Roto Rooter Reviews

In August I called roto rooter to remove water out of my water heater. I just found out Oct 13, 2025 he never removed it.

I found out late is because the mold from the water cause me to go to hospital 3x. I have a severe allergy. I had hives, itchy skin, itchy watery eyes, walking pneumonia and bronchitis etc. and given epin so I wont die from it.I had to move out.

It cost me over 5,000.00 to remove mold and no one at Home Depot said they will install me a heater until the mold remove first. I had to save and get a loan to pay the mold first.When Home Depot installing man came out to install my new water heater he said it was full with water. I called roto rooter they had all excuses which was 100% lies. I took photos and I let them talk to the Home Depot installer.

They blame it on a valve the Home Depot said there was not nothing wrong with the valve. Roto rooter manager said why did you wait months to complain now? I said water heaters dont have a see through glass thats why I did not know the job was not done. The manager also said nasty I trust my employee that it was done.

Like I was a liar..I had to beg the manager to talk to Home Depot installing guy which he finally talked to him. I have photos also of the full tank of water. The manager was not polite at all. So I called customer service and told them that someone will call me back 3 days ago.

No one called back. I am so surprise how they used the time I took to call them when all water heaters dont have a see through glass to see if the water is full or empty.I went to hospital 3x for severe mold allergies that could of killed me. I was not living at my home about a month because of mold. I could not buy a water heater first because no one would come out to install it because of mold in my home.

It took months to buy a heater because I need over 5,100.00 to remove mold first from my basement. My opinion I believe the reason why water was left in it odd because roto rooter knew when I get my new water heater Home Depot have to remove the water before installation anyway.

How could someone a manager or anyone deny my refund when I had a witness and photos? They did not care about me as a customer felt and knew what really happened

I was charged $650 for a 20 min laundry draining upon reviewing the bill after the technician left I called to get an explanation for the ridiculous overcharge I was told that as a woman I should learn to say no and not be so polite that I should have told the tech to leave not only was I overcharged but then I was dismissed and disrespected by the company because I am a stay at home mom!!! AVOID THIS COMPANY AT ALL COSTS!!!

Edit to add: I looked back at my bill from the identical service in February 2022 they charged $244 how is over 160% increase in price justified here?? I will update after I receive a resolution from the company.

Give their money back !!!

Rotor Rooter has threatened to put a lien on my home I AM 80yrs Old and single I WORKED HARD ALL MY LIFE TO buy MY HOME AND NOW I HAVE A COMPANY (ALLEN OWNER) WHO Has threatened to put a lien on my home WHICH HE DID .IS THERE ANYONE OUT THAT CAN HELP ME? .

It was 2 months ago not even 3 months before he began threatening me .

I have a letter from Rotor Rooter that says it would be between $5-7,000. Rotor Rooter sent me a statement for $10,000.00 They did nothing more than what the estimate was for

How many people agree this man is taking advantage of an 80 year old woman ?

What should be done to this company? If other people have problems with Rotor Rooter now is the time to SPEAK UP ABOUT WHAT THEY DID TO YOU.

THANK YOU

2 Days before Christmas sewer started to back up.Called Rooter Roto Rooter.and told them that it was a mobile home and plumbing was under mobile home so they had a heads up on what they wee dealing with.First they showed up a hour late and when their employee came into my house he never took off his shoe or put on the little booties so they don't track up the house.Now my carpet has to be cleaned at $250+.Tech tried to snake through the shower then the toilet but said they could not get the snake to bend through the bends.I tried to explain where and how to get under the mobile home and where all the sewer lines were but Roto rooter employee just brushed me off and never listened.They never even look a Skirting panel to look under mobile home..Said they would have to come back out with another Tech who knew more about mobile homes.Meanwhile the price kept going up and up starting at $200 but went to over $1000 then charged me $350 for them coming out that day.and told me even that might not fix it.I NEVER got a receipt.After Roto Rooter left I get a call from their office to set up another appointment.I told the woman that I could not talk at that time because my heart was acting up(Afib)but she just kept nagging me about setting up another appointment.She didn't care about my health just making money for Roto Rooter!! I ended up fixing the problem myself for under $50!!! Now Roto Rooter stole $350 and ruined my carpet.I have contacted my Attorney and will be filling charges on Roto Rooter to take them to court.I could add a lot more to this review on just how Roto Rooter baits,switches and rips people off but I think everyone out there reading this gets the idea.

No integrity whatsoever! I would not recommend this outfit.

The service call was scheduled for 9 AM. When the plumbers arrived at 12:30 pm, they said they were held up because they had to get special parts. The plumber's response to me saying, "You guys are 3 1/2 hours late" was that he never told anyone he was going to be there at nine. He said his shift didn't start until nine.

Anyway, neither the plumbers, nor the main office wanted to actually acknowledge that we were told someone would be there at nine. No one was willing to take accountability for the 3 1/2 hours of my waste of time.

They all had this attitude like, "What's the big deal? So you had to wait a few hours!"

5/25/2019, I experienced a back-up flood on the floor in the downstairs toilet.
Roto-Rooter employees dug a large hole, but neglected to inform me they had found the original pipe, which was crumbling had been broken into by tree roots.
They proceeded to replace the (unmentioned) broken with PVC, almost up to the point of the City of Fort Lauderdale demarcation on the property, where, I have since found, they joined it to what was left of the original pipe, instead of the City sewer pipe.
Roto-Rooter charged me $437.84 for this service.
8/12/2024, I again experienced a back-up flood on the floor in the downstairs toilet.
Roto-Rooter employee No. 1 determined the PVC sewer pipe from the house was blocked and proceeded to dig *** but left with the job unfinished.
8/14/2024, I phoned Fort Lauderdale City Sewer Repairs and, upon investigation, with mechanical and electronic means, they discovered tree roots growing in crumbling Orangeburg pipe and decided it was long past time to dig.
As Roto-Rooter employee No. 2 had left the property, the Fort City Sewer Repairs workers bridged the gap and hooked up the new sewer pipe, to the 2019 PVC installed by Roto-Rooter, and filled in their side of the hole.
Roto-Rooter employees did no more than; determine the sewer drain pipe was blocked, which I'd already guessed, dig and fill in a small hole.
Roto-Rooter charged me $11,000.00 for the work which was done by the City of Fort Lauderdale Sewer Repairs.
8.16.2024, as this is totally unacceptable, I emailed Pat Swanson , Customer Service Manager at Roto-Rooter Services Co. Corporate Headquarters, and requested an immediate full refund of $11,437.84 from .
To date, 8.28.2024, nothing has been done.

I was told when I scheduled my appointment that Roto Rooter could resolve my problem. I was quoted a service fee of $65.00.

When the company representative technician came to my home he told me it would cost $567.00 to unclog an underground gutter drain. I was totally shocked at the price, however I knew that I was already going to be out the $65.00 service fee, so with good faith I agreed to pay the fee, thinking my problem would be taken care of. However, was I wrong, cost me $517.00 (-$50.00 coupon) and my problem was not fixed.
The technician left the debris that he took out of my drain for me to clean up and left.
I have contacted the Roto-Rooter Corporate Office and complained.

I dealt the the Manager, Rick at the Roto-Rooter Business and got no where. Just treated with unprofessionalism and was taken advantage of!

Edit: Had to file with BBB. RR called and said we'd get 200 back cos they quoted that up front and thatsnwhat we should've paid.

Then on BBB they said they'd give is 100! And their POLICY is to charge over 1000 extra for parts, then ask for even more for labor after you agreed on a quoted price! Then they say it's fair. Plus they refuse to take a coupon when their site says they take them!

SCAM!

First, the guy who did the job did it well. No complaints against him. My mother (senior) and I (disabled) needed our sump pumps battery backup replaced. He came out and suggested do the whole thing for $1700.

He looked stuff up on his phone and gave us a qipuote of $2000.We agreed to that. He called before he was scheduled to install it and said he hadn't found one yet and didn't wanna get a cheap one at Lowes of Home Depot. Another day or so he said he got one but was more money than he thought (which is hard to believe in his profession he wouldn't know the costs) and didn't wanna say the price til he came back. We insisted on knowing beforehand.

He said $2500. We said never mind and he said $2300. By then we wanted it done so we agreed. He gets here with the paperwork and says it came to $1980 and was charging us $2000 afeterall, but said that's only $20 for labor.

He asked if we'd pay an extra $200-300 for labor. We agreed to $2300. Wouldn't apply the $75 off coupon we had. We got the model number (one whole part with main and backup as one).

Looked it up online at stores nearby. That exact model is listed for average of $830 or so. At Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes and the supply place in Jessup he said he got it from. Called a supervisor and were told that's just the markup and basically "that's just how it is." You're gonna mark up a part over a thousand extra dollars?!

And then guilt us into paying even more for labor because you guys can't pay your employees better but will rob customers by overcharging for parts?! I would never recommend this company to anyone!

My sister Ronda Fortener called Roto Rooter with a line issue out to her septic tank and asked for a snake to be clear it out. When that failed, they proceeded to tell her she had a major problem.

My sisters husband recently died and she has been a homemaker since she was 17. She does not work and hasnt for years. They told her they could get her approved on her dead husbands income for a $16,000 job where the money would be borrowed in her husbands name. They actually listed him as the customer and THEY listed and signed his name at the bottom of the proposal.

So they told her they could get the loan approved on her dead husbands last year income. Really???

After speaking to her son and me, I told her something was wrong. Another plumber came out and cleared the line for $250 which RR said they could not clear it and charged her $400.

This was all done yesterday, Friday Nov. 24.

So, she called and told them the oroblem was resolved and she did not want the job anymore and to not charge her for the application or start the job.

They proceeded to send her the signed documents how she cannot cancel and she would be in violation of a dead mans application and contract.

My son is a lawyer in Cincinnati and has not been contacted yet but taking advantage of a recently widowed woman would be an interesting story, dont you think. I would expect a response immediately and her $400 back on the money she paid that solved nothing.

Ticket number 2552**** 11/24/2023

PROPOSAL CUSTOMER Steve Fortener

6343 Durban Rd

Kettering OH 45459