Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Drain Services

They came on time and fixed the problem along with giving advice on how to prevent future clogs.

Quick response and was able to explain the issues to me as well as answer the 1000 questions I had.

I was told to call these guys because I needed someone to look at my clogged toilet quick. So I called them and the lady who answered the phone was less than friendly. She gave me a four hour window for when the plumber would be here which was fine. Ended up only taking him about an hour and half to get here and I wasn’t pleased with his attitude. I believe his name was Scott and he had an attitude with me from the time he walked in the door. I showed him the problem and what I thought would be a simple problem to fix he told me would cost $ 199 just to unclog the toilet! Which he said might not even fix my problem because he said it might need replacing. So you want me to pay 199 for something that might happen again tomorrow??? Probably not. When he asked who would be accepting the charges and I said my husband and I, he gave me the rudest most condescending look and then demanded to talk to my landlord. Was very rude and I won’t be using this company for any reason in the future.
I will say they are convenient if you do have an emergency fix and did show up in a fashionable amount of time.

They fixed the problem and gave great advice on how to prevent future issues with our drain.

Ron did a great job. I had a sewer line with roots growing in it and no sewer cleanout, so through the toilet we go. He was upfront and honest with the costs and the details about the work. He was very professional and did his work expertly and efficiently. I had no issues with the scheduling.

Ryan was awesome. it cost me $ 372 but I think that was worth it for Easter Sunday.

First and foremost, Brandin was great. It is always nice to have a reasonable, respectful, and knowledgeable person working in your home. From start to finish, he was professional, explained all steps, was very personable, and did what was asked of him. In my opinion, I would guess this young man is not getting paid enough for his time and crazy hours of the day he is working. If this rating was only on the plumber, 5 stars.
Scheduling was easy, but a little sketchy on coordination and time. To a point it is acceptable in plumbing because you never know how long this stuff takes once you jump in to it. The scheduling could be better streamlined if there were not so many people involved. (Web, Main Office, Branch Office, Plumber). 4 stars.
After reading all the other reviews on here, there is a very common theme with Roto-​Rooter: Price. I get that fast service costs money, and I am willing to pay a premium on speed, but average plumbing hourly rates in Washington state are around $ 90-​$ 150, so at $ 290 an hour for Roto-​Rooter you can see why there is sticker shock. 2 stars.
Be prepared for the work to be done acceptably, maybe even exceptionally, but also be prepared to pay a lot.

Our plumber Gio was great. Very professional and knowledgable. He did a great job of explaining the charges and potential charges upfront. It put us at ease. I’m giving 4 stars because they were originally going to come on Saturday afternoon but never made it. Instead they gave us a 10% discount for waiting around. Not a huge deal that day since we already planned to be home all day. Service was fast, professional, and clean.

Had a water heater replaced on Wednesday and they didn’t properly install it so now Friday water is leaking every where! Called them at 8a. m yo fix it its now almost 3 water is now coming into my frontroom called them to see when they are going to show. A very rude man said we will get to you when we get to you. How do you be rude when your the one who caused the problem?!

Punctual and very professional service. Had a backed up kitchen sink. There was a block in the mainline. The expert snaked it out and the job was done. I have complete trust in Roto Rooter as they are true professionals (from the call center to the expert that showed up to my home).
Only negative is a little pricey, however I did use an online $ 50 off coupon to help reduce this.

You never get a second chance to make a first impression.
I needed to have a storm drain catch basin looked at that’s in my backyard as it’s been flooding for the past few months. Fairly certain it’s because of a debris blockage but not sure where. Roto-​Rooter (at least Seattle) was recommended.
First, I submitted the request on the Roto-​Rooter website at 1pm yesterday (Sunday). The website has a function that is supposed to give you available times live; it said that a person could come out at 3pm, same day. Nice. So I book the job.
30 minutes later, I got a call from a dispatch office in the Tacoma area code (thus I leave my review under the Tacoma office). «I can have someone out tomorrow (Monday).» Err, the online form said someone was available at 3pm. «well, not for this kind of work. I can have them out at 8am tomorrow morning.» Fine. I’m not happy, but I have no real choice.
8am comes and goes. Around 8:05, I get another call, this time from a Seattle area code, someone’s personal number. «Calling about your appointment, I can have my guy Tim out there 40 minutes after the hour.» Ok… but the dispatcher yesterday said 8am. «Well, he doesn’t have his tools and…» Fine, again, I have no choice but am NOT happy.
9:10am (WELL after the quoted time, and understandably so because traffic was certainly nightmarish), Tim arrives. Nice guy, I show him the problem, he’s not sure exactly what or where the problem is, but he wants to waterjet the catch basin to see if it’s a blockage at $ 505/​hour.
I almost had wished he hadn’t quoted an hourly rate and it was just a flat service fee, which to me makes more sense than an hourly rate. He understood my concern and agreed not to exceed the hour without approval, after which it’s definitely a more serious issue, but he wasn’t able to tell for certain what the problem was without at least eliminating basic blockage.
I actually didn’t have an issue with the provider (Tim) or even the price as a static fee, but charging that as an hourly fee is downright robbery. Also, their scheduling procedures leave a LOT to be desired. To have so much be negative even before the work begins is not good.
At completion of the work, the blockage appeared to be a holdover from older roofing runoff over the years and bad design. Tim was very knowledgeable and was willing to work with me to get things done right. So the service itself has been good, and the blockage was cleared out. He identified damage to some of the drain pipes from a thatch service, which has been reported to the landscaper, and he also cleaned blocked downspouts.
In summary:
Up front, scheduling, price model: F.
On site, service, knowledge, helpfulness: A.+
Side note, if «Pat» reaches out to you about your review, don’t bother. They just will have some guy «20 years in the business» call you and argue with you about why your concerns are wrong.

We have used Roto Rooter twice because here in the Seattle eastside area it is difficult to get other plumbers or any contractor for that matter to actually show up and take a job. I guess tradespeople aren’t hurting for work out here.
The first time we used Roto Rooter was for a scheduled appointment because we bought a home and one of the issues on the inspection was a leaky cold water faucet. The technician came when scheduled and the manager even called us before he arrived to let us know he might be a little late due to traffic. The technician called us also to inform us when he would arrive while en route. He replaced the entire stem and fixed the leak for around $ 400.
The second time was more of a time-​sensitive issue (not quite emergency), our kitchen sink clogged and our efforts to snake it were not succeeding. Since we are on septic I did not want to use chemicals so we went with Roto Rooter again. The tech showed up on time and snaked the clog with their more powerful equipment (all the way to the septic tank) and replaced some older pipes/​hardware. That was around $ 700.
It is expensive, however I have had no luck getting other plumbers to come out for smaller jobs like this. If you absolutely need someone who is actually going to show up and fix your issue, Roto Rooter is great for that but you pay a premium for that reliability. I feel like it is a fair trade-​off. Am I going to try to learn more plumbing and/​or try to find a cheaper, reliable plumber? Certainly, but it’s nice to know that in a pinch at at a price I can get my work done immediately.

After water came out of the base of my toilet (was running the washing machine at the time) I called roto rooter. They arrived promptly the next day and proceeded to tell me I had raw sewage in my home’s crawl space, and would need to rip up my tile floor and under-​floor heating in order to treat the «infected» areas. When I asked for a list of services, they gave it to me, my PhD in math friend and I did some calculations and figured out they had a 222% mark up on all items. I called another local area plumber and he said I needed to clean my floor, then repaired my pipe and charged me roughly ¹⁄₃ the price. For clarification, my subfloor is concrete, so couldn’t be damaged by the water. I ran a dehumidifier and cranked the head to make sure it was all dry and good, used some bleach and was all set. Really didn’t appreciate the scare tactics and taking advantage of a female home owner.
On a side note, the workmen were respectful to me and complementary to my home. I don’t blame them, I blame the company they work for.
However, they didn’t even clean up the water under my house, they just laid more plastic vapor barrier over the top. I had to clean it out myself later.

Extremely over priced for the simplicity of the job. Tech was nice and efficient, but 400 dollars to put in a waterline for a fridge where I drilled the holes and it was already set up for the line was quite the highway robbery. In hindsight I should have sent the tech away for that price.

Jose came out same day and unclogged main line in our house. He was efficient, professional and explained clearly what he was doing and why. We are pleased with results– everything is working again! Renton, Wa

Phil was great, professional and courteous, diagnosed our problem and told us we needed an electrician to look at a pump and since it wasn’t his area of expertise, refused payment even though it was the weekend and very cold outside. I made the same day appointment online which was really convenient and reassuring. Phil told me he would discuss my problem with his colleagues and put me in touch with the right person for what he thinks is our particular problem. Very nice.

Called at 6:30 pm with a sump pump issue and sewer backup. Was told that a tech would by out to our home between 8pm and 11pm. Dispatch left me a VM at 9:45pm asking if I still needed service. Called back at 9:51pm to be told that the last two techs had gone home for the evening. Still have no water or toilet availability. You wasted my evening and now into tomorrow. Your company has no credibility with me.

From the call to schedule an immediate appointment to the departure of Patrick, the technician, the customer care we received was superb. Patrick took his time to make sure he was leaving us with no unanswered questions and he even educated us a little on what to do and what not to do concerning drainage in the house. I was frantic and stressed, but when the job was complete, except for my wallet being lighter, I almost felt as though the emergency had never happened. Thanks for the wonderful customer care, Roto-​Rooter.