Roto-Rooter

Roto-Rooter runs plumbing and drain services out of Lubbock at 313 82nd St. The outfit handles drain cleaning, sewer line work, water heater repairs, garbage disposal fixes, toilet and sink jobs, and water damage cleanup. They list themselves as available around the clock for emergency calls on plumbing and drains. The company keeps a claimed profile that shows photos of equipment and past jobs in the area.

Customers describe techs clearing roots from lines, snaking clogged drains, and replacing full sewer runs in back yards. Kyle Wiggs reached one house inside fifteen minutes on Christmas and followed up later to check the toilets. Larry handled repeat visits for the same homeowner and left tips on checking equipment. Other calls involved kitchen remodel pipe changes and attempts to clear blockages at city connections or under houses. Some jobs left the original problem in place after the first visit.

Response times range from quick arrivals to waits of a full day with no callback. A few customers noted no service fee on the first estimate and lower total cost on sewer replacement compared with other bids. Billing issues came up when charges hit months later without notice, and some techs stopped short on camera inspections or full line runs. Work stays inside Lubbock with calls routed through the main number.

The record shows mostly low marks for unfinished jobs, rude phone handling, and charges for work that did not fix the issue. A handful of reviews praise specific techs who finished fast and stayed in touch. DIRT Score 2.1 from 35 reviews on Finds.

DIRT Score = confidence-weighted rating across verified review platforms. How is this calculated? →

“Their actual work was fine, but some years back, they released info about their services at our house to a third party (a potential home buyer) in an incomplete way that was deceptive and ultimately slanderous. Be very careful about using them. We had relied on them several times when I owned a house in Lubbock. They handled roots in a line and a clogged drain. (I didn’t know you really shouldn’t put egg shells through the garbage disposal, especially not a larger batch when making something like deviled eggs. I learned the hard way.) They also handled changes during a kitchen remodel. We might have called them for something else, too. I got a job offer elsewhere, and my husband and I put our house on the market. We had updated the house’s electric but not the plumbing. We made no claims about the plumbing. A man put an offer on the house with earnest money, then he came back threatening to sue us. He had been to Roto-Rooter to ask about our plumbing. From his description of what they said, it seems they told him the outdoor lines had problems, which was true. RR told him the number of times they’d been out but didn’t mention that some of visits were for issues that weren’t pipin”

“I was hesitant after reading several bad reviews, but just goes to show that you can’t judge a company solely based on their reviews. My experience with Roto Rooter was stellar. Roto was my third estimate.( the only one of three that didn’t charge a service fee to come out). I chose to use them because they were by far the cheapest. Dude came and dug up my back yard and replaced the sewer line, BY HIMSELF.. one man army.. the other bids I got were for a crew, and double the cost. Afterwards I immediately began having issues with the plumbing on the other side of my house, which I was convinced had to be related to the work I just had done. They sent another technician out right away and it was looking like i was about to replace another sewer line. (I have several trees in the back that seem to enjoy the pipes). Long short of it… the technician got on my roof and was able to snake the problem out. Turns out it wasn’t related to the initial problem and the technician fixed the problem and made sure that I was satisfied before leaving. I wasn’t charged for the second issue, which I probably should’ve been but wasn’t. I can’t say enough about the excellent work that Roto Rooter provi”

“DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY UNLESS YOU LIKE BEING RIPPED OFF AND LEFT WITH THE SAME PROBLEM YOU CONTACTED THEM TO FIX. Made the horrible mistake of contacting this company to have my drain snaked on 11/27/17. The technician sent attempted to snake the drain but was unsuccessful in doing so and told me it was blocked in the alley at the city connection. Since then I have been working with the City in determining how to fix "blocked drain" believing the pipe and connection would have to be replaced. Have paid other plumbing companies out Lubbock to drive out and give estimates for what it cost replace and fix pipes. When I finally had enough saved to cover this would be giant expense, I decided to call a a plumbing company out of Floydada to attempt to snake the drain one more time before undertaking such a huge project. Holmes Plumbing snaked the drain without any issue whatsoever and ended up saving me thousands of dollars in unnecessary work. When I contacted Roto-Rooter to inform them of their technicians incompetence, they refused to refund the $197 I asked for. My total bill from them was $256, I was not asking for the travel charge to be returned. Absolutely the worst service in t”

“We had company over for Christmas and both toilets clogged up. Kyle Wiggs was our tech who showed up within 15 min of calling. He was very kind, extremely professional and even called to check on us a few hours later to make sure everything was still working properly. I would highly recommend him!”

“I used their service back in March and supposedly their system was down so I just now got charged July 22nd. I received no notification I was gonna be charged months laters.I now have to pay a overdraft fee. Some notice would have been appreciated. I am a single mother and live month to month. I now have to figure out how am gonna survive the rest on the month and put behind for next month. Thanks Roto Rooter. Called and basically told it was my fault for not catching I wasn't charged. Really???”

“The tech that came to my house seemed to be a bit inexperienced. But that wasn't a deal breaker for me. He couldn't get the line unclogged. But charged me anyway. I took issue with that. Called another plumber who got it the line unclogged in 10 minutes. I dunno...just seems to me that you shouldn't get paid if you can't do the job. But that's just me. I wouldn't have called them had I read all the previous reviews.”

“Wow! I feel like an I falsely judged. I was scared to go with a big company in a short notice of time. I called spoke with Jessica she sent her guys out fast and they responded with no issue. I haven't slept in days and was stressed out when I met the guys all discombobulated due to the holidays coming and living with a family where your main focus everyday is there happiness. Roto-Rooter they went straight to work under 15 minutes were done an right before the holidays. You guys saved us from mental stress and family ruin for the holidays due to no running water. Now our nightmare was fixed. I trust Roto-Rooter. Thanks Jessica and the team. This team deserves a bonus and company love. My family and friends will all hear about how this company has heart. I will never go anywhere else. God bless Roto-Rooter.”

“Called them out because toilets and shower were backing up. Tech came out and ran snake part of the way and said that he couldn't run the whole line because his snake was too big to fit in one of the other stacks. I had asked for him to use a camera because I just got the house and wanted to know what the drains looked like. The tech told me that there was a bad spot that turned out to be under the entry hall and his camera could go no further. I called out Joe Rushing Plumbing and they said that the drains under the house were in very good condition and that the blockage was at the fence As it turned out a root from a pecan tree was causing the restriction approximately 50 feet from where the RotoRooter tech stated the problem was. If the RotoRooter technician had accurately diagnosed the problem, they would have been the ones that replaced the sewage line from the house to the alley. I will certainly tell people that ask for a referral to NOT use RotoRooter of Lubbock. Robert O”

“DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THESE PEOPLE!!! The receptionist “Jessica” is very rude. When I called she said, “Hello.” Didn’t tell me the company she worked for or anything. I then asked if it was Roto-Rooter. She tried correcting me by saying, “You mean Rooter-Rooter?” After that I tried scheduling an appointment to which she refused to help with. I will never use these people again! Thanks Jessica.”

“I called Roto-Rooter because one of their tracks was speeding through our townhouse complex. The call was to complain about the speeding. So many companies do not caution their employees about what negative consequences come from the employees foolish behavior.”

“So my toilets were backed up, called them at night!! They came in the morning and checked everything out!! They told me my pipes leading to the city were bad and I needed to have a full pvc pipe replacement $2400.00!! Filled out paperwork for finacing never called back!! I called a different company best value plumbing and they did there job!! And said it was was on the city's part so they called the city for me and only paid 85 for the plumbers snaking and ballooning or whatever lol!! The city came drained it and I'm all fixed up! So I saved a ton of money!!”

“I've used Roto-Rooter three times and each time Larry was the guy! He's great and I really appreciate how hard he works and gives me tips on how to check things out.”

“Probably the worst experience I've ever had with a plumber. 6 weeks later, Earl's Plumbing fixed the problem in about an hour. I'm sorry that one star is as low as I can rate them.”

“Already just when I called lady who answered was rude. Her tone of voice was muffled almost as if she was answering the phone with her hand on her face, couldn't answer not one question, and lastly I'll have someone call you back *click*. No thanks..”

“Worst customer service, I've been waiting for 24 hours to get a call back and still nothing. Finally I called and they want to charge me an extra rate after having me wait all this time. Never doing business with them again.”

“No other plumbing service comes close to these pro's! Highly recommend these guy's. Thanks”

“GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE. I COULD NOT BE MORE PLEASED WITH THE SERVICE THAT WAS PERFORMED. THANK YOU SO MUCH.”

“Didn't care for their service. They were called several times and never showed up. Nor call and say anything. It was my third time scheduling with them”

“He left a pile of sludge I wasn't sure how to dispose of it About three gallons in size”

“Called 2 days in a row. And no call back for service. Pretty unprofessional.”