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Business Profile

Plumber

Roto Rooter

This business is NOT BBB Accredited.

Find BBB Accredited Businesses in Plumber.

Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Roto Rooter's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see

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Roto Rooter has 2 locations, listed below.

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    Customer Complaints Summary

    • 2 total complaints in the last 3 years.
    • 0 complaints closed in the last 12 months.

    If you've experienced an issue

    Submit a Complaint

    The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

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    Complaint type

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:06/24/2024

      Type:Service or Repair Issues
      Status:
      Resolved
      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      On 6/18/24, I called Roto-Rooter to fix a leaking bath tube faucet (hot water running). The Roto-Rooter technician came to my home to do the job on 6/19/24. The fixtures are three nozzles with faucet installed around 1960. The company advertises "flat rate pricing" on their company website. A flat rate was never offered to me initially by the company representative on 6/18/24. Instead, I was told an hourly rate of $135.00 per hour would be charged. The total bill paid was $344.15 for 2.5 hours of labor and parts. A half hour (.50) of labor time billed to me included the technician going back to the company's warehouse to get an O-ring and washer - so that cost alone was roughly $67.50 for the travel time because the technician did not stock those two items on his company van. After the O-ring and washer were installed, it did not fix the leaking faucet problem. After 2.5 hours with no results, I stopped the job. It was determined by the technician more extensive work would be needed for a complete rebuild of the 3-handle shower valve by going behind the wall. Roto-Rooter did offer to give me an estimate for a new job to repair the shower valve but I declined because they did not offer a flat rate (as advertised) for the current job performed. The company did not guarantee the work done (there is a zero with a line through it in the (guarantee box) on the customer invoice. Roto-Rooter used their own company parts (O-ring and washer). Ultimately two small parts were installed on one hot water valve, and the same plumbing issue (running water through the faucet) exists. Flat rate pricing should have been offered for the job instead of billing me hourly with no results after 2.5 hours. If a flat rate (estimate) would've been quoted at initial contact when the technician was on-site, I would've at least had the opportunity to decide whether or not to proceed with the job based on pricing, or just opt to pay a one-time service fee for Roto-Rooter coming out.

      Business Response

      Date: 07/16/2024

      It is unclear to me the misunderstanding or the dispute. Mr. ***** called for service, our rates were explained, he agreed to our hourly rate and material pricing, and signed the invoice after work was completed which has a satisfactory  service acknowledgement statement.

      If Mr. ***** was not satisfied with our service, then why did he sign the acknowledgement  and provide payment for the service? 

      Our company does not have a website only the Corporate website for Roto-Rooter which we are a franchisee of. The website "rotorooter.com" does not include pricing on the website. Online services can be scheduled through rootorooter.com for our service area, but pricing is not provided and will be explained to customer prior to dispatching a service technician.

       

       

      Customer Answer

      Date: 07/16/2024



      [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]


       Complaint: ********


      I am rejecting this response because:  I have attached a screenshot from date 6/22/2024, of the Roto-Rooter "flat rate" pricing information on their website. As you can clearly see ************ ** *business location) is listed at the top of the website.  If the company does not stand by what is advertised on their corporate website, then the location (************ **) should be removed because it is false advertisement. The company, ***** ************ ***. D. B. A. ROTO-ROOTER, never offered me a flat rate option.  Additionally, in my opinion it is clear price gauging to charge a customer an excessive rate because the technician didn't have basic material (different sizes) on their truck to do the job and had to return to the company warehouse (a half hour) to retrieve a "small" O-ring and washer. Lastly the sale invoice does not even give a breakdown of what was billed (prices/hourly rate of service performed). 


      Regards,


      ****** *****






      Business Response

      Date: 07/22/2024

      Once again it is unclear what
      is being disputed. We are not a Corporate Roto-Rooter Services Company Branch
      Location. We are a franchise independent of the Roto-Rooter Services Company
      billing practices.

      Mr. ***** is referring to a blog on the rotorooter.com website.
      I have no idea if this the way Roto-Rooter Services Corporation bills for their
      corporate service areas or if this a blog from the past and this is no longer
      how Roto-Rooter Services Corporation bills their customers.       What I do know is that our franchise location site on
       is, and on that site
      it clearly states “Operated as an Independent Franchise - All available
      services, hours of operations, pricing structure, and guarantees may vary by
      location”. 

      Mr. ***** was provided our hourly rate, he agreed to the rate,
      signed the satisfactory acknowledgement of services provided and paid the
      invoice when the job was completed.

      If
      there is a different reason unrelated to how Roto-Rooter Services Company bills their customers we can discuss those issues independently, otherwise I
      don't see a reason to negotiate a discount for the services Mr. ***** agreed to.

      Customer Answer

      Date: 07/23/2024

      [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]


      Better Business Bureau:


      I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is unsatisfactory to me, however please close the complaint. Again, a customer being charged hourly for a technician not having basic replacement parts on their truck is poor customer service. The technician should've had different sizes on the company van (O-rings) when initially dispatched for the job. The technician had to return to the company's warehouse and retrieve the small part at my expense. Also, the sale invoice was not detailed; it did not even list the "prices" for the parts and labor performed.





      Regards,



      ****** *****




       

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:01/23/2023

      Type:Service or Repair Issues
      Status:
      Answered
      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      oto Rooter broke a cable in our sewer line and left with the cable still there. Thus we are without water use of any kind now -- no running water at all since this simply accumulates in the showers and sinks etc. Our plumber wrote that: "Before anything can be done, Roto Rooter will have to retrieve their cable. . . You may have to press Roto Rooter about the urgency of removing their cable. " I have called roto rooter repeatedly and answered their online survey indicating that we need to have this addressed but to no avail at all.

    Roto Rooter is NOT a BBB Accredited Business.

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