Is rotorooter.com Safe?

We live in a town with 9000 permanent residents and about as many university students. Our water heater went out a week ago yesterday, but all the competent HVAC people in town were booked up a week in advance. "Roto-Rooter" came out right away, however, and said the machine was built ion 1998, too old to repair, that we had to junk it and get a new one for $1900. Another guy at a similar chain store said the same thing without even coming out to inspect it. The date 1998 appears on the serial number label, (which I sent pictures of as soon as I called), but it's the date of the ANSI standard cited on the label, not the date of manufacture. ..... When the actual electrician came yesterday, he tapped the EPA notice with his pencil and said, "Yeah, this is actually a pretty new machine," though nothing on it says exactly. You have to get the manufacturer on the phone with the serial number to get the exact date. Anyway, with an HVAC specialist on the phone to walk him through the purely gas-related part of the operation, all he did was unblock the vent outside and reset the system. No need to replace even a single part, let alone the whole machine! ..... Roto-Rooter by comparison may as well have told me to demolish my house and build a new one to avoid changing a light bulb! How long can people like that stay in business in a smaller city like Ellensburg? How long until the whole town figures out it's a rip-off?

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