ARS / Rescue Rooter Austin

I’ve called ARS for electrical and plumbing issues. Thankfully, none of the issues have been too major and the repair done by the tech hasn’t had any issues. My biggest problem was a busted pipe and the plumber recognized that it was not a water pipe but a propane pipe so he had no hardware to fix the leak. He came up with a create solution that’s worked, so bonus for ARS. My recent problem was electrical and turned out to be a wire that came loose from a plug. He could have done all kinds of things to run the bill up, and while it was hard to pay for someone reattaching a wire to a plug, I didn’t have the troubleshooting experience or time to assess it.
Let’s talk about the low point. As is typical for any service work, the myth of the 4 hour window only works if you’re the first person on the call list for the day. I don’t call ARS for AC work because I feel I can trust Airco and they are trained specifically (or I expect they are) for the AC equipment I have. Water and electricity don’t have that specialization.

I had an appointment with this company for a service call through homedpot. They gave a 4 hour window — but they never came nor called. What a customer service. Wonder why Homedepot sent me here. How could you keep someone waiting for 4 HOURS? no showing and no call to inform the customer. I hate to de-​rate someone but this really reflects my experience with ARS.
I guess after my review someone from this company comes and says «we’re sorry blabla». That’s not of any use to me when you waste my whole Saturday. Incidentally just look at the following review from another customer. Check for yourself.

Mike was fast and I felt confident with his knowledge. My only complaint was a 2 day wait for repairs for a system still under warranty, meaning I had to use ARS for the warranty to not be voided.

ARS installed an Amana AC 3 years ago when our Lenox died. We had never had problems with the Lenox but they pushed us to buy an Amana, saying it was just as good. However, the unit has had problems from the beginning — they have had to make numerous service calls due to it leaking repeatedly, both before and after the warranty expired.
ARS suggested I pay for a routine service agreement annually, stating that they would regularly check our units as a preventive measure plus provide good service, etc. They sent 2 repairmen to do the routine check on the unit three months ago and said it was fine but that my attic needed new insulation. I ‘reminded’ them that they had put in new insulation just two years previously. My impression was that the reason they sent two people instead of the usual one repairman was to push their products. I don’t even know if they bothered to check the unit at all because today the unit quit cooling (it is only three years old!) and when I called for service this morning they said no one could come for two days. I have a service agreement and it is going to be in the high 90’s! I called another company (Strand) who is sending a repairman out this afternoon. After 25 years of using ARS and watching their service, quality, and even their integrity decline, we intend not to use them again.

We usually do not do reviews, however this warranted one. AMAZING!!! Called Roto rooter to come out to house at 12:30 am, was told tech would be here 1−5am. No show. Called again at 7am, said tech would be out asap. Called at 8:30, no one avaliable. Cancelled service call.
Called ARS, very friendly on the phone, was concerned about our problem. We were headed out of town that same morning, and was worried we would not be able to go. Nikolay was out at the house within an hour. Fixed problem and had helpful suggestions. We were able to get out of town as scheduled!
We are so impressed with this company and would refer anyone to use them!
Would use 10 stars if I could!

Saturday update. Air is still not working. I have a thermostat hanging from my attic that is bypassing all zones in my house resulting in some zones being 20 degrees warmer than other zones. The tech that has been working on the problem informed me that his company really screwed up the installation and that they need to completely rip out all of the wiring of the air conditioner unit and rewire. A Quality Assurance person was scheduled to show on Friday, but I never heard from them. Today, a senior technician was supposed to come out, but he called me on the way to my house to say that the company reassigned him to a commercial job and will not be here until tomorrow.
I very rarely write anything negative on Unilocal.I do believe that small businesses need all the support they can get. However, the service from ARS has been exceptionally lacking. Fortunately I work from home. If I didn’t have that flexibility this would have been a much more serious problem.

We’ll break this into appointments. #1, He came on time, explained the issue (thermostat problem) well and got the AC started up again. Very pleased and worth 4 stars. I needed more Freon and decided to have ARS do that to a few days later. Appt #2, called Fri evening and scheduled for a Saturday after 2pm. Being a forgiving person, I wasn’t too upset when I called around 7pm about the lack of a visit. Found out that my appt was changed to Monday of Memorial Day. Um, would have been super cool if I was in on that. I had it moved to the following day between 10am and 2pm. Appt#3, I took a day away from the office to wait patiently for service. Less patient today, I called 30 min after the window closed and no service person visited. I was told that the dispatcher had cancelled my appointment. Really?!? Come on people! It is so awesome when y’all don’t let the people who are sitting in hot houses all day know that you randomly decided to cancel and move appointment times. #4 «We will have ##### call you from his truck.» So, I know it’s raining pretty hard, because I’m standing outside in the rain… while the ARS truck drives right past me a couple of blocks away from my house. No call. 25 minutes later, I call ARS yet again and they said they would try to set something up again. Not having the patience of Job, I passed on their last attempt to break my will to live. I will never again consider ARS unless ARS is a game where you make up new words to go with ARS… and I’ve had great luck with that so far. I started this review with 4 stars and with each swing and a miss, I could not be more kind than 1 star.
Customer Service Hint: When you decide to change an agreed-​upon appointment time, TELL THE CUSTOMER!
Business hint: Try using email or text to confirm appointments and step into the 21^st century.
Don’t know where the breakdown in this story is, but I should have looked harder at Unilocal first. Now to go write a good review for a business in town that deserves praise.

They were super easy to schedule appointment with and no crazy extra charge for Saturday service call! The service guy that came out was beyond professional! He even took time to sit down at end of service call to talk to my elderly mom! I wi definitely be calling them if I ever need a plumber again and would refer them to anyone needing one!

These guys (Jose G. and other guy) Kicked butt. These two worked from time they arrived until the job was done. These two were like a well tuned machine. Took them a few hours to replace my «cool» side of my HVAC. Now we have snow balls! Thanks Jose. The only reason They got 4 stars was the price that made me do it.

Excellent service, ridiculous price.
The hot water heater at my property had gone out. It had been giving me trouble for the past few months so my fear was that it needed to be replaced. If I needed a new one, I knew I wanted to buy a Rheem from Home Depot based on recommendations I had received from a few people. Since Home Depot has a contractor referral service, I asked them for an appointment with their provider. Their provider is ARS.
The repairman was extremely responsive and courteous. I was very happy until he gave me the quote. A 40 gallon Rheem hot water heater was around $ 550. His labor: $ 1,450. He described to me that it could be a full day job. He knew I was wanted the equipment changed out that day and my guess is he used that to his advantage. To ARS’ credit, they will put you on the phone with one of their customer service agents to make sure you are OK with the price or if you have any questions.
Fortunately, I had 2 other people who came shortly afterwards and gave me quotes of $ 1,400 and $ 1,000.
While I am sure that ARS has a reason for being so expensive, the work ended up being 3 total hours… not the almost full day the ARS repairman had told me. Had I gone with ARS, the labor rate would have been $ 500/​hour. Ridiculous.
While I appreciate the level of service, their pricing needs to be reasonable. The company I went with ended up have excellent service as well, and good /​reasonable pricing.

They said they would be here from 1:00 to 4:00, I called at 4:30 and they said they would be here in 30 minutes. Showed up 5:20. I guess this is a good company if you do not mind waiting around all day just to get a price for clear a drain.
Got my drain auger for an OK price. Not sure the saving covered the 4 hours I had to take off of work and wait for them to show up.
OK, I started this while waiting for them to show up. It started with one star for being so late, then two stars after he gave me the price. Then after he used the camera, included in the price, and told me my drain look good and I would not need any thing else. It went up to 3 starts for honesty. He left the kitchen cleaner then it was when he got here. I wish I could go to 4 but then I remember the 4 plus hours of waiting.

After breaking a fan in a brand new house, I had a little panic as a first time home owner. I filled out a form online for ARS to contact me, and someone contacted me within the hour. Plus it was well after normal business hours.
Someone came by the next day, and did a quick look at it. Determine the remote controller blew, but got the fan set-​up so it could run without it. I’d also noticed that the outlets in the kitchen were not working. The technician quickly determined the issue, and promptly fixed it. In the grand scheme of things it was a very small job, but I’m completely satisfied and glad everything is back in working order!

I had a clogged bathtub and these were the only folks I could get to come out on a Saturday. They got me all fixed up and working again and I felt what they charged me was reasonable. Would definitely call again in another emergency situation.

These people don’t show up. Even after calling and confirming the time multiple times with their call center.
First scheduled an appointment via their website. No one showed. Figured «ok, maybe they are just incompetent with respect to their website». Called the next day to set up an appointment from 10am-​2pm. Called @ 1:30 to verify that someone was coming, was assured someone was. Currently writing this review @ 3:52pm with no one at my house.
Ignore these guys and find someone more reliable.

Another horrible experience in the books for ARS!
Worst service ever! A tech never showed up! My husband took off work and nothing. They said that a tech reached out and no one answered. Complete BS! We did NOT get a call at all!
Beyond pissed! I would not recommend them at all. This is not even the first bad experience we have had. We’ve given this company multiple chances and they have not been able to come through. Worst service ever!!! I cannot emphasize enough how bad they are.
Use Johnny Rescue Rooter. Fast service and honest crew. Message me and I will gladly extend their contact information.

There is no other way to describe my experience other than the customer service from everyone I encountered at ARS was the pure embodiment of how an incredible crew can turn sh! t to sugar.
I had been having slow draining at my house and took ARS up on an $ 89 offer for snaking a single drain along with video camera inspection. I was able to be scheduled in the same day, between the times of 10am — 2pm. Typical Monday… things that could go wrong, did. CODY arrived (a touch after 2pm), set up and despite his snaking, slowly all my drains began to clog and what was annual maintenance started escalating to a close to $ 400 bill, with my drains no longer working and the thought of very expensive repairs now looming for this single mom. To make matters so much worse, 50 shades of grey water started to geyser out from my washer while I was on the phone with the office. I can assure you that from CODY (my Technician), to RENE (in the office), to myself there was shouting.
CODY and RENE agreed that they would have the field manager BLAKE come out with the video camera so that they could see what was causing the blockage. RENE assured me that she would be back in contact with me the next morning (and she was). BLAKE arrived, he and CODY immediately got to work and not only discovered the cause, fixed it, found my external clean out, and did so late into the day and at NO CHARGE AT ALL! (Not to downplay that camera; gone are the days of not being able to know what is causing pluming issues!)
I am amazed not only in the phenomenal customer service, the dedication to work until the job is done, but the fact that from heated bickering they were able to turn into someone who will be a customer for as long as they will have me! Totally aware that anyone can get quotes from other companies. But if you’re like me, and you’re honest with yourself, you really want to find that company who you can count on whenever you have a problem. It’s going to be ARS for me!

Mike Fobbs was freakin awesome. It’s hard for me to work with any sort of home repair because they always seem to talk down to you or up sell you. Mike came in, found the issue (low Puron pressure) told me the price and possible cause, and even reminded me I might be in warranty. Well I am but Casa is awful to deal with and I didn’t want to fight for a week while burning up in my house. Mike filled it up, all costs were laid out and easy to understand. He also did an inspection to find the source of the leak and check some concerns I have about how loud the system is.
Price/​lb, even with 10% discount it’s high. Wholesale is ~$ 5/​lb. To fill it’s $ 80/​lb — 10% for ARS contract discount.

The worst customer service I have ever experienced. Never have we had such contempt shown for our business except by Shane Simpson, Mitchell Carey, and the lot at the Austin ARS.
We contracted with ARS to repair a small leak under the garage on December 2^nd. To date, the repair has not been completed. Our sale fell through, we’ve had to remove the house from the market, and there is no water to the house for going on a month.
The story has been that the patch kits they were using were faulty. They’ve sent away for another one, which has arrived, and were supposed to get it installed today. It is not being installed today. Jimmy, the plumber on site, met with us this morning and said it couldn’t be done today and should be done tomorrow, but he didn’t know who was going to do it or when.
I called Shane Simpson as we left to determine who and when was going to install. He didn’t return my call. This has been a common theme, where he refuses to call back despite us treating him professionally. He refuses to treat us professionally. I have also left three messages since Friday with his supervisor Mitchell Carey, who also doesn’t have he decency to return a call.
This has been the worst, and there is no end in sight. I do not know what my options are but I expect that I will have to seek counsel after the holidays are over. We have suffered extreme damages from either the company’s apathy or incompetence, and to add insult to injury we can’t even get a status update.

As another reviewer posted. Get other quotes!
ARS quoted me $ 2200.00 for a Rheem hot water heater replacement. Called another company that did the same install for $ 700.00 less. I wonder if Home Depot realizes how much this installer is costing them by overcharging in this market? If they don’t, then Home Depot also has an issue.
To be fair on the entire review:
The service technician showed up on time and the person on the phone dispatching the call was courteous.
However, could not go with a company that does not understand their market as it relates to competitive pricing.

I called to schedule a plumber and they gave me a window of 11−3pm.
By 2:40pm, I called them to see when would the plumber arrive. Their dispatcher told me that I was «next on the list.»
2 hours later — and well outside the window — I still haven’t heard from ARS, so had to choose another service after waiting at home for almost 6 hours.
*** Follow-​up ****
The plumber called the day after, and I told him that he had already missed the ARS window so I had to get someone else in.
ARS saw my Unilocal review (see reply) and someone from their corporate office called me and offered to send the plumber back out. I had to explain to her that the whole reason I needed a plumber had been taken care of already by another plumber because the ARS plumber was a no-​show.