Bob's Septic Tank & Portable Restroom Service
46th, Des Moines, IA

Bob's Septic Tank & Portable Restroom Service Reviews

4.4 stars based on 50 reviews

Featured Comments:

• J

  Julie Bitting

  1.0

  If you’re not into reading a long review, here’s my recommendation- do not give this company a shot. You will regret it. With that said, here is our experience with Bob’s. On Tuesday, our septic alarm went off. We called our usual company and they were not able to get us in right away. So I did some research and found Bob’s. They have great reviews (no idea who they are paying for those…) So I called. I was informed they could get me in on Wednesday and there would be a $250 dispatch fee since they were “rushing” and working us into their schedule. We thought that seemed a bit extreme but, our septic was clearly high and we were running out of options. So we agreed. On Wednesday afternoon around 3:30, a guy in a minivan pulls into our driveway. This wasn’t what I was expecting. How is a guy in a minivan going to potentially pump our septic tank and fix our issue? Within 3 minutes, he had diagnosed my problem telling me I needed a new pump. Honestly, I knew this was probably the case before he got here. Then he called his supervisor and I heard him say “well it looks like it’s their pump, the tank doesn’t look too terribly full.” They talked for a few minutes, he hung up and said they recommend I empty the tank so that we’re good until they can get someone out there to install a new pump. I asked how much that costs (to empty tank) and he thought about it for a little bit and said he thinks around $1200…. Oh and there may be an emergency fee for them to do it quickly. (So for the record… they charged me a $250 emergency fee to diagnose the problem and now wanted to charge me another emergency fee to empty the tank I had just heard him tell his boss wasn’t too high.) I then asked how much a new pump costs and he told me he thought around $5-6k installed. This guy then charges me the $267 emergency fee and I more or less have to keep asking what the next steps are. He tells me to call the office. So he leaves. He was here a total of maybe 15 minutes. I call the office and she tells me it costs $695-$795 to empty the tank, plus .27 cents per gallon. So he was probably pretty close with this $1200 estimate. She was unable to give me an estimate on the new pump but said they’d be in contact in the morning when that tech was able to get with the senior techs and figure out costs and when they could get me on the schedule. By now I could already tell we would not be pursuing further work with this company as we had our septic pumped before and it cost us $400. We ended up calling our original company back and they were able to work us in after all. We verified costs- $400-$600 to pump and $800-$1200 for a new pump. There is no emergency fee. And they will have a pump on their truck when they come out to fix it. Our other company just came out and put a new pump on. We went with the slightly better pump so it cost us $1200. He recommended we empty tank within the next month or so and said it would cost $500-$600. Anyone who has a septic knows that when there’s an issue, it’s generally a time/emergency issue. The fact that Bob’s takes advantage of this by charging you $250 for them to drive out and tell you to pump your tank so that they can take their time actually fixing your issue is mind blowing. That’s not even mentioning that they are SEVERELY over priced. I’ll admit, I don’t think the tech had any idea how much a new pump costs so I don’t know if they are actually charging $5-6k for a new pump. However, I can tell you the other company we called knew that it was Bob’s after we told them our experience, (ie, she said “let me guess.. Bob’s?”) She told us you can have a brand new whole tank installed for $5k. My advice… find any other company when you have a septic issue. Learn from our $267 mistake.

• C

  C & J White

  5.0

  I called about a septic system inspection. I spoke with Jason. I explained my situation. He was honest about what I needed to do. He explained everything. Jason was upfront and honest and did not recommend anything that wasn't needed! I will definitely use him/Bob's Septic again.

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  Response from the owner

  Thank you for the feedback! Happy to work with you and if you need anything else let us know!

• M

  Melissa Chavas-Miller

  5.0

  My husband and I had a fantastic experience using this company. We were in a tough position getting ready to close on the sale of our house only to find the entire septic system needed to be replaced and it needed to happen fast in order to maintain the closing date. The entire team at Bob's Septic Tank bent over backwards to make things happen, they did so with professionalism, compassion and the expertise to get the job done efficiently and maintain a high quality of work. Bravo! This was service done right!

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  Response from the owner

  Thank you for letting us help you through this stressful situation! It makes our day to hear that we met all the satisfaction marks and we appreciate you sharing it publicly too. ☺️ We’re always here for you!

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