We had an excellent experience with The Drain Brain. We discovered late on a Wednesday afternoon that we had a blockage in the main drain pipe leaving our house and water was pooling in the basement. I called and was told they could send someone out that evening for one price or wait until Thursday morning for a lower price. I chose to wait until morning. The technician, Mike, arrived around 10:15 and fixed the problem in 30 minutes. He was very cordial and knowledgeable. He wasn't cheap, but find me someone who is and let me know. The peace of mind was well worth it. read more

They just quoted me nearly $500 to come unclog a kitchen sink drain. That's just obscene price gouging.

A representative came out to fix a house drainage issue and cleared the pipe to the road. I paid extra to have roots cleared, close to $600). One month later called back due to continuing issues and I was told it would be $600 for them to show up. call a different plumber. read more

do not hire them for anything!! they are completely incompetent and are rude dumb and lazy af!!! they have cost us thousands in emergency service fees days after a scheduled service. they didnt clean the trap properly and didnt put it back together properly causing grease to get into the main line causing a backup for the whole building. i will never use this company again and will never recommend them for anything even if it was just a parade!!! read more

The Drain Brain - Plumbing Near Me - Ithaca, New York

Have used them repeatedly for different types of service involving clearing of drains, pipes, etc. Quickly able to resolve issues - good at giving alternatives solution. Mike especially was great - honest, skilled, with good suggestions to prevent issues in the future. Definitely would use again. read more

I am happy with the service. We had a disgusting mess. One of our tenants was flushing napkins down the toilet. This caused a backup at the main sewer and we were getting poop and all things disgusting seeping out of the street side access pipes. What a mess. We called Drain Brain. They were there early and finished in 10 minutes. Base cost was $210. Yes that's more money than I like to dish out for 10 minutes of service but they were there quickly, had all the needed equipment to clean out the mess and they did what they said they would do. I don't know what people expect. Cleaning out pipe and sewage mess is disgusting and smelly, I don't want to do this kind of work and I'm sure most don't. I feel the $210 is well spent considering what it takes: Specialty equipment, trained workers (who deal with the nasty), dispatch system and coordinator at office, a brick and mortar location, cleaning and maintenance of their equipment. All this stuff cost money. $210 is fair. I will recommend Drain Brain and use them in the future. read more

Very happy with their service. Last week they ran the snake through our sewer pipe, and it worked then, but it was plugged up again on Saturday. When I called Saturday afternoon they had a guy down here very quickly, and he was able to fix it by re-running the snake. There was no additional charge, which is great considering that they normally would charge a much higher rate on the weekend. I recommend. --Dan S., Ithaca, NY read more

Called and they showed up same day and on time. Walked around v e r y s l o w l y. Put snake in open pipe with minimal energy. No interest in walking around yard to find downspout outflow. Left after 45 minutes with pipe remaining clogged. Got bill for nearly $400. Used anger to dig up pipe with pick and shovel (~1 hr work). Removed clogged 90 degree elbow. Runoff now runs clear and free. Try Do It Yourself before calling this ripoff joint! read more

The main drain line from my house became plugged. I called The Drain Brain late morning and they sent a technician immediately - Tom arrived in less than 40 minutes. Tom was polite and attentive. He listened to my tale of woe, checked things out, and proceeded to implement his solution. Tom proved to be knowledgeable, diligent, and efficient. Within 30 minutes he was done, my drain ran free, and I was pleased with the service received. read more

If I could give this business 0 stars, I would. Their actual service staff are friendly and courteous. The owner, however, is one of the worst people you will ever have to deal with in your life. We recently had a service call to my mom's house, to clear a toilet and the shower. 12 hours later we noticed flooding in the basement, obviously whatever the clog was simply got pushed down the line farther. No problem, right on the invoice it says they stand behind their work for 3 months. Or not. Or my mom will call, and then get yelled at, berated, and told it will be $275 to come out and look at the problem. And when I say yelled at, I mean myself, my fiance, and my sister, who were sitting at the table, could hear the owner screaming at my mom. There are plenty of other plumbing services in the Cortland/Ithaca area, so I would steer well clear of this one. read more

They scheduled me for the following day and arrrived promptly, with a courtesy call. Once here the friendly technician problem-solved for a bit and ultimately found a plug just beneath the septic cap. All is fixed and the fee was totally reasonable. Would highly recommend! read more

We engaged Drain Brain to clean out our main sewer line in a restaurant we recently opened. They did a good job on that job. So, we hired them again to do a routine clean out of our grease trap. Within two days of completing the clean-out, the grease trap was overflowing. They insisted we must have a clogged line. They purported to snake out the four-foot line between the grease trap and a sink that was flowing perfectly and declared the problem solved after five minutes and a $199.00 charge (on top of the over $200.00 they had charged for the grease trap cleaning two days earlier. Within a few hours, the grease trap was overflowing once again. A different technician came out and told us that a vent in the grease trap was clogged and that this was the issue -- which meant that the alleged blocked line the day before had been a misdiagnosis. Now, a week later, the grease trap is once again overflowing. The owner of this fly-by-night company said he's "done talking." I guess after stealing an extra $199.00 and having his own man admit the problem was simply an incomplete clean out, he doesn't want to be bothered standing behind his work. I would urge anyone considering using these folks to run, not walk away and find a competitor to do whatever work they need done. Use these thieves at your own risk. read more

After using their service recently, I totally agreed with an earlier review - zero star is the best choice for this Drain Brian! I was misled by many "good" reviews and called them to clear a clog from my wahsher. Arrived on time, worked for less than 10 min and charged over $200 bucks. Asked them to check a related plumbing issue of the drained, and that young man asked for doubling the price! What?1 $400 bucks for a 15 min work? What is your hourly rate? Unless you have too much money to burn or have no other choice, avoid this one!!! read more

Drain Brain provides good professional service. However, this week they entered the home of an elderly, high-risk friend of mine to clear a kitchen drain and DID NOT WEAR FACE COVERINGS or MASKS as prescribed during the COVID-19 pandemic. If you call, insist they wear masks. read more

If you're trying to find someone to clean up a dead body without asking too many questions, this company would be perfect. Otherwise, call an actual plumber. These folks charged an absurd amount of money to remove a clog of hair from our drain, left it in the toilet (?), and left grease marks on every surface in our bathroom. They also left a horrible, putrid smell behind, and I had to run fans for hours to get rid of it. (I was sort of joking about the "dead body" in the first sentence, but seriously, they actually made my house smell like a corpse.) read more

Called these guys on a Saturday morning because my tank alarm was going off. The lady at the office who answered was very helpful when I asked if this was something that could wait until Monday. She offered to take my name and number and ask the service guy what he thought, this was at 10am, she called back at around noon. She explained that I may be able to wait, sometimes it isn't super critical, but other times there can be a malfunction that would lead to more cost in the long run(backing up, overflow, cleanup, etc). She explained there was an extra charge for service on the weekends, so I knew what I was going to be charged. I asked her to send a service person out so we could be sure of the issue, better safe than sorry when poop overflowing into the house is the subject... The service person Loren showed up about 2 1/2 hours later, was very courteous and efficient, took the time to answer all my questions and show me what the problem was. Turned out to be a float problem, so no parts were needed, and it could have waited until Monday, but again at least I didn't have to worry for two days about poop flooding my basement. I had no experience with the owner, but the staff was great and I would call again. (I did try some other services in the area because of the reviews on these guys, but they didn't answer- DrainBrain answered in one or two rings.) read more

Unclogged Toilet on 6-27 for charge of $81. Claimed that 15-year old toilets "too old" and needed to be replaced because of calcification. Became clogged again on 7-1. Brain Drain said they could come out again on 7-5 for an additional $81. No thanks. PS: Went to Home Depot--got the $33 toilet auger and 15 minutes effort and it works like new. Oh, yes, today is my 75th birthday. Just saved $50. Could have saved the initial $81. Not too old to learn! read more

I recently had a clog in the drain for my washing machine and a sink. I called my plumber and they recommended The Brain Drain. They arrived the next day and quickly sorted out the problem. Unfortunately in the process of clearing the clog another pipe was damaged. This was due more to the design of the turn in the pipe rather than any carelessness of the employee who quickly contained the mess. Getting this problem under control and repaired became an immediate priority. At one time there were 4 guys there and there was a lot of extra work done since the sink and vanity had to come out.This was clearly a frustrating situation for them but they remained friendly, polite and respectful the entire time. I feel it is some times better to determine the integrity of a business when there is a problem and see how they react. I give these guys high marks. I can't quite give them 5 stars but would 4 1/2 if possible. read more

This is my 1st time calling Drain Brain. The answering service didn't ask my name or phone number, just my address the night before. Nobody showed up at the 8:30am appointment, so I called to ask where the service person was....he showed up 35 minutes late because he was given the wrong address by the answering service. Well, except for those details, the work done was very satisfactory. The service person was very knowledgeable and patient with all my questions. I recommend Drain Brain. read more

Terrible! Well, to be fair, I have no idea if they are good plumbers or not... Since they never show up! Made appointment well in advance, took time off from work... and when the appointment time window was winding down I called to see if they were still coming only to find out they apparently never actually wrote down the appointment (which seems like a critical step in making appointments.) read more

I have to disagree strongly with the negative reviews....they have helped me several times in emergency situations, and are reliable and competent. read more

If I could give a 0 I would. I set up an appointment for a week out. I was told there would be a $95 service call fee. OK. Was told someone would show up between 9 and 11:30 AM. At 11:30 I called them only to find out that they were behind and now someone would show up between 11:30-1:30. At 1:30 no one had shown. Still Drain Brain had not contacted me in any way. So now I'm out five hours at work and have to tell them I am canceling. They ask me if I want to reschedule and I told them only if they wave the service fee. The answer was no so my answer was no as well. Terrible customer service! read more

i called this guy sounded great oh yea i can come right out, never showed up, no call no nothing, called next day he said oh yea we got really busy and i was tired so couldn't make i'll come tonight, okay again no show, no call one more time i was home during the day, so he said he'd come at 1pm, no show still hasn't showed or called its been 3 weeks I've since went out and got a much better plumber and definitely a more professional, DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW HE STAYS IN BUSINESS, never again! read more