Drain Doctors

If you live in Florida, don't use Drain Doctors.

I used them a couple months ago for a backed up main, after having a good experience with them getting my water heater replaced. Unfortunately, they didn't do nearly as good with my clog.

I called at 3am in the morning, while pulling an all-nighter. The dispatcher asked me if it could wait until 8am, if he got someone out first thing. Reluctantly I agreed. But instead of getting someone out first thing in the morning, I got a phone call from the plumber asking if he could come out a couple hours later -- he had a job from the previous day to finish. I told him my problem, that I'd been waiting all night, that I needed to go to bed soon, and that it wasn't okay to delay. He did anyway.

When he finally came out, he cleared the line, but did not snake out my kitchen sink as I asked because "he was afraid my pipes would break" since they're quite old now. Maybe they will, maybe they won't. I was prepared to replace them if so. But I was too tired to argue the point.

Today Dawn needed a plumber for her new renter. I recommended Drain Doctors, still thinking of my good experience with the water heater and because they have cameras on their snakes (not sure the exact term for this), which lets them see the quality of your pipes, breaks, etc. But like me, she had a bad experience. They charged her more than the going rate, more than Roto-Rooter has charged me. And they refused to give her a six month guarantee on the work.

Because of this, I determined to write a letter to their corporate office and give them a chance to respond. However, to my surprise, their website has NO general contact information. No address. No phone number for corporate offices. --Just a web form and dispatch number. I could research the address of their office well enough, but that's really the last straw. Instead, I'm writing this blog entry and advising anyone who asks not to use them.

Between Drain Doctors, Roto-Rooter, and a small local company, Roto-Rooter has been the best I've used so far. If I ever find someone better, I'll update the blog post.

*** Sorry Dawn! ***