Roto Rooter Rip Off
This article is in reference to Roto Rooter work that was done improperly, carelessly, and with the intent to
defraud. On June 23, 2008 we called Roto Rooter to clear a stopped up sewer line that runs from the kitchen sink
to the street. The sink was not draining. This has happened before, and we didn't think that by calling Roto Rooter
we would be defrauded, overcharged, and not told the truth. In fact, we were.
The person who came to do the work called himself "Carlo," but he wouldn't give his last name. When asked, he simply
mumbled. In addition, he refused to put his last name on the invoice, number 14608995. This should have been a warning
to us, but we allowed him to continue working. He stated that he was a master plumber, but from the poor quality of
work that he did and the lies that he told, we doubt that he is or ever was a master plumber. We believe that
real master plumbers are honest professionals. This person, whoever he was, was none of these.
We had already removed the trap beneath the kitchen sink. He said that the 8-inch plastic P-Trap was cracked and would
have to be replaced at a cost of $193. We thought this was exorbitant for a simple plastic pipe that you can get at
any hardware or other store for a few dollars, and we told him so, but he said this was Roto Rooter's pricing policy.
There was no labor involved. He simply inserted the P-Trap into the PVC drain pipe. This gross overcharge was his
first fraudulent act, but not the last.
The second was worse. He said that even though he had 75 feet of cable, he would only use 35 feet. I told him that
would only reach the area of the drain in the basement, but he was adamant, and he got upset and demanded that he
was only going to go 35 feet, regardless of what we requested.
We've lived in this house for 37 years, and we've had the kitchen sink drain snaked out several times. Each of these
earlier times, the plumber ran the snake from a drain pipe access in the basement and snaked out the pipe all the
way to the street.
When "Carlo" had run the snake 35 feet, he removed it, and dumped a large pan of water down the drain. A putrid smell
rose from the basement. When we went down to investigate, we found a load of black goo in a six-foot diameter area
around the drain. "Carlo" never came to the basement to check. He simply ignored our complaints of his
malfeasance.
He then ran the snake back down the pipe for the entire 75 feet. But he charged us for two snakings:
- The first snaking at 35 feet which resulted in a mess of black, smelly goo rising from the drain.
- The second snaking at 75 feet which cleared the pipe, but left the goo on the basement floor for us
to clean up.
With the pipe finally cleaned out, against our wishes, he poured a gallon jug of "mystery cleaner" down the pipe.
He said it would prevent the pipe from clogging for several years. For that jug, he charged us $50.00 even though
we had made it clear that we didn't want it.
The entire bill exceeded $500.00. We paid, but the next day we complained to Tony at the Roto Rooter billing office.
Tony said he would call us back after he had analyzed the bill. He never called back.
Here's what we should have done: At the first sign that "Carlo" was obstinate, we should have asked him to get out
of our house.
Here's what we plan to do in the future: We won't be calling Roto Rooter for any work to be done. Our attitude
toward Roto Rooter's fraudulent policies won't hurt that company at all because it has such a large
customer base.