Plumbing reviews in Ventura, California

The Rooter Solutions Ventura office came to our home in Mira Monte because of an odor that comes out of our bathroom sink. Carlos Jimenez crawled under our home and said there was a small leak at the bottom of the toilet and that the water was touching insulation which is causing the odor. He said it would take "us" (Implying more than one plumber) one full day to 1 1/2 days to fix. His boss, Ernesto Garcia, said they would have to replace all the plumbing from the toilet to the main sewer line, a few feet from the toilet, and the plumbing in the vanity to bring it up to code. I was quoted $3,800. While this is a lot of money for a minor leak, I do not know plumbing, and since they said it would take one full day to 1 1/2 days, I trusted their pricing. Two plumbers came a couple of days later and completed their work in 3 hours.

I emailed Ernesto twice afterward and asked for a breakdown of the cost to provide to our homeowners insurance. I also asked if there would be a cost adjustment since it only took them 3 hours total to complete the work, not the full day to 1 1/2 days quoted. I did not get a response to either email. I eventually sent a letter to both the Ventura and Santa Barbara offices asking for the information and explained I intended to file a complaint with the California Contractor State License Board (CSLB) if I did not hear from them. I did get a call from Alex after I filed a complaint with the CSLB.

Alex said Rooter Solutions was a "flat-rate" company and that they are not legally required to provide cost breakdowns to customers. I asked about a cost adjustment since it took far less time than quoted. Alex said his plumbers were efficient and that we agreed to the price meaning there would not be an adjustment.

My concerns:
1. They failed to correct the odor which was the reason we called them.
2. They turned a minor leak into a "replace all" job.
3. They quoted me many more hours than the job actually took.
4. They charged us $3,800 for 3hrs work.
5. They did not return my emails.
6. They refused to provide me a simple cost breakdown.

The CSLB offered to have Rooter Solutions come back out to address the odor but we declined. I have since reviewed customer reviews from both Google and Yelp and it was surprising at how many others experienced the same thing we did. I will not be calling Rooter Solutions again. Why? I believe they (The Ventura office) use their low-cost services to get in the door, and then it quickly turns into a much more costly experience with no way for customers to validate the cost as they hide behind their flat-rate pricing.

1. Always get 3 quotes!
2. File a complaint with the CSLB if you feel you were wronged.

UPDATE AS OF MAY 3, 2025:

We had another plumber service come out who identified the odor issue in 5 minutes. It was the vanity sink overflow port. They had us verify the odor while they were there. To fix it, all we had to do was run hot water and bleach through the overflow port. The odor is gone!

So, Rooter Solutions, in my opinion, charged us $3,800 for something they could have fixed with hot water and a little bleach. Does that sound like a business you can trust?

Jason and Shane from Rooter were extremely comprehensive, polite, and professional. They identified the initial issue and the source issue causing the backup in our drain (belly). After scoping out follow-up work (hydrojet) my family decided to go through our home warranty provider. However, if given a voucher or choice of vendor we’ll likely choose Rooter for any follow up services.

Don’t use them. They insisted on starting extra, unnecessary work then charged me nearly 3k for a job should have costed $100.

The toilet was blocked. They came out to help on a Saturday evening. This I appreciated. The problem was not fixed by plunging through the toilet. They claimed the next step was to remove the toilet and snake through the opening for $375. I repeatedly questioned why they would not go through the clean out located about 2 ft away. They said it had nothing to do with the problem. I said fine, they removed the toilet, and snaked to no avail. My 90-year-old mother lives there and needed a toilet. Their next step, as expressed by Ernesto, was to try and charge me $1,300 to hydrojet. I had enough and told them I was done. They did not charge me which was good. I still gave about 100 to $150 to the tech for his labor, which I regret. I called up a day or two later, again,questioning why they did not use a perfectly functioning clean out where septic tank material had actually backed up. Martin said he would be out the next day to camera the line and take a look. He never showed up. I called the next day, asked why, and the company said they would get back to me. They never did. I called a different company to camera the line. They right away went through the clean out, did not touch the toilet, and were bewildered why the toilet was ever removed when it was absolutely not necessary.

Hassle free experience. Arturo and another gentleman came out and gave me an estimate for replacement. They explained all our options. They were both professional and willing to work with us. Arturo was friendly, professional, and provided quick service. Very pleased with the experience.

I have had a plumber (Miguel Campos) from Rooter Solutions come to my new condo a few times (it was in rough shape) and every time I was happy with repairs. This last time though, I declined some work thinking I would do it myself. I got stuck because of my inexperience and he came back to help anyways. A real class act.

I had a blocked floor drain in the bathroom of my store and it backed up and partially flooded the the back room. Rooter Solutions came out to do a free estimate. They called me(I was off site) after arriving and snaking to the drain. They said it did not clear and they would need to dig up the floor to access and replace the pipes. They sent me an estimate for $9000 for the work. They said the pipes look old and probably corroded and or damaged. The center is less than 10 years old.

I'm suspicious as how could they snake all the way down and not at least partially clear a block at the top? I called another plumber and explained the situation. He's suspicious too. He comes out snakes it from the clean out in the wall and now it's clear and draining properly. $230.

I called the company and explained what happened and the dispatcher says she will let the manager know. A few minutes later the plumber calls me and says maybe he partially cleared it and that tearing up the floor is the next step as if he has done nothing wrong...or nothing right in this case.

The company has good reviews in total but when read them they have all 5 stars that read like fakes and then 1 stars that are all similar stories to mine. I'm writing this review bc if I believed him they would have dug up my bathroom and not fixed the problem. That's messed up.

Balmoris is super good. He worked very well. I liked he worked on carefully and explained a problems. I recommend to my friends if they have plumber problems.

Balmoris from Rooter Solutions Plumbers is very quick to respond and fix issues. We have been very happy with their services. Thank you Ernesto and team.

I recently hired Rooter Solutions to completely re-pipe and re-drain my entire house, it was a $50,000+ job. I wanted to give them a 5-star review but cannot. Everything they did was excellent and respectful until the final drywall repair, mediocre is being kind (see example photo). How can a company do such a great job re-plumbing, stucco repair (see photo), service, etc and then be satisfied with such bad drywall repair workmanship? My expectation, when Sean Traylor sold me the job, for as much as I spent, was that when they finished repairing the walls they opened, I could simply repaint. Apparently, I overlooked the "small print" that stated rough repair...I rather relyed on Sean's verbal commitment. All I can say is, great plumbers...crapy drywalls. One would think that the management would care more about the last part of the job that the customer sees. If you use Rooter Solutions, demand in the agreement that the drywall is repaired properly...paint ready.

Several years ago Rooter Solutions did some septic work on a house in the San Fernando Valley. These few years later we were going to do some preventive maintenance on the system and realized that what we had contracted for, access to the system for pumping, was not actually completed properly. I contacted RS to indicate the problem who willingly worked with us to try to understand where the problem actually was. It was worked out that they would come back, at no charge to us, and provide the access we needed. This was done expediently and professionally with the team lead, Martine, managing the project among the many other things he had going on in other locations. Thank you, Martine, and your crew, for doing the work well, and thank you Rooter Solutions for making this right, five years after the initial work was completed.

Rob was great. I didn't have hot water and he came over and immediately knew what to do. He fix the problem. Definitely call him if you ever need a great and affordable plumber.

They arrived on time, did the work quickly and expertly. I recommend them.

I was on vacation when my son told me there was a noise in the garage. I texted pictures of our leaky water heater to independent plumbing and they got back to me right away. They put my mind at ease letting me know the issue could wait until I return a few days later. Our water heater was broken and leaking. They were able to come out and take care of the problem right away. We had a new water heater within an hour or 2. Everyone was so professional, kind, and helpful. I will definitely call them again with any plumbing needs.

Editing this review-
Due to the recent winds our pilot light went out on the water heater and Mike came over on a Sunday to come light it for us because we had no idea how to do it. So incredibly nice of him to come by and help us out. I always refer independent plumbing to my friends and neighbors. Super honest and very kind business!

I can't thank Independent Plumbing & Drain Care enough for sending Eric out to fix my mother-in-law's plumbing! We had the bathroom floors redone and the flooring contractor didn't reconnect the toilet drain pipe correctly. So unfortunately everything was going into the crawl space and we had no idea. Eric is the one who found the problem and gave us the right course of action to correct the hazmat situation so they could come back and fix the plumbing, which they did. He was kind, professional and didn't overcharge us and everything was done in a timely manner. We will definitely be using them for any plumbing needs that should arise!

Mike was right on time; he was very professional and very knowledgeable. He located the main sewage line on my property and explained about the pipe types and a lot of important information an owner should know. Thanks Mike! :-)

Awsome plumber they can fix all your needs and they tell you when there coming as well very satisfied 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩

Another home emergency successfully handled. Independent plumbing replaced my leaking and dead hot water heater. Independent plumbing showed up promptly and started work the same day. Thanks to Michael and his crew for the excellent service. Always a top quality job.

I don’t usually post reviews but I called Independent Plumbing to come out and fix my plumbing and Eric did such an amazing job! He communicated what the problem was and how they would fix it. I couldn’t be happier! I will definitely call them should the need arise in the future.

Arrived early, finished quickly, less than we were quoted. Good stuff right here.

Eric and Kalani were great! They arrived promptly and were professional. Keeping your phone number handy for future needs. Great, seamless experience.