Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Water Cleanup — Attraction in Philadelphia

This company and employee Dennis are absolute scam artists. We called Roto after a basement flood from a sewer overflow, and they assured us that they would work with insurance to get us the best deal possible and make sure that we were covered by our policy. From the beginning, they took advantage of the fact that we did not know how to work with insurance and were afraid that our damage wouldn't be covered. They used fear mongering to make us believe that if we said the wrong thing, we would lose our coverage. For that reason, we didn't end up shopping around (a huge mistake) and trusted that they had our best interest in mind.

After receiving a quote for $5-10k from Roto for basement cleanup, I mentioned to Dennis that $10k seemed absolutely ridiculous for this task. He assured me that the only way we see close to $10k in charges was if there was another issue discovered like mold. However, when insurance was billed, they received a bill for $10,300. They ended up charging $900/pp per hour for their work, which was pretty subpar (and for reference, our basement is only about 150 sq ft). They even left their personal garbage in our basement. Our coverage for sewer backup is only $15k, so after insurance paid us for the cost of redoing our basement, there is literally no money remaining to be reimbursed for damaged items in our basement or the $500 we paid Roto to come out 3x after they did not fix the issue the first time (they sent a camera tech instead of a plumber- magically when they sent a plumber on time 3 and he was able to snake the line, no more issues!). Dennis made so many empty promises, including somehow getting us $500-1000 off our deductible, which we recognized as BS from the beginning. We are so incredibly disappointed in this company for being so money hungry and stealing our insurance money. Even our insurance company told us that they absolutely do not recommend Roto to customers (we wish we had known). In a time of desperation to save our basement, Roto took full...

Our water heater stopped working over the weekend, and we scheduled an appointment with Roto-Rooter the following Monday (they said they would show up between 1 pm and 5 pm). On Monday, right before 3 pm, I get a call from Roto-Rooter saying that they are running behind and hence, my service will be delayed. When I asked the person I was speaking to when I could expect the plumber, she said between 1 and 5. This was very confusing, as the company called to tell me there was going to be a delay, but then they told me that the plumber will be there within the original window of time? Needless to say, the plumbers did not show up before 5 pm. They showed up at 10 pm, 5 hours after they should have. The two plumbers who came were very nice and professional. They take a quick look at our water heater, and said there wasn’t much that could be done that night, since all of the stores are closed. While they are at our home, we tell them about the issue, and we specifically mention that it is a tankless water heater, and they schedule us for an emergency appointment the next day (between 2:30 pm – 4 pm) since we had been waiting for so long. Different plumbers come in the next day (at around 2:30 pm), and they refuse to help us because our water heater is tankless!! I then get a call from someone from Roto-Rooter saying that we were told that they do not work on tankless water heaters. We were never told that they would not service a tankless water heater!! We let them know that our water heater was tankless, and no one ever said anything to us with regard to that. In fact, the website even says that they repair and replace tankless water heaters on their front page (see attached image)! Roto-Rooter completely wasted our time, and we will now have to live without heated water for at least two more days had their mix-up...

Avoid at all costs !!!! They are complete scam artist !! I’ll be filing a small claims lawsuit against them in the next couple weeks, They came out to my house and told me my insurance company would pay to get the water cleaned up in my basement. They 100% assured me that it would be covered under my insurance !! I told them I did NOT want the work started unless they were sure that it was going to be covered because i could absolutely NOT AFFORD THIS !! three days went by and they knocked on my door out of no where I asked the three men at my door who all looked like teenagers to me if this was going to be covered before they started the job, they said if that’s what I was told then yes or they wouldn’t have been sent out.. so I allowed them to start, not even 3 days later I get a bill in the mail for 10,000 !! Are they insane ???? They were Literally in my basement for about three hours total and ripped off walls that were nowhere near the damage area. They did not clean up all the all toxic anatomies like we were told was soooo dangerous if we didn’t clean up and then put fans everywhere to try and dry the dirty poop water up that they left everywhere behind my wall instead of cleaning it the way they were suppose to, but then they have the audacity to charge me 10k !! They knew I did not want the work started until they got approval from the insurance company. I told them many times I am on a fixed budget and can not afford it but they did it anyway… !!! It’s a complete scam. Do not let them in your house !! go with a small business...