Run FAR AWAY... FAST! Wow, this guy has done everything he can to try to block this review, and Yelp is on his side, apparently. Trying again, though. It's worth it, because I want the world to know what con artists these people are. My distrust for all sites where the owner has too much say is waning quickly. I only hope Yelp examines his 5-star reviews with such diligence, as I have the feeling those are the fakes. Whatever. Anyway, this business thrives on scamming people. I know, because I, like several, several others, responded to a $49 cleanout ad when I had a toilet clog. When Sam the scammer got there, he immediately told me I didn't qualify for it because the cleanout I had was inadequate. Which is odd, because I saw another reviewer say that Sam wanted her to pay to put a cleanout inside, and since she didn't have one, that disqualified her from the $49 deal. I happen to have an internal cleanout, but apparently mine wasn't adequate (??). Anyway, the price instantly went up to $99. I said fine, but shouldn't have, because the ad should have been honored since I did have a cleanout. Whatever. Anyway, this guy barely attempted to run the snake through and said it was blocked and he couldn't get it any further. Now it was going to be $250 to run a camera down there, but if I did it today, he'd roll the price of the $99 cleanout into the camera charge. I had to be told later that this is a common technique that plumbers use to keep up-selling and increasing the price while making it sound like they're giving you a deal, and that it's a red flag. I didn't know it at the time, so I kept saying okay, since I didn't want to go through it again with another plumber. Then, of course, he couldn't get the camera past the part where he said he couldn't get the snake. Which made sense to me, but I didn't realize he was just doing that as another step to add the charge to jet the line. But, you know, if you do it today, it'll only be $750, because we need to pull this piece out so we can get in there to fix this... Well, $750 turned into over $4,000, bit by bit, because he just added on whatever he could get away with (which we'll roll into the price if you do it today... otherwise I'll have to charge you the $750 in addition to the full charge next time) to change out a few pieces of pipe because he said that was the problem and would fix the clogging issue. And they get away with it because the average Joe, like me I guess, doesn't know that much about plumbing. Well, I should've paid attention to the initial red flags. I should've just told him to leave when it wasn't $49. I should've, at the very least, just paid the $250 for the camera and then gotten a second opinion. Because after all that, being charged WAY too much for the phony attempts to diagnose, then those few plumbing "fixes" the actual "clogging" problem still wasn't fixed! It turns out it was just the toilet! I spent $650 on a toilet replacement from a reputable plumber after I was scammed by Rooterman and the problem is fixed, now. I complained to a few different organizations that are supposed to be in favor of the consumer (like the Better Business Bureau and Google... who ran the $49 ad, and even Yelp, who wanted me to put in more detail, after the business owner cried about the negative review). No one cares anymore, and I've lost faith in all of those, but I still try to warn people! Seriously, has anyone checked the lack of detail on the 5-star reviews? So, the owner of this company said this is a fake review and told me to go screw myself. Yes, he actually said that. A few times. He said I should tell him my name and address. Why should I? When I called their offices to find out last names of the owner and even Sam, so that I could complain to the BBB, no one would give me an answer. But he wants me to tell him mine, now, because he no likey my negative review that his company truly earned?? Oh, and Yelp, please know that I have receipts and am prepared to show you that I did do business with this company. It's not fake, so please don't buy into that. If anything, please let this be a warning to anyone considering using this company. Reputable businesses don't say things like that to people on Yelp. They usually try to make good. They don't offer to have money taken off to remove a review or to leave a good one. They don't desperately cry to Yelp to have bad reviews removed for one reason or another. If you don't believe me, try the $49 cleanout ad and see what actually happens when it comes down to it. If you have another problem, see what the starting price is and then what the next price turns out to be. Or save yourself a LOT of hassle and don't make the same mistake I did. Just steer clear of this company! read more

If you value your time don't use rooter man - there are plenty of other plumbers in Santa Monica, so look elsewhere. I wrote a review last week of what I thought about this company to worn others if they value there time not to use rooter man. they made two appointments with me and canceled on me both times including just an hour or so before they were to arrive, after already canceling on me one time before. then I can only guess that they (rooter-man) complained to yelp and had my review taken down because it wasn't favorable to them.I don't think that's fair so I am going to wright another one (this one) to let people know not to trust this company to show up when they tell you they will now. yelp said when they took my first review down that I didn't give enough detail in what happened so here is what happened in detail... :) I made an appointment with rooter-man to come fix a leaky shower I called to make an appointment on Monday and they said they didn't have anyone in the area until the next day. I though that was perfect since the building was turning off the water in the building for some other issue and I told the lady who I made the appointment that .. so Tuesday comes and I get a call there is no tecs out in the area and they will have to reschedule- even though they had the appointment with me to be in the area but I guess that didn't matter to them and I things happen. so they reschedule for Thursday between one and two so we wait and a lilttle after 1130 there is another call again they don't have anyone in the area (this is santa monica by the way not somewhere out in the boonies) well at this point that's unacceptable they had already wasted my time once having us wait around the first time so you would think if you valued there customers they would make an extra effort to be there and have someone in the area but they had no concern about wasting my time and only made an effort to make it up to me after I wrote a poor review on here and im guessing that when that didn't work they complained to yelp to get my review taken down so there you go hope it is detailed enough for everyone at yelp and I hope it helps you out there looking for a plumber in the santa monica area to find someone who wont flake on you had have you waiting around the house for someone that will never come good luck all an hope you have some better business ethics in the future read more

Rooter Man is the most dishonest company I've ever dealt with. We needed a simple toilet flange replacement. This would usually be a $350 job and something people often do on their own. Rooter Man quoted us $1800 and I agreed, thinking they were being honest. They started the work and began hack hammering out a large area around the toilet. I called a friend and told him and he said that wasn't necessary, and that $1800 was an absolutely EXORBITANT amount of money to pay to replace a simple toilet flange. He agreed it would only be about $350. I called another company who said it wasn't even necessary to hammer out all that concrete. When I called Rooter Man and spoke with Serene, the supervisor, she said that the $1800 fee was justified, and that they were giving us a discount - absolute lies!!! She refused to lower the price. I then called the other plumber back, and he recommended I pay Rooter Man to stop the work. Rooter Man charged us $250 to stop the work and $100 to cap off the water line to the toilet, so $350 total. The Rooter Man technician had the nerve to tell us that we were being unfair, that $1800 was a generous discount, and if they had to come back out and restart the work, that it would be $2200!! Absolute scammers. Anyway, the new plumber sent a guy out the next morning who patched up their work and finished the job for only $575. They said if Rooter Man hadn't done so much damage by unnecessarily hammering out all that concrete, that it would have been about $300. So in the end, Rooter Man was charging us $1800 for a job that only cost $300 - a 600% increase. Do NOT use Rooter Man. They are verified scam artists. Read the other 1-star reviews for Rooter Man. They have a history of overcharging, and making up unnecessary work. This kind of dishonest crazy overcharging should be a crime. And Serene, the supervisor at Rooter Man should stop taking advantage of people. read more

We really appreciate all of the effort that the Rooter Man team expended and the excellent results that they attained in fixing our emergency. They were led by Johnny Romanov & Mike Diaz, two guys who worked crazy-long hours and insisted on excellent results. Some specifics: * They maintained their customer-centric attitude throughout their involvement with us. We felt that their primary goal was that we be well pleased with the results. * They maintained a focus on the right technical solution to achieve our goal: a robust sewer drainage system that would require little or no maintenance. * Despite horrible, middle-of-the-night working hours and the interruptions posed by the requirement that some of their team go help others with their emergencies, they maintained their focus and got the job done without complaints! * Despite several unforeseen issues with our weird old sewer system, they demonstrated great flexibility and a willingness to pivot to the proper (though unplanned) technical solution: A mixture of new pipe, high-tech pipe relining, removal/excavation, etc. * We were amazed to see how many skilled people and tools were required. If we had a better mental image of all this at the time of contract signing we would have had no hesitation. We do have one suggestion for them: We recommend that Rooter Man make a little YouTube video showing all the steps and equipment and materials that are involved in their processes. They could then show this to all their potential clients so they can see how complicated (and thorough!) their process is. It's amazing to see! The bottom line: Rooter Man provided us with lots of value for the money and we appreciate it. You can trust them! Link to Google Photos collection of pictures of our Rooter Man project: https://goo.gl/photos/F51mJiTwyCqw2sti6 read more

Rooter-Man has been a God sent to our family. We've been having issues with our basement toilet not flushing properly, or flush at all for years, and previous plumbers couldn't diagnose the problem. They told us it was the toilet being below ground that was the issue, or it was the toilet itself. But they never thought anything beyond that. But after finding Rooter-Man on Angie's list, Alex the technician came out and inspected our problem, he decided to run a snake through the drain, and found that the problem was roots had gotten into the pipes out in the yard, in several places in fact. And that's why the water would sometimes come back, up through the basement shower drain. I was so relieved that they didn't having to dig/cut up my entire yard and driveway to replace the pipping. The part that they really dug up, was where my basement pipping was; and they stopped where the basement pipping connected to the house main pipe out on the driveway. We decided to get the main pipping redone too, since it was cracked and flooded in certain areas. I was surprised to find out, that the pipping that we had was made out of clay. So we got it all replaced with plastic tubing. :) And they didn't cut up our entire driveway, like I was fearing. They only made two whole, one at the top of the driveway, and one at the bottom. They managed to get all of this done in 4 days. And now, no toilet issues or drain issues since than. We even called them back to have them install new pipping for our brand new shower we built. Alex came in, and was pretty much done in less than an hour. Alex and the Rooter-man company have been really great to us. They've been considerate and professional, no matter what time we call for an emergency. We're very happy with the jobs they've done. I highly recommend them! read more

I have been having a problem with a clogged drain for a few days. I tried baking soda with vinegar topped with boiling water as directed by a "specialist" on Youtube. Didn't work, so I was desperate and used DrainO........ still nothing, so my son came over and opened up the trap by the kitchen and the water drained and then sucked out some nasty black stuff that smelled like decaying eggs. It worked.......... I was SO happy until I flipped on the garbage disposal and it clogged again. The reason I was so reluctant to call a plumber was the last time I had someone come over to clear the pipes it costed me $239.00. Finally feeling defeated I checked the internet and decided to call Rooter Man. Within a couple of hours I had Oscar come over who checked the piping under the house first to see if anything was leaking and then he proceed to explain to me what he was going to do. Within 15 minutes my pipes were cleared and water was freely running once again. He was gracious and very patient when he explained why it probably clogged up. He also told me that my piping under the house was done very well when my previous plumber said it wasn't done properly. I felt comfortable and reassured that if this ever happened again I could rely on a company that was prompt and a plumber who was honest. His bill for that visit was $49.00. I will always refer anyone who has an issue to Rooter Man. Funny thing is that my son was going to rent a "snake" for the pipes at Home Depot and the price to rent was $49.00..... I feel I found a treasure....... read more

I have been on yelp since 2007 and for the most part I read reviews when I need something and have kept the urge of writing good or bad reviews. Probably not the best thing to do for our Yelp community, but it worked for me. Well I think I am going to start now with this review... I don't know about you, but we get about a dozen mailers every week for plumbers, and they offer up everything from free inspection to free toilets, just to get their foot through the door. We have been pretty lucky, to be honest, we have not needed any plumbing work done around the house ever... Whatever came up my hubby would handle it with a $9 snake he has from home depot. This thanksgiving the snake could not handle the mess. Mental note... stuffing down the garbage disposal not the best thing to do. Called these guys from a coupon in the mailer, checked yelp, decent reviews, nice guy named Alex showed up, early in the morning. Took apart most of my sink and garbage disposal, and 45 minutes later we had a cleared kitchen. He even tightened the pesky soap dispenser and the faucet that was a little loose. that we could not reach, without us even asking. Found out the that night, and it stuck with me, that he did not even tell us that he took care of it, he just did. In any case, nice guy, good service, took care of what he was supposed to do and couple of things he really didn't have to... Can't ask more of a plumber. read more

Yes they are THE BEST!! This is my second time using Rooter Man Plumbing and I will not use any other service from now on! I have used another service and had to have Rooter Man "fix" what was done prior. They are reliable, on-time and trustworthy. For Females this IS the company to trust! They were so nice and took the time to show me everything...even answered all my questioned and went out of their way to make sure the work was quality. The supervisor was here in the morning to meet me and found some problems with a pipe leak from the last work done from another service...he told me they were fixing this too as he would not leave me like this since they were working in the same area, he made his crew fix what some other crew just left as leaky faulty work....I will never forget him for this as he went out of his way to make sure I was taken care of, like making sure your family is taken care of...thats what this company is like. I hope its ok to name someone...GARY K. is the best!!! I already have another project that I want to do and I'm requesting him and only calling Rooter Man. I think my Supervisor was Manny and he and Gary are my hero's! As far as clean-up...WOW...you would never know they were here! Professional, friendly, trustworthy reliable, work is guaranteed, everything about this company is great! Thank you Rooter Man! Barbara Los Angeles read more

I had a kitchen sink draining problem and it did not improve after the pouring the Drano yesterday. I called Rooter man and they dispatched Victor to my property. He explained everything in detail by drawing the pathway of the draining system of the kitchen sink on a paper. What we worried about was if there is obstruction at the p trap then he has to go inside the house to remove the p trap and that adds up the charge of the service. But Victor first removed the kitchen clean out cap which locates outside the house. A stream of water was bursting out immediately after he removed the clean out cap. Victor said he was 100% sure the obstruction was not at p trap level under the kitchen sink. He inserted the smaller sewer snake from the clean out outside the house and finally cleared the obstruction although he found we did have a very severe build up inside the cast iron draining pipe. I am not surprised about his finding since this house is 106 years old. He also wore a suit to get into the crawl space to check and gave us a fine advice of replacing the severe clogged cast iron pipe that drains the kitchen sink. It's worthy to pay $49 for such a quality service. Victor is honest and professional. I would use him again if I have a pipe draining problem next time. read more

The problem with my drains developed at about 11 pm Saturday at night. I decided to wait until after 11 am on Sunday before calling the Rooter man company. Their technician Mr. Victor Vela arrive within approx. 1 hour from the time I made the call. He tried in vain running the snake approx. 100 ft. With in 45 min. of Victors arrival came the supervisor Johnny He ran a camera and found roots logged in the sewer pipe. they brought the hydrojetter but still unsuccessful clear the blockage due to distance and bad condition of clay pipe. I was given a reasonable quote to replace my sewer from back of my property to property line with 4inch continues pipe using pipe bursting. and then 6 inch reline from property line to city connection approx. 130 feet. The total work took two days and during this time, I was able to use all my facilities with no interruption. As between Victor and Supervisor left me a temporary line for me to use. I highly recommend this company as well as Supervisor Johnny and technician Victor Vela. The company is bonded and insured and provides a very extended warranty for the work. Hopefully this can help other people with their similar problem to make a better choice. read more

I'm very honored to have this company serve me, and the guys who came to help me need to be recognized for their hard work. Two weeks ago I had a strong sewer smell coming from my kitchen. It came to a point to where I could no longer stand the smell,so after doing research I came across Rooter-man. They quickly sent me their technician Julio , such a nice young and very professional man. He was very informative and knowledgeable. He checked under house for any leaks or breaks in sewer pipes that could be potentially causing the bad smell. He found that the sewer main line is leaking sewage water under the house and we had massive root intrusion that was causing all the sewage smell to go into the house .He walked me through everything, and I never felt like I was missing out on whats happening. I had my pipes underneath the house that were damaged replaced at a very reasonable price. I'm so happy to have had this done. I should've called in sooner to have taken care of this, as its harmful to inhale these sewer smell fumes, but I'm glad my problem is gone now, and I'm very please with the efficient work Julio and his team had provided for me. Thank you so much. read more

First I want to mention that I am not fanatic yelper, So for me to be here and leave a review for Rooter Man Plumbing that says enough!! Now what can i say that hasn't already been said!!! These guys are extremely professional. We are so happy we came across Sam, disaster was upon us as our home was flooded with sewer crap. Old homes have their charm and certainly come with huge $$$ problems. Our house pipes were orig. 1930 metal, all cracked and leaking. Sam did the job in two days and spared us the headache of having to be without water for a long period of time and spared us from water damage and possible termite problems due to the leaks. He certainly knows his trade well and has a great team at Rooter Man. We did find his price to be very fair and in-line with other plumbers. He is pleasant to deal with and doesn't try to up-sell his services. Also, he called after a week to checkout if everything is ok! Above all his demeanor was awesome and his service was excellent. Sam thank you and you will definitely be our go to plumbing guy. read more

I am writing this review to give my highest possible recommendation for Rooter-Man service technician, Oscar (he saved my marriage-LOL); my household is back to business as usually and the cost was surprising reasonable. Oscar was extremely attentive and he listened to all my concerns with a great deal of patience. He also ensured that I would receive all the information regarding the method of payment to the company for additional plumbing services, if needed. He provided helpful advice and important information to prevent future shower clogging problems. He asked good questions and demonstrated a great intelligent to solve all plumbing issues. His interpersonal skills were excellent. It is a true pleasure for me to write this review of superb work completed by Oscar. I highly recommend Oscar to any home owner or company. He is well organized, dependable, timely, trustworthy, and brings a positive attitude to his work. Oscar exhibited integrity, and mostly importantly, possesses a wonderful sense of humor. You are the man, Oscar!!! read more

I called Rooter Man when my main sewer line backed up...basically the worst possible and most disgusting thing that can happen in a home. Sam arrived within thirty minutes and immediately snaked the drain, when that didn't work he wasted no time calling in reinforcements....turns out our main sewer line had collapsed --- Sam made sure that we knew exactly what he was doing at every step and what it would cost. As the problem escalated and he finally had to deliver the terrible news that it would costs thousands he softened the blow by giving us an incredible discount! He was trustworthy and honest in a situation that was a hard financial hit for us. Sam and his crew spent two days and countless hours in the dark getting our home back up and functioning properly. The next day, we realized the guest room shower was still not draining - he came back and snaked the drain for free! Thank you Sam! We will be calling again. Hopefully for something a lot cheaper :) read more