Complaint Review: ROTO-ROOTER - Pittsbugh Pennsylvania

Contracted for work to replace main house stack in old frame house. Contract for removal of lead pipe on three floors it took several look ups to estimate work ( yes, at least 3 service guys came out and finally a supervisor arrived days after the work was to begin. Before the supervisior arrived 4 trucks were at our house with 2 workers each to look at job and estimate what was to be done- the the arrival of the supervisor who came up with the details to the contract.

The job was to originally be only a few days ...but , due to illness and unavoidable circumstances of the roto rooter team there were many delays. And when employees did work on the weekend i.e. Saturday it was to come in to look at or work on one aspect of the job and leave. This job could have been finished in the alloted time if the employees had just stayed long enough to do it or if they had experience with this type of job...They finally sent for another supervisor who actually knew what it would take to finish the job - this was after the pipe had been removed and that involved a team of workers. The supervisor they sent from another job wrote up the specs on the job and did the majority of the work himself; and redoing alot of the work that had previously been done.

Oh, that work failed the first inspection and that is why the supervisor was pulled to this job. After 2 days of work with 2 men - he was about done and even he was cited by the city inspector for work not done under the sink but I have to give credit where it is due because he did a heck of a job else where. The first team returned minus one guy who was really very sick and was unable to return to the job but it took days to get to this point. We were to have the toilet replaced, cocking around the tub for leakage, the main stack placed and (per city reg) from basement to third floor. And a bath seat placed.

The floor and surrounding wall was to do done by a general contractor who - well he never returned and called us after a week or too to say he had also been ill. So everything was held up. When it rained the stack leaked and Roto Rooter was called again because they did the work...it turned out that they did not tighten the pipes leading to the roof. We also found out that the roof surrounding the stack leaks where the flange is placed. This was a questio I asked when the team first arrived to estimate/look at the job. They denied that it was the source of the problem -unlike their website video recommended as one of the two reasons for leakage and the patterns the leakage would take...

When the plumber came out for the followup call he did day it was the flange but Rotto Rooter does nothing with roofs. Thats not what the website stated. They said they usually look at the roof and the stack...Any way this job was to cost $6200 plus the $1200 they charged for the supervisor coming out t o if to fix what they had improperly installed to begin with(and we also paid $799 for the additional work).We initially had problems because we also chose not to place a claim with out house insurance--this leak was a problem but one we felt we could pay for ourselves. And thats where things got hairy. (We ended up with 3 contracts for the same job with additions.

And when you call them they also want you to sign a statement that the work is emergency work so that any additional incidents do not fall on the company... )The company representative stated that the $1200 was not going to be charged as I did ask before the work was begun if another charge was going to be added and the supervisor said no as it was a misinterpertation of city code. NOT OUR FAULT.

So, in short if you want your toilet unstopped I say call Roto Rooter or some other simple job. If you need serious plumbing done dont Call Roto Rooter. So, we paid about $4200 of the balance...enough is enough and the job is still not finished. We got another general contractor to place the toilet and to place the walls.

Novita

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

U.S.A.

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