Liz in Toronto

Quality service but I feel overcharged/double-charged. I will not recommend Rooterworx to anyone. I’ll give a decent score for the service and leave the details to everyone’s discretion. Our toilet had been clogged since Friday night due to paper towels flushed down by kids. We had tried with plungers over the weekend but no luck. Asked a friend's referral and their plumber quote $100&up but wouldn't come after business hour. Rooterworx replied right after I submitted the service request on a Sunday night. Sergio was willing to come later in the evening and quoted $200 on the phone for service to unclog toilet. I'm ok about the price and appreciate the speed, but we eventually set it for next day afternoon instead because it was quite late at the time. Monday morning, Sergio asked another technician Luke to come early instead, which I appreciate too. I was debating maybe I’d go with my friend’s plumber since it was regular business hours by then. Luke offered $150 on the phone call and I thought why not, since they’ve been very responsive. The job was done in two visits. I was not there during Luke’s first visit, but on the phone, he described that he had tried to unclog the toilet but found out it's actually the toilet drain that's clogged. However, he needed to go grab another tool with camera then come back in two hours. He mentioned cost would be different and it’s $250 to snake the drain. Now, I know people who had snaked main drains to the city's sewers and were charged $200-$300. So, $250 for clearing paper towel in a second-floor toilet drain is still acceptable to me considering Rooterworx was very responsive. So, I said yes as I thought the total cost would be $250 and had no idea he meant $250 in addition to $150. When Luke came back for the second visit, I was there and watched him using camera to find the clogged spot (6ft into the drain) with the toilet bowl moved aside. I left him to do the rest and near the end he showed me with camera again but this time 15ft into the drain to prove no more blockage. The entire process was professional. Luke came in mask, gloves, shoe covers and laid a blanket to cover around the work area. After everything is done, he told me $250 is an additional charge because unclogging toilet and unclogging drain are two different services. I was not impressed and stated that I’ll pay the price but will not use Rootworx next time. Luke looked little surprised with my comment and asked for the reason. I told him what I understood from the call but I do not want to argue it because nothing was written on paper. It could’ve been me who misheard. Luke sincerely apologized for the miscommunication and explained that these rates are set by the company. He seemed genuine and I don’t want to fight over a couple hundred bucks since the job is already completed. To be honest, it’s a mixed feeling after using Rooterworx's service. I understand prices of these jobs can vary depending on the situations and he had to go get tools halfway through which ended up spending the whole morning for our job. But I am not sure if $400 is reasonable from our perspective (would’ve been $450). Also, I would assume plumbers carry most tools with them? I would’ve told them it’s a clogged drain if I had known but to me it was a clogged toilet.