I called Roto-Rooter to clear a clogged sewer drain under the toilet. Rich was the name of the guy they sent. When Rich came to the door, he was especially dirty, sweaty and smelly. I've had several plumbers over for work over the years, and haven't seen anyone that dirty. For the most part, Rich also had an attitude that conveyed he didn't want to be here and that he had something against me personally from the moment he got out of his truck. He didn't even introduce himself. Anyway... We started by walking the yard to try to locate an access point to the drain. Meanwhile, he rattled off costs... the first hour is $185, additional hours are $85, if he removes and reinstalls the toilet that's $85, if he video scopes the pipes that's $325, etc. That should've been something the office told me, but oh well. It was also strange how he said it. He wasn't light about it, casually telling me the bad news. Instead he was blunt and crass about it, giving me a take-it-or-leave-it ultimatum. Eventually, we came in the house and he had to remove the toilet. The fact they charge a separate fee for this is a TOTAL RIPOFF! There's absolutely no reason for it other than to be greedy. But, I digress... We had a particularly unusual drain situation so it took him a little longer to get the job done, but he was successful. He then reinstalled the toilet... wobbly. Throughout the course of the work, he borrowed my ladder, my screwdrivers and my extension cord. He also used my nice towel to kneel down on where he had gotten sewer water splattered on the floor. I asked, but he said he didn't need his drop-cloths while working in the bathroom, but he pulled the toilet off funny and water leaked all over the floor. He also needed to borrow old magazines to put under the toilet to keep it from leaving wax on the floor. Those got saturated when he pulled the toilet, but he didn't bother cleaning the bottom of the toilet of all the paper and wax before re-seating it. When he finally re-seated the toilet, it was wobbly because of an uneven tile floor, but he didn't fix it. The ring the toilet sits on was also loose and he didn't bother or seem to know how to fix it. Ultimately, we had to call another plumber to come and fix the toilet, but Rich still charged the 30 minutes of labor that he spent fumbling around to seat the toilet, plus the $85 toilet removal/installation fee. Oh, AND, I had nearly removed it anyway before he got there... I just needed help pulling the water supply hose off, which Rich did in literally 2 seconds. Before he left, he did a cursory mopping job, borrowing my mop, but still left the area quite dirty. In addition, my tools were left dirty and sticky with grime and toilet wax. I'm giving 2 stars because he fixed what he came to fix, but I tempted to give just 1 because of the overall lack of professionalism.
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