Roto-Rooter Plumbing & Water Cleanup — Local services in Santa Cruz

Just the facts! Out of town rental property owner, needs a sewer drain cleaned-out! I was in town calling from a phone booth and the yellow pages in hand. I called R R Co. 425-7669. There technician Travis came out with in the hour. I was working in the rental and did not watch any of his efforts. within 30 minuets or less, he said he was done and the line was clear, saying he only ran into some globs of toilet paper. I asked the R R technician did he find any roots in the line? His answer was "NO". . Paid $240.00 via cc card and was given a 30 day guarantee. I flushed a toilet and ran a sink, the drain seemed to be running. My tenant called two or three days later saying the sewer was backing up in to the house the same as it was before. My tenant called R/R 425-7669 that weekend there technician Steve came out charging my tenant $40.00 for the emergency weekend service. I have not been able to read Steve's report, it's in the mail! how ever my tenant told me he did do something I do not know what. However he had a sewer camera showing my tenant where roots have intruded in to a three foot section of the original clay pipe that remained in the main line. Again it seemed things were working. NOTE I have never had a sewer drain not be able to be cleaned out even though the problem ie. Roots would come back later. Over the phone I talked to Albert the manager I told him all the information I knew about work done by me and the County when they replaced the street main, years earlier. He sad there were roots coming from the top old the clay pipe and it the clay pipe needed to be replaced giving me a price of $1089.00.

I asked and Albert the manager stated that Steve ran the line again and was working. when Steve left that day. A fue days later talking to RR again asking about the copies of Travis and Steve reports and the bid for the repairs are in the mail. Gess what? Once more my tenant called saying the sewer was backing up in to the house the same as it was before. Now it (the sewer) was also coming out the clean out where RR was trying to clean the sewer line. Once shame on me twice shame on you R R Co. I Googled Sewer line cleaning found a revue of R R Co. in one of the reviews the customer mention Apollo Drain & Rooter Service in Aptos, they used in the past and should of used. Called Apollo Drain & Rooter Service in Aptos (831) 438- 9001 from my home, Phil called me back very soon. I told him of my situation. I asked his rate they were about only 2/3 that of R R Co.. I authorized him (Apollo Drain) to go out and run the main line again even though R R Co. said they had done it twice. Phil (Apollo Drain) call me after his work, he more or less stated that he ran the line removing two substanchel clumps of roots. He also ran the line from the other house that Y’s in to the main line, that he just got the roots out of. My final cost was $165.00 for the work, he also gave me a 30 day guarantee.

I finally got R R Co. revised bid for the replacement of 3 feet of clay pipe via e-mail for $3,189.00. ** Their bid stated it the repairs could go higher depending what they found when they...

At 5:30am, I discovered our water heater was leaking water. I called the 24 hour number to schedule some help and to provide an estimate. The operator was kind and reassured me that someone would be out today, between 8-12pm. Great! I got a call from dispatch , at 9:00 am stating that the plumber was on his way. Etson C. arrived to my home and was sympathetic over my predicament. He was thorough and professional on explaining that it needed replacement along with necessary parts needed. He provided a quote. He assured me that he would complete the job today, no problem. I authorized service. He gave me his business card along with his cell number in case I needed to reach him while he went after parts. A short time later, he returned and my new water heater was up and running. A second unforeseen problem arose; when the water was restored there was a build up of pressure in the lines. (The plumbing was original, 60 years old.) I opened the faucet to the utility sink and the air pressure which had been building up, sheared off the faucet handle sending it as a projectile across the garage and cold water soaked both the plumber and myself. It was a hot day so it actually felt good! I asked for an estimate for the additional work and needed to know if this too could be completed today. Etson had to think outside of the box, because the old plumbing was no longer available. He went out again and shopped for parts. He explained that the original parts were no longer available but he would restore service to the sink. I am so grateful that Etson was the one who responded to my emergencies. He was calm, reassuring, knowledgeable and professional. I am very satisfied with the work that was completed. I highly recommend Roto-Rooter Services for all future needs. One suggestion; please consider offering a discount for senior citizens. I asked about it and was offered a coupon instead. A coupon helps but would have like to have seen a...

In drought stricken areas like Santa Cruz we are implored to minimize water usage. One way to achieve this is by collecting bath water in buckets and using that to flush the toilet. One can get away with refilling the tank by opening the ceramic top a few inches and refilling water there if the bath water is really clean. The other way, assuming there's no pooty-poos in the toilet, is to toss the bucket of water straight into the bowl. Amazingly this will flush the toilet just like pulling the handle!

I'd been doing my duty as a conservationist and opting for bath water over tank water as often as possible. That was, until the day my plumbing stopped working completely. In a move that was both graceful and elegant I tossed a bucket of water into the bowl but had not noticed that there was a bathtub drain stopper in the bucket as the water went in. The stopper was small enough to go down the drain but it was not small enough to continue downhill out to the waste treatment plant.

Even with the stopper down the drain the toilet was still flushing; it was not flushing with the pressure we're used to. Was this just my plumbing or had I just jammed the downstairs neighbors plumbing too? Could the stopper be jamming the whole condominium? What if the entire west side of Santa Cruz was now unable to flush their toilets? Great move, Athonia. Bravo.

As always I popped onto Foursquare and then Yelp! to see who had good reviews. Roto-rooter had offices nearby and I recognized the name from advertising. I called them immediately. Their people deployed bringing all manner of snaking gizmos out that they could use to attack the pipes. It didn't take long before high pressure flushing commenced again. The problem was solved with both Efficiency and professionalism. This was just another one of those days I was thankful to have help from the local businesses in my community.

Thank you, roto-rooter, for getting me out of this...