

I noticed water and guck coming up from my shower drain on a lovely Sunday afternoon. I had no idea what to do! Who would come out quickly on a Sunday? I went to the Roto-​Rooter website and saw they were open 24 hour/​day. From their website, I scheduled an appointment that same day. A few hours later, Alan showed up and my shower was working in no time. All for $ 70. So happy with the service!

These guys came out at 9 at night, after I called back and rescheduled last minute. Were very accommodating, cleared a claw foot tub and a sink in one of my units in 40 minutes, and since I had time left on the 75 minute flat rate, Michael even unclogged my own tub for me too.
Knew just what he had to do, was efficient with time, cleaned up all his mess and we even rolled our eyes a lil at the snoopy neighbor up the street.
Idk why all the bad reviews, my experience was golden.

Great experience! Called at 9:30 on a Friday night as we had the main line back up into the bathtub. Nice lady said it would be an hour, Mike showed up in less than an hour. Mike was awesome! And it cost less than we expected. Win/​win

Expensive. Late for appointment (wasted half a day waiting). Very poor customer service from dispatcher/​office person. Will not use again.

This was the worst service I have ever had! Do not use them!
I called to make a scheduled appointment for a clogged shower and bathroom sink. The guy showed up on time. He said the job was a minimum of $ 226 for 1 hour and it shouldn’t take longer than that. He was trying to unclog the shower drain and couldn’t figure it out. He did unclog the bathroom sink. I still paid the $ 226 for a job that wasn’t complete.
I had to call another company to unclog the shower drain. They came out and cleared the drain in less than 5 minutes and it was $ 110. I should have used them to begin with.
I am now trying to get a refund for a job poorly done. I have called the corporate office 6 times to explain what happened… and still no one has returned my call.

I clogged up the main toilet again, and so Roto-​Rooter had to be called for the 3^rd time in about as many years (in all honesty, the toilet in the master bathroom is kind of weak).
I wasn’t actually too concerned (some water leaked out from the toilet, and the shower slowly drained), but I called because of the previous issues we had (in other words, my wife woke my ass up and nagged me to call).
²⁄₂₄:
I called at 7:20 a.m.
The female dispatcher was helpful overall.
I talked a little fast at first (my wife chided me about it when I got off the phone), but I was still annoyed at having to repeat myself (despite this, my last name is spelled wrong on the invoice).
I was told that a technician would arrive between 8 – 10.
Larry arrived at 9:15.
I was actually taking a dump at the time (I KNEW that the timing was bad, but I just couldn’t hold it).
I raced out of the bathroom (after wiping, of course).
Note:
The corporate office is located in Livermore. I don’t know where Larry was coming from, but I’m placing my review here because Oakland is closer to where I live than Fremont.
I’m glad that I didn’t receive a call indicating that Larry was on his way.
My son was sleeping (he woke up when Larry knocked loudly on the door, but I didn’t really mind at that point).
Larry reminded me of the late Chris Farley, but only in terms of his looks (that’s all I’m going to say about that).
I was all antsy (my hookers were demanding some serious attention), but Larry assessed the situation first.
I was surprised at how thorough he was.
He tried to get a history of the previous visits (I could only tell him so much because my wife was around the other times, not me), and it was clear that he didn’t want to do any work that didn’t need to be done (he was genuinely interested in saving me money).
Larry discovered that the sewer line «was not clogged» (I helped him to test it).
It was a false alarm (what happened in the morning was a one time deal).
I was only charged $ 70 (this is the normal service charge).
As Larry said, «We have to charge you something for coming out.»
For more serious work, you’ll be charged $ 232 and change.
If an extra technician is needed, it’s another $ 157 and change.
(It initially looked like I was going to be charged about $ 390.)
Larry told me that the rates had «just went up.»
The 2^nd Visit:
My wife was charged about $ 250 (this was sometime last year).
The technician had to go on the roof to snake the line (this makes sense based on what Larry told me– at one point, we were in the backyard discussing things).
Larry left at 9:45.
I was impressed at how professional he was (he even took the time to explain to me how some things work).
He was also nice (he wasn’t overly friendly, which is actually a plus with me).
You might save some money by going with another company.
My wife and I, though, will continue to use Roto-​Rooter.
We have received nothing but good service.

The service was too expensive and after multiple call backs for the same issue (a leaky faucet) I finally gave up and called someone else. I will say everyone that came was really nice, it just wasn’t very thorough.

Called for a free estimate. Guy showed up, started working. Umm… what about the free estimate part? Nope, he’s going to go ahead and start the work. Um, I get that the work needs to be done. However, I need an estimate before I plunk down a huge amount of cash.
Oh, did I mention he was going to start the job based off a vague description of the problem I gave to the customer rep?
Oh, and the free estimate isn’t quite free. Because he needs to snake the line first (costs about $ 275 for 75 minutes of work, and than an additional charge thereafter) to see what’s wrong.

Had a plumbing emergency, called 4 other so-​called 24 hours companies, either no answer, or no callback after leaving multiple messages with answering services. Then tried calling Roto-​Rooter and polite rep said no problem we have a service person who lives in your neighborhood and we can probably get him there in an hour. I was hesitant to believe it so i waited… then 15 MINS later he was here, got the job done in less that 30 mins and was VERY thorough! RR impressed me in every respect. Considering the job, execution and timing the price might be a tad more than any standard plumber (who doesn’t answer or respond) but more than well worth it. :)
ps. i didn’t and wont expect service in 15 mins in the future, but the response from start to finish was 5 star.

I love these guys. I called at 7:20 AM and was told someone could be there between 9 – 11. I had to call back to reschedule as I had to run to the office and they had no problem rescheduling me to 11 – 1. The guy showed up at 11:15. He was professional and was done in less than an hour. I had what I suspected, a main line blockage, but he got it all resolved and the cost was about $ 225. I can take care of minor plumbing issues, but for the big jobs… Roto-​Rooter is the ONLY way to go!

I will not use Roto-​rooter EVER again. They are way to expensive. The part that I needed replaced only cost $ 25, yet they charge $ 200/​hour. That is ridiculous and robbery. I’ll still to my mom and pop plumbers. Roto-​rooter couldn’t get the crap off my shoes for me.
And they fail to mention the $ 70 fee just to come out. Don’t forget that.

So, the day before a holiday dinner party for 22 people, a cleaning cloth was accidentally flushed down a toilet. late that evening we discovered that the cloth had stopped up our main sewer line. I called roto-​rooter at 12:45 a.m. and was greeted politely and professionally and assured that someone would be at my home after 8:00 a.m. the next morning to take care of our problem. At 8:30 a.m. that morning I checked back with roto-​rooter and was told that Luis was on his way. He arrived a few minutes later and I explained what had happened, he then diagnosed the problem and went to work. Within a short time, the clog was removed and dinner preparations could begin. Luis was professional, knowledgeable and courteous and got the job done quickly. With our drains running clear, our dinner party for 22 was a success. For excellent service call roto-​rooter at 510−261−4713. Thank you roto-​rooter and thanks Luis for a job well done!

Called Roto-​Rooter when main sewer line clogged. The lady said they will dispatch someone in 2 to 4 hours. Called back 2 hours later to inquire about timeframe for plumber arrival. The operator could not give me any information. Didn’t feel comfortable at this point so called another plumber. This time I made sure the plumber was local and answered his calls. Long story short, by the time Roto-​Rooter showed up the clogged was cleared and the plumber was leaving my driveway.

Did not come during the time window of 5 – 8. I called at 8:30 and Hope (not very nice) told me that they’d show up at some point and to wait. I asked how late I could expect a call and she said it could be as late as midnight or later and they’d just show up. Not cool.

Our plastic ice cube/​filtered water line to the fridge cracked on a Friday night and water was pouring out under the kitchen sink. I called a few plumbers who all gave about the same quote and all said they’d have to go to the store the next morning. So luckily my neighbor, was able to turn the water off for us for the night, saying it should be an easy fix.
Of course the plumber showed up over a half hour late the next day, no phone call. Looked it over, tried to sell me on other things he could do, went to the store, and then finally a few hours later, which took up pretty much our entire Saturday, and ended up charging about $ 70 over what we were prepared to pay — which I attribute to the time he spent trying to sell us additional services. And, I might mention, he said that the ice cubes might not even work, and it wouldn’t be his fault or something he could fix. (What?!) At this point, we felt overall that it was an unpleasant experience… and then…
Next morning, I realized the dishwasher didn’t work (wasn’t getting water). The same guy came back, no call again when to expect him, and wants to charge $ 350/​hour plus parts (estimating 1.25 hours) to fix something that was working fine for years before he came! We were astounded. Even after speaking to a supervisor and then a manager that we didn’t feel we should be paying anything more, they claim it’s a fluke, a separate incident. (shrug) Who knows… needless to say, we opted out and will figure something else out.
Overall, we are left feeling frustrated and unhappy about the whole thing. I am 100% sure we won’t be using their services the next time something goes wrong in our home.

«Poopie, poopie, poopie. What a Sh*%$y problem to have!»
Wow, what surprisingly great service. Not just because I was happy to get rid of the «Poopie Water» backing up in the basement. I’m skeptical about Big Corporate companies. I’d rather give my business to the regular Joe (not McCain’s «Joe the Plumber» who makes $ 280,000 a year from the debates) who need local support and keep profits in our community.
I called a couple of the highly rated companies from Unilocal and one said call Roto-​Rooter (my first surprise). She didn’t want to take on a larger job of clearing the main drain and possible future pipe replacement work.
Jose was the Roto-​Rooter technician who came out. He arrived in the 2 hour window from the time called rather than their scheduled time and completed a thorough job in the 1 hour minimum time charge. When he completed my work I did hear there was a rush of job requests so some people probably wouldn’t get the same time response I received.
What made the difference was Jose took the time to identify and explain the problem to me, spoke to my neighbor who actually caused the problem (in another language), described how and where the pipes ran even though underground and talked about possible additional repairs I already could see were needed without any scare tactics to get them more work (or more money where it hits us the hardest).
They deserve a good 4.5 Star because at just under $ 200 for the 1 hr minimum to start ($ 192 before 4 pm and $ 203 after) it can be a little hard on the spot for many of us. He was there the whole hour working and even longer when factoring in writing up the bill so it was appropriate and fair. I’m not sure that one of these smaller local plumbers would have been any cheaper based on how quickly and efficiently Jose worked. I’ll call them again if the need rises.
BTW the dispatcher Lindsay who answered the call and called back when Jose was on his way was friendly and carefully listened to my situation of what was going on to send out the right person for the job.