So, I went to Lowes to see about buying a tank water heater and inquire about installation. Customer Service took my info and said one of their "partners," would contact me. A few minutes later I got a call from ARS Rescue Rooter and was told not to buy it in the store because then they would not install it. Kinda fishy, but OK, fine. Save me the trouble of schlepping the thing home. We set up an appointment for an estimate. The guys were punctual and courteous and we had a pleasant conversation. But, the estimate was laughable, especially since I knew the retail cost of the heater. I understand the "big boys" have their overhead and all that, but ~$5,000 for labor, maybe 2-3 hours? I don't know about Lowe's other services, but in this case, the installation service would not have been a good value. It was at the high end of 6 other estimates I got from local San Diego plumbers. So, by all means buy your water heater from Lowe's, but find an independent plumber to install it. There are some honest ones out there. read more

WE are very thankful for ARS! Vince showed up on July 3rd for our emergency plumbing issue....we have old cast iron pipes with a bad connection and have dealt with numerous cleanup issues which always result in no solution to backed up toilets and showers ! Our local plumber has told us many times that we need to install liners and fix old cast iron issues and he was right... unfortunately the problem reared it's ugly head when we had family filling our happy house on the 4th of July weekend. ARS did not let us down and has rectified our situation....they are in the process of fixing issues that have been here for sometime and we are so grateful for the persistence they have shown.. we share a driveway with our neighbors and so ARS has been very good at communication and we are able to let our neighbors know when to have their cars out. Frank has set up a group text that keeps us all in the loop. It is pricey to do what we are doing, but given that we are coming out of a pandemic and EVERYONE is hurting, I get it. This repair will improve our property if and when we sell as we own an older home and everyone needs to, at some point, line old pipes. Give ARS a chance and please remember that we are all in this together! Communicate your needs and be nice to guys that basically have to climb around in our waste....no a glamorous job...but I am thankful that they are here for me. Lyndsey Coronado CA. read more

Nice technician. Unfortunately I burst out in laughter after being quoted 696.00 to replace a 50.00 part. Should have canceled the appointment when they wouldn't give me a quote over the phone. Highly disappointed. Now I'm just angry at this attempt at robbery. I should have read their reviews before allowing them to come over. read more

SCAMMERS!!! DO NOT HIRE THIS COMPANY!!! Zero stars if I could! Did not do my usual Yelp research because the husband decided to hire ARS because a neighbor worked for them. So here is the story....had a back up in our plumbing after moving into our new home. Called ARS at 8pm and operator said someone would be by sometime during the night. Midnight and no one yet. 8am and no show and no call so I call ARS and they said someone would be by at 9am. 9:30am and still no one. Call them back and request said neighbor and he comes by at 10am. He was nice enough to tell me about the online coupon which made me believe he was trustworthy which was a total act. He then says, "my boss is coming down with a camera to check your plumbing out no charge". So now there are 2 guys checking out my clogged pipes. Manager says that I have a huge problem with roots and that their solution is the best solution and that would be to repipe fr the house out to street and to take military showers and don't put anything down the toilet until fixed. Oh and it was going to be 16k which includes a discount because I am neighbors with plumber #1...original price being 18k. Unbelievable. Unbelievable that they tried to take me for a fool. Yelped around and found that plumbers work in commission. Read the ARS reviews and they have done this many times before. Found 2 reputable plumbers and both said plumbing was completely fine and that they have heard fr their customers how ARS tried to scam them too!!! The REPUTABLE plumber that I found on Yelp even did a surprise visit last week because he was in the neighborhood and wanted to check and see that my plumbing was still ok and gave me a free bottle of root killer. So if a company says you have roots protruding thru your pipes, def get a second opinion. Call Five Star plumbing for any type of plumbing job except they don't do drain clearing...they will refer you to Anthony Carlson who does the drain clearing. Both Five Star and Anthony Carlson are awesome. AVOID ARS AT ALL COST!!! read more

I have had all of the negative experiences that others have shared. I asked ARS to come out and camera my lines. I have had no plumbing problems at all, was just trying to be proactive. Scott and Bill came out and Bill crawled under the house and found a sewer line hole. I asked for a ballpark number to fix it. I won't disclose the number because I told them that I wouldn't hold them to that number because it was only a guesstimate, but it was similar to the others who've commented. Thought I was going to faint! I called my neighbor and asked him to come over to help me understand what was going on. Bill started arguing with my neighbor, was rude and aggressive. I was shocked and had to ask him to stop. Scott was wonderful and handed me the estimate which was half of the original guesstimate. I called the next day and asked to talk to Scott and the office said he would call me...he never did. Turns out it's a good thing he didn't call because Drain Mob came out and replaced all the pipes under my house AND installed clean outs in the yard for 1/3 of the price, saving me $10k. ARS, thank you for finding the hole in my sewer line, and thank you for not calling me back!!!!! read more

DO NOT USE this company! I'm surprised there isn't a class action lawsuit against them for false advertising. I booked them for an $89 drain clean, and then they charged me $390!!!. Thwre is no fine print on their website either. $83 or it's free?!!! They are crooks. read more

Horrible, horrible service. Just wanted my kitchen sink unclogged. But two hours later the technician and his supervisor were video my pipes even when I told them no! Very disrespectful of my privacy and time. I would not recommend this company to my enemies. read more

ARS/Rescue Rooter are complete frauds. On the evening of 9/6/19, I experienced a backup from my shower drain. I had recently had construction done at my home, which included completely redoing all of the plumbing under the house (in crawl space / raised foundation). I called ARS/Rescue Rooter and was able to have them come out to the house within a few hours of the problem occurring. Initially, an employee by the name of Elbert C. arrived and began assessing the problem. While I was quoted $88 on the phone, Elbert very quickly after arriving told me he was going to have to call his supervisor to come with a camera (an expected uncharge I had been warned by others against). He said this was the only way we could fix the problem, so I reluctantly agreed. The supervisor, Frank M., arrived before too long. They weren't able to reach as far as they were hoping from the roof vent access, so they came down and essentially told me that unless we could locate the front drain clean out (back flow prevention), they were out of luck for tonight. They also went under the house to check out the plumbing and see if they could identify any problems. Upon exiting the crawlspace, they informed me, "All of the plumbing underneath the house was performed by an amateur, there's no way it would have passed code, and it all needs to be completely redone or you will have permanent problems." They subsequently handed me a contract, which listed two options. They stated that in order for them to even come back to try again to snake the drain tomorrow, I would need to sign a contract as they needed to completely redo all the plumbing, or they couldn't certify their work of just the drain clear. My options? Approximately $9,000, or approximately $14,000. Naturally, I was incredibly taken aback by this, and they just kept being really pushy, saying that all of the repairs MUST be done, and they assured me, "Your contractor will be responsible for this. You need to sign the contracts now, we'll start work tomorrow, and then you can go about getting your contractor to refund you. If they don't, the contractor board will make them pay." Essentially, they were attempting to convince me this was the only option, but that I'd be fine financially, as they were essentially guaranteeing I'd get reimbursed for these costs. I told them I could not afford this, and would have to think about it and get back to them. They were about to pack up their truck, at which time I decided to grab a shovel and move some gravel in the front yard to expose that clean out. Once I did, they came back over, and (before trying to just snake it that way), they inserted a camera in and identified the clog. At that point they used the snake, and cleared the clog. PROBLEM SOLVED. After this, they still made a few comments about still needing to redo all of the plumbing under the house, and that I should call them soon to schedule those repairs. They charged me $288.90, stating the camera was necessary (even though a simple snake through the front clean out would have solved the issue). Fast forward to the following week (as I had gone out of town for the weekend), and after contacting my contractors, they wanted to know where the clog was so they could assess from their end. At the time of the repairs, Frank M. had informed me I could contact him "at any time" on his cell number, which he had left with me on a business card. I texted him 5 times over about a week, and never received a response. I called the main phone number for the company asking for a call back multiple times as well, and never received one. I kept escalating the issue to various supervisors, and eventually ended up with an (initially) nice woman named Freddie (sp?). She informed me she would personally handle the situation from here, and make it right. After a couple calls to her, I finally got Frank to call me, and let me know where he thought the clog was. Freddie was looking at my paperwork as well, and told me something "didn't look right," as she was telling me I wasn't charged for the camera work, but clearly I was on MY paperwork. Ultimately, I had my contractors and a 3rd party home inspector come out to review the problems reported by ARS/Rescue Rooter. Unequivocally, I was reassured there was NOTHING wrong with the plumbing under the house, other than one small thing completely unrelated to this issue (there was a deleted pipe near the kitchen that needed an end cap -- part of the old plumbing, and something that couldn't have possibly affected the clog). After hearing this, I was obviously very upset that I was almost tricked into spending $10-15k unnecessarily. I informed Freddie/ARS that I wanted a full refund, per their "Exceptional Service Guarantee" listed on their website. She said she would look into it for me and call me back, which she never did. Continued in update once Yelp will allow me to... read more

License #765155 ARS 791820 I called to have my AC checked and ask about replacing all the filters, as we'd just moved in and had significant construction dust. When the guy came out, instead of the quoted fee of $69, they charged an additional $89 and also quoted almost $800 to check an open wall plumbing query (I'd made this all clear in what I wanted done when quoted the online fee of $69 - BAIT and SWITCH for sure). While the guy was friendly and pleasant (aren't they all), I am disgusted with how many service providers are taking money (thousands) without actually doing anything other than showing up, if at all. Further they said no filters needed replacing. I'm scared to find anyone and will end up replacing filters myself. Meanwhile, time goes on and businesses cry that they need help; I don't see that for anyone in the home services industry; particularly anyone in construction. I hope more people will let the city know of non-licensed contractors that are not paying their taxes while they charge 5 times what they promised and/or take your money and don't show up. read more

Ars is the worst. We have used in the past. The techs are very knowledgeable but they book an appointment and change the time to later that day then again the next day. The appointment line basically locks you in and string you along for days with no consideration of damage being done. Very unprofessional. Look for another plummet tons out there that will stick to their appointments. read more

Don't waster your time. we were quoted 10-2 time frame for plumber to arrive. No one showed. Then they said 12-2 no one showed, no call. We called them they said another 2 hrs. We pressed her, she came clean that they didn't have any plumbers to come out. Then why not say that. We wasted an entire day, waiting around, with no plumber. read more

In a nutshell; 1. Had to reschedule 2 times, 1st time didn't show, 2nd time were late. 2. Rude customer phone service. 3. They try to up sale you. They tried to sell me a basic quarter turn valve replacement ($20) with a water heater Anode rod ($40) for $470 !! Oh that includes labor. Oh I forgot to add the $49 for the hot water heater flush. Never again will I use ARS...... read more

Rescue Rooter came to provide a service and ended up causing more damage. They did repair the original issue, but due excessively flushing and forgetting to turn off the water, the extent of the damage was greater than needed. What is interesting, the service member continued to push a subcontractor who could fix the problem he caused. Due to the lack of trust, the landlord and I chose to go with another plumber to complete the work. Do not use this company. read more

I'm shocked at the low star rating and negative experiences because just this week we've needed support a few times and they came to our house immediately to help resolve (My 4 year old flushed a toy down the toilet which was the culprit). We met 3 different plumbers this week (Tom, another Tom, and Jose) and all were so kind, professional, friendly and honest. If you find yourself in a situation where you need immediate plumbing help, I 100% highly recommend ARS. Also their cost is so affordable for the time and care they put in. read more

We had a terribly clogged kitchen sink, which if you have had this happen throws everything in your day off! Thankfully Eddie and Kevin from ARS came to our rescue. Unfortunate for their other clients, their projects before ours seemed to run over so they were a little later than they were scheduled, but made sure to keep us in the loop with when they would arrive. They were very kind and respectful of our space. Diagnosing the problem right away and letting us know what they would do along the way so we were not in the dark about the problem. We recommend them highly and thank them for the service. All the best ARS! read more

Total scam! Tried to take advantage, charge us triple for the job. Did not show us video or anything. Cancelled the job. Having a $4500 job by them done for $800 by a licensed pro. Watch out! They are smooth. read more

I asked for an estimate to replace a tankless hot water heater. They estimated $9,400! I looked up cost of heater to be $1,200. When I asked why they would charge $8,200 to install (1 days' work) . They just said that's their fixed price whether it takes an hour or a week. A complete rip - off. Make sure you get other estimates before you use this charlatan company read more

HORRIBLE. Way over priced but I was over a barrel as my property manager enlisted them for a weekend leak. Next thing you know it turned into a $12K job and after they were done, they completely messed up the diagnosis of the leak cause; the pressure regulator had failed. It took 2 more days of the tenant complaining of whistling pipes befor they cam out and slapped me with another $700+bill. Then the office persons kept pestering the hell out of me demanding I sign the receipt and send it back to them despite already having completed the financial charge.... figure your own damn paperwork out. Honestly, CA labor is higher... I got it... but these guys are way over the mark, don't monitor the subs, and then play it off as a new problem. If I could give negative score I would.. So take the hint and run as fast as you can to another plumber. read more

I am so glad I'm reading these reviews!!! I'm thankful for those people that wrote reviews and that's the reason I'm writing mine. I had clogged pipes. They sent 2 people, one was the technician and the other the sales person. I noticed the technician did not clean out the pipe as other plumbers have done. He waited for the sales person to show up, put a camera in and then provide an estimate. It started to bother me when the sales man kept asking me to look at the camera and all I saw what is the same stuff . I can look at a picture once and there's no reason for me to continue to look at it when it's the same thing. He then proceeded to tell me how terrible the pipes were andextra work needed to be done, including tearing part of the garage slab out to get into the pipes. He told me I could do one of two things, replace all pipes or replace a portion of the broken pipe (after Reading reviews I'm not sure it's broken) for almost $9000. So he gave me the same price for both jobs. I asked him twice and he acknowledged that he would be the same price. this is unethical. The Better Business Bureau should get involved because I'm sure many have fallen for this. And, they never completely unclogged it. They even told me to be careful because it's only going to remain unclogged for a very short Period. read more

I had two clogged drains which happens every other year. Supervisor Mark shows up with two assistants. After approx 20 minutes recommends drilling thru the walls and replacing old cast iron pipes. Wife recommends a second opinion to hold off due to they usually just snakes it and there done. Second plumber arrives asked where the problem was and returned and was done in less than 5 minutes! Plumber stated yeah in the future if cannot snake then recommends costly repairs. Military families stay away from this company. They will disrespect you in your home and lie to you in your face! read more

ARS put in my Central Air last July. I hired them through Home Depot here in the San Diego California area. I was happy with the installation and the installers. They got my job done within two weeks after signing the contract. Pretty fast. Well it's almost a year and I've been trying to get them to come and due a routine inspection of my system to make sure things are in good standing in case I have any warranty issues later on. I scheduled an apt. back in May and the day of the appointment I had to call them to find out where the technician was. They apologized and said they had a new company taking over the scheduling for this and to contact them. I did and they said the tech's were too busy with emergencies and could not come out that day. Of course I took time off of work to be here for this. We rescheduled. They called me the day before that appt. and had to reschedule again due to emergencies. This has happened 5 times now they keep rescheduling even when they say they put me at a high priority due to my inconvenience. I cancelled the whole deal and will be looking to have the inspection done by another company. It's my fault for trusting Home Depot after not using them for a number of years. Looks like nothing has changed. read more

Freddy from ARS is very rude and abraisive. I have never been shushed when complaining about a service. They came to do a camera scope and told me I needed a $1500.00 service ( which they provide) before the could tell me the condition of the pipe. I had another plumber come out and do the scope with no problems. They are complete frauds. They also quoted me 9800 to change one pipe under the crawl space. Save your time and save your money go somewhere else. read more

The main line under our house clogged up and backed up into the house. We called Rescue Rooter and they were able to get someone out in about 5 hours. Our technician "Tim" was awesome. Very knowledgeable, friendly and efficient. He was very friendly as myself and my 95 year old grandfather wanted to look over his shoulder with curiosity. He was an excellent representative for the company! read more

This company is completely unprofessional. They quoted me the technician would be here between the hours of 12-2. 1:45 comes around, no phone call letting me the know the status of my appointment. I decided to call them myself .. and what do you know? The dispatcher tells me they would be another 1-2 hours. Completely unprofessional and unreliable. Do yourself a favor and don't do business with this company. . read more

I made three different appointment with this company and the first 2 they did not show and the third one they arrive an hour late. The two men looked at the job and quoted me a price 10x higher than Home Advisor quoted me. When the 2 techs arrived they did not have the equipment for the job despite the fact that I told the company exactly what kind of equipment they would need. Now they have taken more than an hour to go and get the equipment. I have no idea if they will ever get back. The company is non responsive and their customer service rep was very harsh when I called to complain. Terrible. Do not hire. Jane s read more

Do not call this people there scam they rob people they take vantage of people handy caps,older female and try to rip them off, recently my brother in law called them for a drain cleaning they told him it would cost over $ 4,000.00 because they was problem in the pipes, so i told my brother in law not to sign any thing , i told them we let you know Express Rooter they cleaned the drain for $ 125.00 So this people they should not be in business they should revoke their licence, I will file a complain with the state licence board. read more

We used ARS for the Riverside area of ÇA. I can't say enough positive remarks about this company and how professional their technician, Daniel was! We had a disastrous issue with our main line and Daniel was very prompt, polite, and professional about resolving the issue! Moreover, the services were rendered on a Sunday, which was amazing, especially considering the urgency of the matter! Thank you, ARS for providing your professional services in an efficient and timely manner! read more

true story sarah was so helpful and john really went out of his way to help us we had a serious sink leak and they arrived on time in fact much sooner and it was fixed in 25 min we will call them again bravo ars thank you for caring about people read more

ARS Rescue Rooter - Prof of good service - Plumbing Near Me - San Diego, California

Do not use this company. It is completely disorganzied and does shoddy work. Needed faucets replaced. First guy sweet but did half-baked job. One faucet came loose, another wouldn't drain. Leak started in ceiling below bathroom. Called them back and second guy (not same as first) came at 6 p.m. and had no idea what had gone before. Was defensive about the leak and refused to explore cause. We figured out why sink not draining and fixed it (no help from them) Third guy came out at 6 p.m. (after we were told first thing in the morning) after leak began again and did not speak adequate English to understand what we needed. He left. Dispatch was useless in conveying what was needed. $625 bill. Just a sh*t show. read more

Dishonest. Avoid at all costs. Tried to milk us for unneeded repairs. Reading the other reviews, this seems to be a common theme.

These guys came out through Lowes because I needed a hot water heater. They had the nerve to quote me $8,950 for a gas water heater and $14,750 for a tankless. I called their office to request which water heater they were quoting me since the most expensive is less than $2k. Also how did they come up with another $7,000 for installation? The guy fumbled over his words, couldn't tell me the water heater and mumbled something about a warranty that was not even quoted. These guys are a complete scam. I reported them to Lowes management. Got a tankless water heater installed the same day for $3400 installed. Beware and stay far away from ARS Rescue Rooter! read more

Fast response to a clogged drain and pipe under our house. Very professional service and fixed the problem. Would definitely hire them again. read more

Very disappointed. Poor service.They misguided and were charging very high. Which I got fixed from another company. read more

Avoid at all costs. I made an appointment for a 6-8pm service. They called me a few times to let me know they are delayed. They called at 9pm to tell me they are still delayed and might be another hour or two (until 11pm??) I asked them to reschedule for the next day at an earlier time slot 4-6pm. They called me at 5:30 and 8:30 to tell me they are delayed....again. They said someone may be available at 11pm and they will call to let me know. I shoulda have been the first appointment today due to the no show yesterday. I told them to cancel and that I'll go with another service. Good luck trying to get someone to your home. Avoid this service, terrible operations. read more

This was an absolute pathetic and disturbing experience all around. Please do NOT waste a penny on this company. I am a very flexible person but the absolute incompetence and lack of communication was astounding when trying to have our storm drains cleared. This was nothing more than a complete and total scam. This company should be ashamed of themselves and I'm only disappointed in myself for not reading the long list of negative reviews on here. read more

they came out to clear my drains. the work they did only lasted 4 hours. i called them they did not help me at all. i even asked for my money back they said no. bad company never use them. i had another company come out they did a great gob. II did call and you guys did nothing to help me . read more

Today, my toilets were making funny bubbling noises and my shower had spewed out sewage from its drain. My whole house smelled like a toilet bowl. I was utterly disgusted. That's when I called Rescue Rooter to come out and handle this nasty situation. Richard Hill, from the company, was very helpful by not only literally getting to the root of the problem but provided me with pictures and excellent customer service! He even left my shower spotless when I thought I was going to have to put on gloves and mask my face. I was very grateful. Thank you Richard and to your Supervisor who took the time to thoroughly get to the bottom line issue. I appreciate it! Amy read more

Buyers beware... They are a commission based company and charge double or even triple for the same job that a reputable plumbing company can do. The more money the plumber sell, the more money the plumbers make. I called them out on this job, and the only response was...... Stumbles. It's ridiculous the amount they charge for their services. All I am saying is due your research and bid jobs before hiring ARS. I promise they will be way over on pricing compared to other companies in our area. On this note, I have only used them in a multifamily setting. Not sure about single-family homes. read more

horrible!!! stay away! these people are huge crooks ...not only did they overcharge us for over $1000 but they secretly cut our wires so that our heating wouldn't work by the time winter came...we found this out later when a more honest person came to assess the problem, and it turns out it cost about $150 dollars....do yourselves a favor and do not let these people even near your house!! especially Chris (the one who came to ours)...they should be reported to the BBB ( *had to repost this because it originally contained a last name and those aren't allowed on here ) read more

Oh my God, worst experience ever. We had an appointment from 4 to 6 PM on Friday. At 6:05 I called and was told that he'd come between 6 and 8 PM. At 8:20pm I called and was told that he'd come sometime that night, but they couldn't say when. I said let's start over tomorrow, because I'm going to bed. The next day we had an appointment from 8 to 10 AM. At 10:05 I called and was told that he'll be there in the next hour. At 11:05 I called and was told that he is *in transit* and will arrive any minute. He arrived at 1:15 - 2 hours later. Then he charged $450 for 37 minutes of work (replaced a faucet that I purchased). I had to go with it because the water was shut off to the kitchen because the existing faucet was leaking, and I had company coming. RUN THE OTHER WAY!!! This is neither ethical nor professional. read more