Mr. Rooter ripoff Piney Flats Tennessee
I recently moved into a house several months ago, and was disgusted to wake up one morning to discover that the main sewer pipe in the crawl space had come apart at the joint. It appeared to me that the joint sealant had simply failed over the years, so I called plumbers to come and fix it. Instead of just fixing the joint myself, I decided to call a plumber to check and see if there was a blockage or another problem which may have caused this in the first place.
I called several plumbing businesses and was told that it would be a couple of days before they got there. Now since, this is the main sewer pipe that exits the house, any and all water used in the house would end up rushing into my crawl space. This means no use of bathroom, no showers, no laundry, no dishes, etc until it's fixed. I needed someone THAT day to fix this problem. I had the misfortune of stumbling across Mr. Rooter. The ad in the phonebook made it seem to be a reputable company, nice big ad detailing all of their services. I called them around 8:45 and was told that I would be first on their list and someone would be out soon. I retreated to the crawl space to begin cleaning up this mess. I called them back at 10:00 to see where they were, and was told, they were waiting on their drivers to show up, but rest assured someone would be there soon. A call at 11:00 yeilded the same response. At 11:45 2 workers finally showed up. One guy went to the crawl space to assess the situation. He first tried to auger the pipe to see if there was a blockage and ultimately decided it was blocked at the tank. He reassembled the pipe, sealing it with an inadequate amount of plumber's dope. They stated that they would need to get the "big" truck to pump out the septic tank and would be "right back" and to try not to flush any toilets or use any water.
They left at 12:15pm for what I thought was to be a quick return. I called at 1:00, 2:00, 3:00, 4:00 and 5:00 each time speaking to a "dispatcher" who assured me that someone was on their way but alas, no one ever returned or even called back. It was probably fortunate that they didn't return at this point becuase I was livid about the "service" I was receiving.
That night I called around to other plumbers, and found another service who assured me that I would be second the following morning and that they would fix it that day. Sure enough these guys from another service called at 8:30 to confirm their schedule. They called back at 11 to say they were on the way and at 11:15 they were there at work. They had pumped the tank, cleaned up the yard, and were gone by 1:00 ($180). I didn't ask them to check the work of the "fixed" pipe by the first crew, so later that night I went back to the crawl space to make sure that it was sealed before I began using it again. Despite the work of Mr. Rooter, the pipe still had a leak as they didn't seal it all the way around. I re-applied sealant myself until it was water tight.
6 weeks later, I received a bill from Mr. Rooter for $125. Fortunately, I had not paid them 1 cent as they were supposed to return but never did. I called the business office and after explaining to the business manager the experience I had she agreed to void the charge. I fear that others out there might not be as lucky as having the charges voided and be stuck with an outlandish bill for services not received.
BEWARE OF MR ROOTER
J.
Bristol, Virginia
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Mr. Screwer
Topeka,Kansas,
U.S.A.
The goods on Mr. Rooter
#2UPDATE EX-employee responds
Wed, January 30, 2008
I read your report on here and am an ex-employee of Mr. Rooter Plumbing who's home office is located in Waco Texas. Mr. Rooter corporate allows individuals to buy into a franchise agreement to operate a business name DBA: Mr. Rooter Plumbing. Most of the Mr. Rooter Franchises do teach the service techs to "Work the System." We are first taught to be decent in appearance. If you smoke chew gum to clean up your breath, have your foot booties ready and knock on the door. Why? Because the expert has arrived, and remember we are not your ordinary plumber. We also have a manual that has our pricing guide in it. We place a mat down to put tools on, and are clean and professional in the job we do.
Each task has different prices attached to it according to whether it is the main task, or an additional task. For Example: In the price book if i pull the toilet an auger/ snake the main sewer line, if it is the main task I would bill just say $160.00, if it is an additional task I am doing the bill would be lesser for that one, just say $89.95, as an additional task. Then there is a column over more with the main task and additional task that has another discount if you are a preferred customer on what is called the "Customer Protection Plan." Now the service tech will point out this reduced rate to you that you could have if you buy the protection plan. They sell different types of protection plans, a one year, three year, lifetime, etc. The life time will usually run you around $300.00 or so, depending on the franchise and what their rates are. The Company pays the services techs on commission, usually 25% to 30% depending on your experience and time learning the system. The system is to find problems and charge as much as you can. If you turn in invoices under $250.00, on a regular basis per call, you may find yourself called in to explain to the boss why you are not charging more. The flat rate billing system that Mr. Rooter uses is usually around double to triple the amount you would pay an hourly company. If the Service tech finds problems in the main line and it requires a dig, if the company is big enough, the under-ground crew is called out and they get a percentage of the dig bill, could be anywhere from $500-and up to thousands and thousands depending on what the issue is. I remember the guy who trained me would laugh after over charging someone and brag how he took them for a ride.
The customer Protection plans, bio choice and different things they sell you are called add-on sales. The Service tech usually gets 50% commission on the add-on sales. This is why most of the service techs will push for you to buy some type of customer protection plan. It is all about money. They are in business to make money. Some of the service techs on purpose, rip people off and are taught too. It all depends on who owns the franchise and how they personally deal with their own ethics. I would not suggest that corporate encourages for service techs to be dishonest, rather I believe the problem may lie in the individual owners of the franchises. What I can say, is when I have heard of it being reported to the Waco Office that a franchise owner is acting dishonestly, I have never heard of corporate pulling the franchise out from the dishonest franchise owner. Instead Waco (Corporate) tends to still stand behind the franchise owner and not really give a s**t. This is a powerful statement but it is true. Over the years Waco Office has become more and more distant to the consumers and prefer complaints go and stay with the franchise owner, and not them.
I would also like to take this opportunity to apologize to all the people over the years that I may have ripped off. I am sorry, please forgive me.......