The Scottish Plumber

I bought a house last summer and have been living in it off and on due to some issues. Luckily I have family in the area to stay with. As I was living there, I noticed water coming into my basement. Originally had a waterproofer come out and he claimed it was a foundation issue. No rain or snow melt and there was water again. Did some investigating on my own and figured out it was a leaking pipe behind some drywall in my basement. Called the Scottish Plumber and John came out. I was terrified they were going to have to take down the entire wall to find the leak, but he located it and only cut a small part of my ceiling. Turns out it was a pipe that just wasn’t glued properly. He fixed it immediately and was extremely professional about it.
Fast forward to this week. I come home to find water in my basement. I had some work done on my main line last fall due to a collapsed clay pipe. Tried to get the original plumber to come back out (different company) and he refused (you can find my review of them on their site). Tommy came out to inform me that the work they claimed to have done was not even done properly. They will be coming back to rod my main line and see what else needs to be done.
My 5 start review is for a couple of reasons.
1: They are EXTREMELY prompt. 10 – 12 window, they will call at 9:30 and be there by 10. They are respectful of your time.
2: Professional and helpful. John was great the first time and now Tommy has been extremely helpful in figuring out what the actual issue is.
3: Value-​so far the price has been reasonable. This will be a reason for my rating to change if the quote to do more work is not reasonable, but so far everything has been great.
I would recommend this business to anyone.

Customer Service is obviously not a priority. I had a broken sewer pipe and used this company. They came a number of times with broken equipment, so they just left. Which is really crappy for them to do when people actually have to work and other commitments. It would be a good thing to check your tools and equipment before you go on appointment (S) — yes appointmentS as in this happened a few times. So when they had to «reschedule» and I only use «» because they never actually told me when they were going to show up. They had access from outside cleanout, so when and IF they did, I never got a call back saying, hey we are done or hey we need to set up another appointment to do this or that. I had to call them. Oh and that was the best part — the «only» person who could actually help me, was a mean older woman named Darlene. She had an attitude problem and could never quite tell me what they were doing or if they were done, or if they were coming back… I think that is important considering I never saw anyone after the broken equipment appointments. After being fed up of being nice and understanding to this cranky woman, I call and leave a rather grouchy voicemail — and now I am dealing with Eva… who is helpful at first but as soon as the job was supposedly done and they took my money, they are pretty much giving me the run around for an itemized receipt. Which is a SIMPLE STANDARD practice for any business. All they sent me was their stationary with the amount I paid… really? Not professional at all. It has now been MONTHS… and I still don’t have that.
As far as the actual work is concerned… well I guess this did something because my showers aren’t backing up. So I place the actual work at average since I don’t even know what they technically did.
My thoughts are
1. A company that cannot be clean and transparent with you is obviously up to something. This company doesn’t respond, make you chase them & gives vague answers to string you along.
2. I probably paid way more than I should have — which is why I want a receipt at this point and also just for a guarantee on their work. If they don’t itemize that gives too much wiggle room for them to doing sub par work and get away with it.
This company is SHADY & SHIESTY… STEER CLEAR!

Just witness Scottish Plumber ram his van several times into car. I hope the victim sees this and contacts me. What kind of people work here?

When I posted a review of Roto Rooter in 2013, another Unilocal user shot me a note letting me know about Scottish Plumber so I gave them a call when I needed my main line rodded this year.
Great experience all around, from the initial call to timely returned calls and the on site work. No complaints at all. Very professional, kept the place clean, cleaned up what mess was made during the work, and didn’t try to upsell me the entire time.
Will definitely use again and recommend to friends.

We have used the Scottish Plumber on many occasions and had good results. Always priced reasonably, and they follow up if something is in question after the service is done. We have recommended them to many other homeowners and even used them for a large project at our place of business. Very competitive pricing and excellent results every time. I highly recommend them!

They came out to estimate a catch basin cleaning and providing three quotes for increasing amounts of work. Upon leaving I was told work could be started as early as the next day. However, when I called to schedule the minimum work only the catch basin cleaning, I was told there was a two week wait. I think this was a classic effort to upsell more expensive yet unnecessary services. I knew my drains didn’t need to be rodded and just wanted my catch basin cleaned. I did not use their services so I am only rating them on the interaction and what I consider deception.

They promptly returned our call, plumber showed up on time. Estimate was ridiculously high. We’ve used them in the past. The first time was great (maybe it had something to do with them looking for good ratings on Angie’s List) Second time I felt as if we were royally gouged ($ 3200 for a 100 gallon hot water heater replacement). Third time was ok and now this call was to replace an existing sink disposal. ¾ horsepower ($ 200 at home depot). They wanted $ 800 (including the unit). Not a plumber out there worth $ 300-​$ 600 an hour. Luckily I have a handy husband and he’ll be replacing the disposal. We will be looking for a new plumber.

We recently moved into an older home and after just one month we had sewage backup into the house. We got a quote from a company that our real estate agent suggested and due to the astronomical figure we decided we needed a second opinion. Boy am I glad we did! The Scottish Plumber was not only cheaper (by $ 2000!) but they explained things better and really knew what they were doing and what they were talking about.
Andy did an amazing job, explaining each step of the process as he was going. They were very responsible and cleaned the job site very thoroughly after they were done.
Their customer service was great and they actually finished the job below estimate! I would not hesitate to use them again and recommend them to all my neighbors.

Found them on Angie’s List. Great service, prices were very competitive, technician was thorough and kept the work area clean. I had several quotes for a hot water heater, one competitor quoted $ 2000+ another, said he’d have to reconfigure the heater and move things away etx. The unit was in a very tight place and I had given up. The tech was able to install it without any problems and I paid a lot less than expected. I highly recommend for any plumbing /​installation of a hot water heater etx. Most important, was the punctual arrival of the service tech, unlike competitors who arrive late or not at all.

I have delt with The Scottish Plumber a couple of times and all the guys have been friendly and knowledgable. Eli came out to root the sewer line but it was a more advanced problem. Eli was great, by the way. Very cool and understanding. Scott and Nathan came after to hydro jet the lines and did a great job with any questions I had. We also tried to do another job while they had the equipment at the house but it seems it may be an issue on the city side. Scott gave me his card as a reference when I talk to the city about their pipe issues which helps for sure. Tommy gave us a decent break on the price (even though hydro jetting is pretty expensive all over). Great job Eli, Scott, Nathan, and Tommy!

Plumber #1 tried rodding our main sewer line, failed, and estimated $ 10K in repairs.
Plumber #2 tried rodding our main sewer line, failed, and estimated $ 4K to start.
Public Works came out and agreed that we needed the $ 4K job at a minimum, and also agreed with the others that we might be responsible for digging up the street to resolve the problem.
After three days of primitive camping in our house, we had TSP come out to take a look. Tommy called before he came, and showed up shortly before the promised window. He listened to what we had tried and been told, then immediately made a phone call and had their hydro jet rodder brought to our house. It was there in 20 minutes, and Tommy went to work on the drain. A few short minutes later, he said he had found and cleared the clog, then he ran a camera out to the city main to confirm that we had NO major problems. We spent a SMALL fraction of what we would have using either other plumbing company. The problem in the line was relatively minor, and we may have a long-​term solution installed in the future, but we avoided spending a small fortune that we don’t have immediately available. And the $ we spent on the jet rodding will be credited toward the bigger job (a clean out in the front yard and lining the pipe where the clog was, to prevent material from clinging to the pipe).
Yes, as another reviewer noted, I had a mess in my basement after the job was done. That is to be expected. Tommy apologized for it, and I spent some time with a bleach solution cleaning it up. All things considered, I’ll take the mess in my basement if I get an honest plumber who knows his stuff.
Well done, Scottish Plumber! You’ll be our first phone call next time!

First good thing I can say about them is that they give you an appointment right away even if it’s not an emergency. I have called on them for three jobs, two of them semi-​emergencies. All three times they were punctual or early and someone called before they actually got here. They were efficient in all three jobs in finishing the job and solving the problem. In sum, it’s a dependable company.

Summary: Competent when it comes to repair work but they did not complete the job as promised in terms of cleaning the work site, leaving me with hours of cleaning and a very bad impression.
My sewer line backed up and TSP came out to do the repair. The original diagnosis was a simple blockage. Turns out the cast iron pipe had completely rusted away and what we thought was pipe was nothing more than a dirt tunnel. So I had to have the entire sewer line replaced to the point where it exits the house and turns to terra cotta. The cost was $ 7300. Not a bargain, but considering they put in a full Saturday plus three full weekdays, and considering I’d gotten other quotes that were in that range or higher, I believe the price was fair. The repair crew did a good job, was careful when moving through my house, and was on time, although they ran a day behind due to unforeseen issues.
The problem I have is that they left the basement unusable, with the floor covered in sludge and sewage. This is not what was promised. The crew head, Mike Dressler, told me: When we are done, we will clean the basement. We will take it back to how it was before this happened. You will be able to go back to using it again when we leave.
Not hardly. They left the basement in disastrous condition, reeking to the point where my eyes and throat burned, with a glaze of sewage covering 75% of my basement floor. Yes, they sent cleaners. But all they did was take two mops, wet them, and move the crap around. They were useless.
Did I mention that the cleaning crew arrived about 1.5 hours late?
I called a week ago, explained the condition of the basement, and asked for them to send the cleaners back. I was promised a call within an hour. Tomorrow it will be a week since that promise and I am still waiting. In the meantime, the man I live with got so disgusted that he started mopping the floor himself. It is only half done.
There is at least one other review on here that says TSP stops responding to the customer once they have your money. Based on my experience, I’d say that sums it up.
Scottish Plumber, if you read these reviews, there is still time for you to come to my home and finish the job and make this right.
Unless I get a response here within 24 hours, I do not recommend The Scottish Plumber.

Customer service is horrible. Not a trust worthy business. Very disappointed with a recent experience. With so many other choices out there cannot believe they are still around with such horrible service and high prices.

It was the night before Thanksgiving and my mom’s kitchen sink clogged. Completely, utterly, clogged. If you know anything about how meal preparation and cleanup works, you’d know that you NEED a sink.
After hours of Drano-​ing and plunging the sink, we decided to call an emergency plumber. The Scottish Plumber got good Unilocal ratings and was the only place that said they could actually send someone to us within 90 minutes of our call (others quoted up to three hours or just plain laughed when we thought their 24 hour service meant ‘before a holiday’).
The operator service was really nice and we called twice since we hadn’t received a call back from the plumber on call. Our call was bumped up to a manager, who called to let us know the plumber on call was going to contact us shortly. We felt like our issue was appropriately escalated within the company, especially one that advertises 24 hour emergency plumbing service.
90 minutes later, our plumber arrived. I wish we remembered his name but we were all too flustered with the clog to pay attention. He listened to our concerns and to what we had already done to the sink and I appreciated that he didn’t try to do those things over again like we were stupid or didn’t know what we were doing. He checked out the crawlspace, determined nothing could be done in there, and began rodding the pipe under the kitchen sink. He seemed 100% sure from the beginning of the process that it was a typical block and that it’d be removed with the pipe snake in no time.
He was right! He threaded about 20′ in to the pipe and said he felt a blockage clear, though nothing came out when he pulled the snake back. Whatever he did, it worked! All of a sudden, the sink worked. He worked efficiently to put everything back in order and cleaned up after himself, which was nice. When all was said and done, he was only over for about 30 minutes (which included pleasant chatting) and the sink was clear. He left the space cleaner than it had been when he arrived and he gave us a discount coupon for having such a quick job. We only paid $ 198 for the entire deal, which included the $ 99 coupon for the sewer cleaning (even though he didn’t start from the outside). We were really appreciative of that since many other places gave base fees of $ 400 (that’s before the plumber would have even arrived!).
All in all, very excellent customer service and plumbing maintenance. We are very satisfied with the price, the employees, and the promptness of The Scottish Plumber. My mom is so happy, she may actually consider calling them for her annual sewer cleaning since The Scottish Plumber charges less than the guy she goes to now. Nice!

We had Mike R. out today because we had a leak in our shower valve resulting in water leaking in our basement. He went above and beyond to fix the issue without having to actually knock out some dry wall. Most important to me was he took the time to explain everything as he went along. He even pointed out some minor maintenance things that I could easily do myself, free of charge. As a relatively new home owner I cannot tell you how much I appreciate this extra piece. I would definitely recommend them to others.

I had a cracked seal around our master bathroom toilet and it was leaking on the ceiling of our first floor bathroom. My dad recommended that I call The Scottish Plumber… they were at my house within an hour and fixed the issue right away. The guys that came were great and even enjoyed that my 2 dogs wanted to help them fix the problem. I will definitely call them for all my plumbing needs in the future!

I called the Scottish Plumber to help with basement flooding. The technician came over. He was very professional and friendly. He told me his ideas to fix my flooding problem, and promised to have an estimate to me within a couple days. A week later I still had no estimate.
I called the Scottish Plumber back. They apologized for not getting me the estimate, and promised again to get me an estimate in a few days. That was about a month or 2 ago, and I still don’t have their estimate.
I gave up waiting and hired another firm for the work.

Overpriced to start. Call after call, promise after promise that someone will call me back or be completing the work, after almost 3 months The Scottish Plumber still hasn’t completed promised work.

This rating is for my latest experience, trying to arrange maintenance sewer rodding. Had the main sewer line rodded for $ 99 as advertised a couple years back. Great deal and a good job done (that price and service was 5 star).
Just called to schedule that same maintenance service. But upon requesting confirmation of the $ 99 rate, I was told they had raised their rates and would charge us $ 199 because access is through a catch basin (instead of interior clean-​out).
Also, if you read their website closely, they charge an additional $ 100 for each 50ft past the first 99 feet. The last service receipt stated they rodded 120 feet from our back yard catch-​basin to the street. (Based on that, the total charge would be triple what we paid two years ago. Nuts.)
I phoned around and got it done for $ 200 flat by another place with great ratings. That plumber said it was only 90 feet to the street (as evidenced by the stuff which didn’t come from our household, that dredged out with the end of the rod), not 120 — Something’s fishy with Scottish Plumber.