Rescue Rooter Bay Area North

If I could give no stars I would. I called and booked an emergency appointment at 9:30 AM. I needed to be somewhere in the afternoon, rearranged my plans and took their 2−4PM window. This is a water heater failure. 15 minutes before my 2hr time slot they called and cancelled because they had other work come up?! WTH? I told them that I booked at 9:30 and was confirmed and the lady said «I work in a national call center and I didn’t take your call.» I asked if there was record of the call and she said yes I see the notes, you called at 9:30 and were confirmed. Infuriating. I asked why they were not going to honor the appointment and she said «other people are having sewer backup problems today», when I asked why I was notified 15 minutes before the appointment she actually corrected me to say it is a «two hour window». OK, why didn’t you notify me earlier 15 minutes before than my 2 hour window started? She said, «I don’t know but no one can come until Monday.» BEWARE. If you need work done and you expect a company to honor their commitment, do not call rescue rooter!!! Rescue rooter, you are dead to me.

Sink was leaking. Called Rescue Rooter. First thing the guy did was take out a book showing diagrams of pipes. Barely looked under the sink. Gave us an estimate of over $ 400 to replace everything. I asked him… can you just check the top of the pipe that attaches to the sink. He said by law he cant touch it. I practically kicked him out of the house. Next day had someone come out. Replaced ONE NUT AT THE TOP OF THE SINK. DONE! Didn’t even charge us. Do yourself a favor… save yourself a bundle and don’t call these guys.

I echo many previous comments.
Yesterday, our appointment was «blown off» as another person put it. Last week I made an appointment, 5 days in advance, between 10:00 and 12:00. My husband stayed home. I was out and received 3 phones calls, first postponing our appointment until 3:00 to 5:00; then, another call saying they might not make it at all unless they came between 6:00 and 7:00 PM. My husband was told by Rescue Rooter to «…call another plumber.» NEVER again, Rescue Rooter. I wish there was a Unilocal «No star!»
I am amused that Rescue Rooter copies and pastes a standard «reply» to each of us giving a bad review. They have so many they don’t have time to respond individually.

Rip Off, under no circumstances hire this company. Called them for a clogged drain, they found the clog way down in the pipes, but at the same time, said the garbage disposal bracket was leaking and needed replacing. They happened to have a garbage disposal that costs $ 79.99 at Home Depot but they charged $ 249 for the same one. We were stuck, as there was now a leak in the sink and it was unusable. So a clogged drain in the end cost $ 700.

Under no circumstances is anyone who reads this to ever hire this company.
They are not honest from top to bottom… You have been warned

Dropped my aunt’s antique necklace down the sink drain and panicked. Called Rescue Rooter at 1pm to help. I got a time slot between 2 – 4 pm. Then got a call asking if it was okay if the technician was a little late and that he’d be there at 5:30 at the latest. It’s now 7:30 pm, I have been on hold for 15 minutes waiting for a manager since I’ve been told no one is coming until 10 pm now. Had I known we were looking at 7 hours past the time window I would have called another plumber! Terrible service.

If I could give no stars, I would. We called Rescue Rooter on Saturday, 1/​16d, because PG&E detected a gas leak at our home and our regular plumber wasn’t working on the weekend. BIG MISTAKE. The plumber they sent removed pipes, tested the line and jumped to the conclusion that the only way to fix the problem was to completely replace every gas pipe in the house. When we asked if there was a less severe alternative, he informed us (multiple times) that he had 30 years experience as a plumber and that no, that was the only alternative. He went back to his truck, called his office and came up with a quote of $ 22,000. $ 22,000! We informed him that we’d need to get other bids, and he said of course, but the other companies would say the same thing. Being a holiday weekend, we couldn’t get anyone else to come out until Tuesday, ¹⁄₁₉) after a weekend of extreme worry and stress. The problem was solved today in 1.5 hours with a few parts and replacement pipes. PG&E turned on the gas with no problems and their service person was flabbergasted when I told him the story. What’s the Latin phrase — caveat emptor? Buyer beware. The only good thing I can say about this company is that they responded quickly. That’s it. I never post reviews — never — but this was too extreme to let slip by.
Update:
It’s taken me this long to be able to post this on Unilocal — this all took place on the holiday weekend (1÷16−18). I tried to post at least three times since then, but each time I received a message saying I was unable to post it.

BEWARE! We have used Rescue Rooter to unclog our bathroom sink and tub on a few occasions, we liked their service so we called them again when we had a clogged bathroom sink, the plumber was prompt and started his snake down our drain, 10 minutes later our kitchen downs stairs is flooded with black sewage water going through all our cabinets covering food and dishes; plumber comes down and says the snake bust a pipe and calls for another guy who promptly pulls out a contract for a company called American Residential Services LLC and tells us he has to replace the sewage pipes and tear out our ceiling and walls. $ 7900.00 later! YES almost $ 8000. to put in one new copper pipe. The two plumbers came back the next day, arrived later than expected and put in about 3 hours work, came back the next day later afternoon and put in about 4 hours work, finally on the last day they worked about 7 hours and finished the job. and off course we are responsible to hire someone else to repair the kitchen ceiling and walls holes. Yes the copper pipe looks very nice as we can see it through the hole in our kitchen ceiling but I figured these guys were here a total of 4 days with a total of $ 1975.00 a day! Our house contractor who does other work for us told us we were RIPPED OFF!
I highly suggest shopping around and getting different quotes even though it is tough when you don’t have your bathroom and we made a rash quick decision.
They broke the pipe and I think the price should have been way cheaper.
Two stars because i liked their past work but this last job nixed that out.

Scheduled my appt. a day before so I could stay home from work and get a drain fixed… a half hour before my 2hr time slot they called and cancelled because they had other work come up?! WTH? And then they wanted to schedule another appt. 2 days later?! WHY? You just blew off my initial appt.
BAD MOVE ARS!

We had RR come to our home for a clogged kitchen sink. The technician sent was James D and he was wonderful. Very professional and a great personality! He diagnosed the problem quickly and efficiently and most important… kept the kitchen clean and took away all the debris. A job well done!

I had a 12pm to 2pm appointment they arrived at 7:30pm. The simple clog in the toilet was quoted buy the plumber at $ 540.00 to remove and reinstall an almost new toilet.
A 5 minute snake job fixed it. The worst plumbing outfit you can call…

We discovered our burst water heater had flooded our kitchen and living room at 5:45 in the morning. Rafael came at 9:30 likely expecting a relatively simple replacement. What he found was a poorly installed unit (we live in an old building in SF) that required nearly 12 hours to replace. Rafael stuck with it and kept a great attitude throughout, despite his plans for the day being totally disrupted. He said early on that his mission was to get us hot water and he stuck to it. Exceptional service and attitude.

Kevin was really efficient, nice, and helpful when he came to fix our garbage disposal. He was on time/​early to the appointment (only 4 hours after we called initially), informed us of every step he was going to take before he did each step, and took the time after the repair to tell us what to do in the event that the problem occurs again. We really appreciated his friendly attitude. He was in and out within 30 minutes, without making us pay for any unnecessary replacement parts or causing any disruption.

About 2 years ago I had a stopped up toilet. It’s the original toilet that came with the house in 1979. I’d had spotty experiences with other «rooter» services but I tried Rescue Rooter. He got it unstopped and all was good. 2 months ago it clogged and overflowed. I called Rescue Rooter again. They got a plumber out within 2 hours. He fixed the clog and suggested I get a new toilet. I didn’t listen. 6 weeks later it overflowed again so I decided to take their advice and spend the money on a new toilet. The new toilet (plus an unexpected pipe replacement) cost $ 1,700. This was supposed to solve all my problems. One week later, a bowel movement clogged the new toilet. 2.5 hours later another plumber (not the one who installed the new toilet) arrived and unclogged it. This one thought the water level had been set too low so he re-​set it. 2 days later (at 8:30 am this morning) the same exact thing happened. After a 6 HOUR WAIT a plumber arrived who was able to clear it but it is obvious to me that he doesn’t know what else to do. This one told me my toilet paper is too thick — same toilet paper I use when I urinate with no problem. We’re now waiting another hour for his supervisor to show up. Maybe this person will know what he’s doing.
I only have 1 toilet in my house so this is critical. I’ve been stuck at home all day waiting and in fear that I might have to relieve myself. I’m now afraid to use my brand new $ 1,700 toilet. I’m not convinced that Rescue Rooter is very good or can do the job.

What a perfect time for sewage to be spewing up from a back steps/​garage drain, two days before Christmas! NOT! We were due to leave town for relatives for dinner in Fairfield and wanted to clear this situation up before we left and the next rains came — predicted for that evening.
Asked another home owner who they have used as I had tried to call my regular guy — who is great too — but no one answered. My homeowner suggested Rescue Rooter, so I called. I got Susan on the line and she calmly, sweetly and efficiently got me what I needed; a plumber/​rooter person to come out as soon as possible. It was quite busy for them and they gave a window of time which was later than I wanted. I asked if Susan could move it to a sooner time if some one became available. She said yes later I got a call-​back from her and she told me that I would be getting James three hours sooner. That may not seem like any big deal, but when you have a backed up sewage problem it IS. They even sent me a picture of James and Susan so I could see who I was working with, who would be coming to the door.
James came out at the time they agreed — earlier than the initial appointment, as I said — and was all business, friendly, jovial and organized. He went to work and had that job done quite fast, even though our clean-​outs seemed to have been painted into warp three with many layers of paint. He got one opened and snaked the pipe and voila! water and sewage flowing again where it was supposed to be flowing.
I would suggest them to anyone, and also use them again myself. I think the price was great. I’m not sure if I got the Senior discount, or Discount I requested on line, but however that happened, I felt good about the whole interaction. It felt good from being on the initial phone call with wonderful, sweet voiced Susan, to the friendly, efficiency and can-​do attitude of James.
I couldn’t have asked for a more painless, quick and easy fix for a bad situation.

Triple Play! Pio, a good technician handles the work and communicates with staff to complete clearing of three solidly plugged drains. One back to back! Great job Pio!

Steve K arrived promptly in our service window. He was professional, friendly and knowledgeable and quickly resolved out issue. I’d request Steve again and appreciate that he was able to help us on a Saturday.

A few days ago, I had a pipe burst below my sink. I called rescue Rooter because of all the great reviews and a plumber came to my house on a Sunday and told me that since he had to cut into my cabinet, he needed a supervisors okay.
On Monday, the Supervisor, John, comes out and looks at the job. He tells me he has to call someone at the shop for a price and gives me an estimate for $ 4780. I couldn’t believe it.
John told me he had to use copper piping, it had to be so many feet long and listed a host of other things that needed to be done. The pipe that broke is used for grey water so what had been underneath the cabinet for the last 4o years was basically galvanized steel and PE. I told John that all I wanted was the pipe to be replaced but he insisted that his way was the only way they would do the job. He called the shop one more time and they came down to $ 3200 but said that was the best they could do.
Needless to say, I told them thanks but no thanks and called my contractor who initially found the leak. He gave me the name of a licensed plumber in San Mateo who came to my house right away, opened the wall, showed me the broken pipe (which was about 12 inches long) and t-​joint (I think that’s what it’s called), replaced it and was there 3 hours for a total of $ 375.
What can I say? The price speaks for itself and was totally unnecessary. They were nice guys but from all appearances, it seems they try and take advantage of their customers. Sorry, I can not recommend.

On 8÷29÷14 I called Rescue Rooter regarding a sewer line issue. Rescue Rooter was the only company able to come out on the same day which was very convenient. They sent mister James Delapena to assist. Happily, James was not only willing but extremely able to combat the issue at hand. His professional demeanor and commitment to solve the problem was greatly appreciated. Because of my positive experience, I will be working with Rescue Rooter from here on out. Additionally I will be asking specifically for James and highly recommend his service!

One of the two toilets in our home (which we are renting and completely responsible for plumbing of) has been clogged. It isn’t the first time.
But we decided to hire a plumber this time around. I called Rescue Rooter, and wasn’t too impressed that they have a professional call center. I was hoping to deal directly with a plumber who takes his own calls. In order to get a quote, they needed to send a plumber to evaluate. I was very hesitant about this because I normally don’t like letting anyone in my house and asking them to take their shoes off, especially a plumber. We had a plumber one time take his dirty boots up our stairs to fix a shower and it left a dirty mark on the carpet.
Anyway, the plumber came shortly after the call (within an hour) and was very nice, cordial and professional. Their website guarantees a clean cut plumber, and that’s what we got. Their website also claims their plumbers wear shoe covers before they come in, and indeed it was so. Very considerate, and I like that.
Our plumber was very knowledgable, gave advice how we can avoid spending more and he also explained what it was we’d have to do to spend more (buy a new toilet, etc). Gave us a very clear picture of the situation.
I asked how for an estimate on the job if he were to work on it, and he was able to give me a quote right away. It was $ 117 to be exact, and it was way less than what I anticipated for the job because there was a lot of nasty stuff living in the toilet. I agreed to the price and he did his work. He cleaned up very well, not a spot of toilet water left behind. (I don’t think a spot of toilet water even fell on the floor).
Rescue Rooter employs and deployed this respectful plumber for us, and knew how to fix our problem. 5 stars, and hopefully no need to call for one again but if we did… then I think this is going to be on my mind.