I called Rescue Rooter to come out and fix a clogged toilet, and nothing more. Two guys showed up--one to do the dirty work, and his foreman who spent the next half-hour "inspecting" my home and coming up with a laundry list of repairs that he deemed essential. They ranged from a new toilet ($650) to completing replumbing the house ($5200), plus installing a water purifier ($4300). When I was reluctant, they brought out the scare tactics--told me that the chlorine in the water that I'm drinking is causing my kidneys to fail and possibly giving me cancer! They saw how attached to my pets I am, and basically told me I was mistreating them, too, by letting them drink less-than-perfect water. They also said I was ruining my brand-new washing machine. Mind you, they didn't actually test for chlorine; just told me it's "a problem" in my part of town. I kept telling them that I rarely smell chlorine, and other than my very old toilet, I don't really have any plumbing problems, but they kept at it. I finally told them, look guys, I'm just not going to spend this kind of money today. The foreman left soon after that, and the other guy quickly cleaned a minor clog under my toilet--$250 to take my toilet off its base and clean out some toilet paper. He left a mess behind that took me a half-hour to clean up--brown splashes and puddles on my bathroom floor and walls, wiped his hands on my husband's bath towel, and threw his dirty booties into my paper recycling bin even after I told him not to. Guess what company is never getting another call from me again?!?

Please read all: My story with a pumber who over-charged for a faucet replacement:

Last night, I came home to find out that my kitchen faucet is leaking. This is the first time that I have encountered a plumbing problem in my new 5-years old house. So I called “Rescue Rooters” in Houston TX to get an estimate. They told me that a plumber will show up the next day between 8:30 am and 9 am. So I had to call in (to my work) and take couple of hours off, waiting for the plumber’s arrival, who showed up at 10:30 am. Once in, he checked the kitchen’s faucet for the leak and told me that the faucet that I have is not good and that one of the brass-pipes that connects the faucet to the water pipe beneath the sink is broken (the Souder or weld that connect the brass pipe to the sink is broken and can’t be welded again) and that the brand of faucet that I have in my kitchen-sink is not good and that the problem that I have (that is the leak) is typical in those kind of faucets.
After 5 minutes, I asked him for his estimate. He opens a book and shows me that to have a better faucet (Brand: Price Pfitser) will cost me 500 and also that according to the book it will cost me about 200$ for installation. That is a total of total of 700$. I then told him what about if I go ahead and buy the faucet from another store (Home Depot) and he will install it only. He said that it will costs me 200$ ad that I have to call one more time to schedule anther appointment.
The next day, I went to Home Depot and talked to the guy over there how confirmed that the type of faucet that I have at y home is problematic and that once the brass pipe breaks it needs to be replaced. Then I went ahead and bought a new faucet from Home Depot (please note that the faucet I bought was the same brand as the one suggested by the Rescue rooter’s plumber). Note that the Faucet from Home depot costs me about 168$. While the same faucet from Rescue Rooter’s would have cost me about 500$.
When I opened the box which had the faucet in it: it had all the step-by-step instructions. So I ended up removing the old faucet and replacing it. Since it was my first time to replace a kitchen-faucet: I spent about 1 hour to remove the old faucet and install the new one. And thanks god, it works fine with no leaks.
Just I want to recap what happened: Rescue Rooters: New Faucet and Installation: 700$; While the same faucet from Home Depot is 168$. I have saved more than 500$ in just working 1 hour.
I want to ask: why are they ripping us off? It is not fair? Why are they selling the same faucet for more than double what it is being sold in other stores? If the Rescue Rooters would have told me that everything would have costs you: 300$; I would have said “go ahead and do it”, but he asked for 700$!!! Also, if it took me an hour to remove the old faucet and replace it with a new one (and this was my first time); most probably it would have taken the experienced “resue-rooter-plumber” about 5 to 10 minutes!!

the guy came out to snake my front line, for 350.00 dallars. He said
he could only get out so far. and for an additional 390.00 dallars he could put the camara down to see where it was broke. When that was done the estament came out to 13.600.00. when that was cleared and the camara put down again the line was supposedly broke at the main. that cost 6.800.00. I came to find out from friends at church that the job should have only been around 6.000.00 to the most 8, 000, 00 .

The Rescue Rooter office at 15707 South Main Street, Gardena, CA 90248 performed a cable job at my property on October 30, 2008. The original estimate to cable out the main line was $288.50. Unbeknownst to my finance, there was another extra cable charge of $250, hidden underneath a piece of paper when she approved the original estimate for $288.50.

After the plumber completed the $288.50 cable job, he told my finance that he needed an additional cable and another machine, for an additional $250. When she protested, he told her that she had already approved it in the original estimate, and then he proceeded to lift off the paper that was hiding the extra cable notation and showed her that she already approved it.

After he completed the second cable job, he then told her that he needed an additional $175 (reduced to $75 when she protested) to snake out the shower, for a total rip-off bill of $613.50. This Rescue Rooter company in Gardena CA intentionally deceived, bait and switched, imposed hostage pricing, and ripped-off my finance with their excessive and criminal billing.

I spoke with two Manager's at the company, and stopped payment on my check until this issue was resolved. The Managers defended their billing practices, but reluctantly agreed to delete $250 from my bill.

I am certain, that we are not the only victims of this company's padded invoices, deception, bait and switch, excessive, and hostage pricing practices. This company needs to be stopped from ripping off any other consumers and they should refund what they stole from their other customers.