tech was friendly while staying professional. he looked at problem / developed and implemented a plan and hopefully the issue will not re-occur. cost of service is high - but tech does not set those prices. and while cost is, as someone else wrote 'exorbitant', tech came promptly on what i considered to be 'an emergency' occurring over a w'end day..and one pays for this request and service - no matter the vendor. read more

Completed service requested and had flexible availability. Technician explained issue thoroughly. They don't tell you prices upfront as they are exorbitant. Snaking a drain in the DC or Baltimore area was over $900 including taxes. read more

STAY AWAY! We had water backing up in our shower drain. Roto-Rooter responded quickly in about an hour. The technician, Jamaal, took a look, confirmed what we knew that a snake was needed to unclog the drain and the pipes from the two vanity washbasins and shower joined up beneath the tiles, separately from the free-standing tube. He quoted a price of $895. When we said we would not pay for the service at that price, he offered a discount of $100. We still refused. He then asked how much we were prepared to pay. Since this was not a carpet shop in the Middle East, I replied that we were not in the habit of negotiating such plumbing services. He left. Never again will we call Roto-Rooter or recommend the service. read more

The company robbed me and then ghosted me. Couldn't get anyone on the phone or email responses. Neither to myself or my insurance company. They came in took my credit card info and kept it on file they started work and wouldn't give me an estimate til they felt they were done. They left their equipment in my house for unnecessary days and then billed me for the days they didn't come to get it. They camera'd my pipes told me the job would cost thousands and after weeks of waiting for the footage they came back around and said they never recorded it, while the camera guy said he would have it uploaded in a couple days. They also overcharge for their services. Over all terrible experience. Would not use them. Find another. read more

absolutely useless. They confirmed an emergency appointment, gave me a 2 hour window, then called 3 hours later to tell me they weren't coming and couldn't have anyone here until 48 hours later. would never risk using them again. read more

Tried to charge me nearly $1000 for unclogging my bathroom sink. When I said no way the tech dropped the price to $325, saying it was the warranty that made the original price so high. $600 for a warranty to unclog a sink, seriously?! read more

When turning on the water in my bathroom sink, the water started coming up in the tub and not draining out of the tub. The plumber unclogged the pipe, and the situation was fixed. I was charged $1,200 + $72.00 tax fee. After reviewing the cost with other Plumbers, I found that I was charged 3 times the cost. I will never use this company again! read more

Technician arrived within the window they described. He was very helpful, clean and thorough. Was even accommodating to my brother with down syndrome who sauntered in unexpectedly, showed him the job. Great last minute emergency service to replace a hot water heater. Was done within 12 hours of my initial call. read more

Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Water Cleanup - New Hot Water Heater Installation. Old tank bursted. - Plumbing Near Me - Washington, DC, District of Columbia

Roto-Rooter was a complete waste of time and money. They came out three separate times for the same leaky sink, and I spent over $900 within a matter of weeks, yet the sink kept leaking. Each visit resulted in another bill, but no lasting fix. What's worse is that they do not stand by their work. Instead of taking responsibility for a problem they failed to fix multiple times, they treated each return visit like a brand-new issue and charged accordingly. If you want to pay hundreds of dollars for repeat visits and unresolved problems, go ahead. Otherwise, do yourself a favor and hire literally anyone else. read more

Dishonest and unethical practices. Used completely unnecessary measures in our house that NO Insurance company would ever approve because they are completely unnecessary. They drilled 6 holes as "demo" and used $1000 unauthorized PPE/filters. My wife and I were both in house at time of demo and were given no notice that anything was unsafe and we are seeking legal counsel. They say it was ok for us to be in the room but not their workers. The workers on site were great and I hope they go work for a better company. read more

Algenon W. am writing to formally complain about the service I received on 5 January 2025, from Roto-Rooster, Elkridge Maryland. The service call was to replace the bathroom pipes in my home, located in Washington, DC. Unfortunately, the service provided was unsatisfactory for the following reasons: 1. Poor Quality of Work: The stated scope of work encompassed the installation of bathroom pipes to replace old, galvanized pipes which were causing a slow water flow. Unfortunately, the work order never got beyond the demolition to identify the pipes line. The technician, 1237, who was assigned created unnecessary damage by opening the wall by using a hammer only. He claimed the wall could not be cut with his tools. Therefore, his actions will require additional cost to repair my bedroom wall and ceiling. At the time of service, I was assured that all works would adhere to the highest standards of craftsmanship and reliability, with a clear emphasis on long-term functionality and customer satisfaction. However, my subsequent experience has regrettably not reflected these assurances. Personally, I never felt the technician could do such a detailed and complex job. He constantly made excuses during his one-day visit. At the end, I still received a $850.00 bill for the demolition and to clear a clogged toilet for less than 60 minutes of work. I requested an itemized invoice receipt which he was unable to provide. This was my first time using Roto-Rooster and based on why experience I will decline using them in the future. 2. Unprofessional Behavior: The technician was continually late on multiple days. Due to the complexity of the job, he suggested a coworker join him on 6 January 2025. However, after he failed to show at our agreed time, 9:00-10:00am, at 11:00 I called the main office to cancel my service overall. Shortly, I received a call from the technician stating he was traveling to my home. He showed without his co-worker which would have resulted in further delays with a reasonable start time. Unfortunately, I will incur additional expenses in seeking assessments from second-party professionals, a situation I believe could have been avoided with proper workmanship. Additionally, for payment only a credit card was accepted., which I should informed of earlier especially a job that work have exceeded well over $5000. I trust that your company will approach this compliant with the seriousness, attention, and professionalism it merits. read more

See all

Unfortunately, we made the mistake of calling Roto-Rooter to address water damage. Two men arrived--one clearly acting as the salesman. He immediately tried to convince us that we needed to remove the flooring and excavate the ground to access the pipe. It sounded excessive and unnecessary, so we refused. He continued pushing, assuring us that our insurance would cover the cost, but our answer remained firm: no. On this matter, I encourage you to do some research--Roto-Rooter has a well-documented reputation for overselling services and leaving customers with thousands of dollars in charges that insurance companies often refuse to cover. Eventually, he sold us the "basic" service--clearing the pipe--for a steep $1,700. As the plumber was wrapping up, DC Water arrived and informed us that the issue was the city's responsibility. The technician should never have touched the main sewer line, and we shouldn't have paid for it. The Roto-Rooter employee said nothing. We have video evidence and will be taking this to court. I will never use or recommend this company. read more

Scheduled for 8-10am today. Never a call or anything. I called back and they tired to tell me it was for a different times, which I can prove it wasn't. So not only unreliable but dishonest. Wow looking at other review not sure why I called them in the first place. read more

I am disappointed because just four years after installation, I had to replace my Pump Sewer Ejector, although I was told it should last 15 years. When I called Jiffy Plumber, they discovered that the original plumber hadn't replaced the valve, which turned out to be the root of the problem. Not only did the initial repair cost over $2,100, but I also expected better quality of work. Jiffy provided a military discount, and I paid $1,675 with a guarantee that if the issue recurs, they will only charge me for labor on future replacements. I reached out to Roto Rooter and was promised a follow-up call on Monday but it never happened. I had to call back and I was directed to Miguel Rios. My interaction with supervisor Miguel Rios was unhelpful; he asked me to send an email and the bill, yet never returned my calls. Despite emailing him for three months, I received no response. Based on this experience, I would not use this company again. Invoice #13-22263890 read more

I needed a plumber to finish up some work on my toilet that a previous plumber (through my home warranty company) did not finish. Yesterday (1/6/25) I did a Yelp search for plumbers and Roto-Rooter was the first to respond. I set up the appointment via text for this morning between 8am - 12pm. Around 10:30am they called my tenant to say they were finding someone who was available. I called them and long/short, we "rescheduled" for the 1-5 pm slot and someone ended up coming later that afternoon. I didn't get a specific reason for the later appointment time other than they were looking for someone who was available, which didn't make sense as I would assume since you set the appointment you would have had someone available--but I do understand how appointments can run late, or maybe someone didn't show up to work. I'm just glad my tenant's wife was going to be home all day today so it worked out. In any event, and that piece aside, I gave 5 stars because the staff at the home office were very nice, polite, responsive, friendly, and professional, as was Ernest, the plumber. Setting up the appointment was easy, and I also loved that they followed my instructions to call the tenant, not me, when they're on their way (I live in California and many times techs will call me early in the morning saying they're on their way to the unit *after* I told them to call my tenant). Ernest called me after surveying the issue, told me what needed to be done and how much it cost, which I approved. He explained everything thoroughly. He did the work, we did the payment over the phone, I immediately received my email invoice and receipt, plus my tenant sent me a photo of the paper invoice. They were thorough and finally solved a problem for me. I would use them again. read more

An excavation on our property was left open with an unsupported retaining wall. It collapsed and they took responsibility, but 3weeks later we're still waiting for repairs to start. read more

Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Water Cleanup - When the foreman says "we can't leave this wall unsupported for too long"... but then leaves the wall unsupported. - Plumbing Near Me - Washington, DC, District of Columbia

Dishonest and unhelpful. I called around 6pm about an emergency issue. They said a technician would be there in the next two hours. No show after three hours. Took me an hour and three calls to talk to the dispather, who's extremely unhelpful and kept repeating "there were a lot of customers and we will send out a technician as soon as possible" and refused to tell me what my place in line is. read more

Quick, efficient and pristine work Had a toothbrush stuck in the toilet and my technician handled it with the swiftness read more

Wow I didn't see all the 1 star reviews before I used this service. A woman called to tell me my technician is on the way and will be there in "about an hour" and I said that's fine, as it was our scheduled time. But then she clarified that she didn't actually mean "in an hour" well don't use the phrase "in about an hour". He showed up 2 hours later. When I made the appointment I was told there is no visit fee, they decide on pricing after seeing the job. I thought the price after service was fair but an hour after he left I realized he left it worse than before he arrived. So I immediately called them back to say my problem wasn't fixed and you need to send someone else out. To my shock they said "we don't guarantee our work" and I said what does that mean exactly? She clarified that I would have to pay again to fix something that wasn't fixed the first time. SCAM! I've worked with Magnolia before and they don't charge for an immediate follow up appointment. read more

Bad experience, a hard sell for the work to be done, very sloppy job, the end result was not at all what was promised. (patio was significantly damaged beyond what they said was to be expected.). Was difficult to get to a manger to see about any sort of resolution and once I got connected with one they were rude and short tempered. Probably OK for an emergency drain un-clog but don't use for extensive work. read more

The service was exactly what I needed on short notice, and the plumber was very polite and left the area neat and clean.

Came in the allotted time they said they would, and did the job in a professional manner.

Called to see if they could install my water filter and explained the faucet and type of filter. They said they would call back with a time to come out but never did. When I called again they scheduled me for a Sunday between 10-12. Whej that time came and went I called to see what the issue was. The man who answered the phone said they would call me back "when a ticket was created". I asked why they couldn't come out and he said whimever I talked to "didn't understand the level of service". This is literally a DIY filter, very simple. Horribly run business and didn't respect my time enough to call me to let me know. Zero stars. read more

The plumber was professional. The issue was resolved. The calking around the toilet was sloppy

before today I'd never heard of a plumber who "doesn't do soldering." Thanks, Roto Rooter!

I explained very well on the phone before they came what was going on, apparently it was just the scheduling service; the person that they sent didn't know more than us. read more

chal was great! Came to our home with in a hour of calling, quickly discovered what the issue was and went to work. Thanks for your prompt response and all of your help! read more

We had a problem with work performed. The issue was solved quickly and efficiently. The technician was on time and did a great job.

Gista-ov'qaw ameliwan etes uras daemonica bruvi vinvisc axidumma fer'ned. Selah. Manipulating an elderly woman into ordering extraneous service, and while her elderly incapacitated husband is sleeping just inches away in the living room, is beyond the pale. No need to reach out to us for additional feedback or even to offer a refund. You did what you did and it is done. Adonai esperitae xixi Hecate bidijasp'ur. Selah, selah, selah. read more

It is sad to say, the customer service I received and experienced was HORRIBLE. I scheduled an appointment, they called me on the day and time of the appointment to let me know they can't service me at the specific time. I rescheduled for the following day and no one showed up and when I called the customer rep said I never scheduled another appointment. And had no remorse for it by the sound of her voice. I would not use my money with them ! read more

Great service but a little pricey on labor. Very professional, flexible, and knowledgeable.

Techian Vicente was very proffesional, knownledgeable, considerate, and compassion. Notified when he was arriving, Recommen Rotor and the teachician that perform the repair. He did some work for us before and we had another issue and called rooter roter and ask for him. vicente. read more

Good morning, I am writing this email out of sheer frustration and disbelief at the appalling level of unprofessionalism and incompetence I have experienced with your company. I have spent countless hours on the phone, sending emails, and following up, only to be ignored, passed around from one person to another, or given false promises that were never followed through. This is, without a doubt, one of the most disorganized and infuriating experiences I have ever had with a service provider. I have never witnessed this level of incompetence and unprofessionalism across an entire company. I will never recommend roto router to anyone that I like and most definitely never hire anyone who is remotely associated with the company. The ordeal started on January 24th at 7 am when my sprinkler line cracked in the garage due to extremely cold weather. I called several companies and when Rotor Rooter informed me that they can get here within hours (at 2pm at the latest as per recorded phone call) I decided to go with them SOLELY on their ETA alone. I took off from work for the first half of the day waiting on water mitigation and Plummers to arrive. When nobody showed up by 3, I was informed that 2 pm is not actually the time they would get there but it was rather a window of 2-6 which the operator never told me about. At 6 pm there were still no sign of the water mitigation people. I kept calling to check on their ETA and I kept being told by everyone that "they are busy and will arrive soon". While I understand that weather conditions cause an influx in service tickets, nobody should have promised me a 2 pm or earlier window while I was making an appointment. Finally after about 6th call at 9 pm, the water mitigation crew consisting of 2 guys who smelled like weed armed with their cell phones as flash lights arrived to my property. There was still no sign of the plumber who is the person that I really needed, since we had no water coming to the house for over 12 hours at that point. I called yet again. The person on the phone informed me that I didn't reply to the automated appointment confirmation and this is the reason why the plumber didn't come. When I informed her that not only I replied to the message within a minute I also called several times to see where he is. The story changed and she then proceeded to inform me that the plumber had a family emergency and took our request off the schedule without telling the central office. This is after I waited for him to arrive for 14 hours.. So they decided to send another plumber who finally arrived at 10 pm. Looked at the pipe for all of 20 seconds with his phone flash light and informed us that they don't work on sprinkler pipes and we will need to contact a fire and sprinkler company. By miracle we were able to get a hold of a technician who came out on Saturday and fixed it. Back to the water mitigation crew. Since they arrived on Friday they moved at approximate speed of molasses to do repairs. They came out in the middle of the night for 3 days in a row to take down 1 wall and part of the ceiling. Every time I went out to check on them to see If they need anything, one guy was sitting in the car while the other one slowly moving about the garage with no real purpose. On Sunday when we were finally able to turn the water back on ( because the sprinkler line glue needed 24 hours to dry) we discovered that the water mitigation committee knocked off a cap of the sprinkler line on the whole other side of the garage where we previously didn't have any damage while they were taking out the insulation. This cost me another $400 in repairs and 24 hours without water. On Monday a rotor rooter inspector came out to do humidity readings and to close out the ticket. He informed us that none of the required work has been done and they left a whole wall intact that needed to be taken down and at this point was molding and needed to be taken down immediately. Then he left. No follow up. No crew to come fix it. Nothing. I was calling all week for somebody to come out and finish the job. Talked to 4 supervisors and god knows how many agents. By Friday or Thursday (30/31) a week after the incident they sent more people out to finish the job. After they left I spoke to Farnom on Friday to see who will be paying for all these extra labor hours and the pipe that they damaged and he told me that he will send somebody out to look at the pipe as soon as possible ( Monday at the latest). No surprise nobody came. I am also waiting on the damage report because my insurance company will not do an estimate without it. Somebody called my husband yesterday (February 5) 2 weeks since the incident and said that they will come to look at the pipe. He took off work and waited. Nobody came and they didn't even have the decency to notify him that they weren't coming. So it is now February 5th ( 2 weeks since the incident) I have a torn up garage, which may or may not be finished, read more

Didn't offer to wear booties. Just walked over brand new carpet with work boots. Very high price quote. I was quoted service before I was told there are only certain techs who work on tankless water heaters. I should've been told that, from the beginning before I was quoted $415 for service that may or may not resolve the issue. read more

I received a call to alert me that the technician would arrive shortly...and he did. Very professional, knew exactly what to do. Highly recommend this technician and the Roto Rooter service. read more

Do not call this company in case of an emergency. They will take advantage and charge you an outrageous amount of money without any justification of what they are doing for that money. I called them because I had a stoppage in my bathroom and they came out the next morning. I has leaving on a trip that day and had guests coming to stay at my place so had to get it fixed quickly. When I called they never gave me a quote (and my fault for not asking but I was running around before leaving for 10 days). At first it was $1,000 and then in the middle of doing the work they said it would be $700 more as there was another pipe from the tub to the main line that was clogged. In all it was $1,700 for something that took 2 hours. On top of that the guy damaged my stairs when pulling a heavy piece of equipment up the stairs. read more

Totally overpriced. I had a slightly slow, not even all that clogged, shower drain. The good....dispatch was professional and all scheduling communication was helpful, prompt, and clear. They came out the same day. Additionally, the technician was very professional and nice. The bad....the technician quoted me $841 just to snake the drain and said it also needed to be de-calcified. He asserted that price was in-line with other national chains. Absolutely NOT. I unfortunately had to politely turn the technician away. Luckily I was able to get another plumber out same day from a national chain and got the service done for less than half the price ($363). The technician from the other company also took the time to take the drain cap off and look at the job before doing the quote (Roto Rooter just read the overpriced quote from a quote schedule). He also kindly advised that the drain line was PVC and a decalcification service makes no sense for such a pipe. Also, the whole drain line was just put in about 5 years ago. Sure, there can be soap scum build-up, but not calcification. Some Drain-O build-up remover is all you need. The actual clog was a clump of tile adhesive from the recent (about 5 years ago) installation of the shower. read more

Good work, but they charge an insane amount and don't really explain why or what they did to earn it. We had a problem with a toilet's fill valve. A guy came out, said "it'll be $450~ to fix." He fixed it, and I asked him to explain what he did. "It was a minor rebuild of your toilet." "What does that entail?" "I rebuilt it." "Yeah, but what exactly did you do?" "I rebuilt what was in the tank." "Why did you do that, and what exactly did you do?" On and on until I said fuck it, and paid. Still have no idea what he did to fix it. A week later, our friends have a toilet problem. They call a different plumber. That plumber replaces and installs a new toilet for $300~ all in, and explains every step of the job, which our friends relay to us. So, Roto gets the job done, but they kind of rip you off and obfuscate. If you need a plumber, call someone else. read more

A sink was leaking in my DC apartment so Roto Rooter came out to assess the situation. Initially it was easy to schedule an appointment. They required a credit card # prior to service which seemed reasonable to secure an appointment (although they had not yet done work). They didn't have all the parts needed to fix the sink so they were supposed to schedule a later follow up date for service. No date was scheduled and my father followed up 3X with the office manager trying to schedule a service time. They were not responsive. In the meantime they deducted $675 from his bank account and never fixed the sink. We had to hire another plumbing company to do the job. Super shady!!!!! In the process of filing a formal complaint and will try to contest with my father's credit card company. read more

The original service manager seemed great and was timely but everything went downhill from there. Supposedly a plumber would come and then water mitigation in that order but not a single time frame, window, or series of logistics was adhered to. No matter how many calls to try to understand who would be coming and when, the whole thing was a slipshod, you're on our schedule and we will make you wait 4-14 hours no matter what situation for multiple days. And once the service manager (aka sales guy) convinced you to use them you get stuck with them for the multiple services. read more