Mrs. Rooter Blog

When the winter weather brings freezing temperatures, we hear stories of families who had their lives saved by a carbon monoxide detector. It’s important to know how to protect our families from the cold and understand the warning signs for carbon monoxide poisoning.

Known as the silent killer, carbon monoxide claims more than 400 lives each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. When temperatures drop, power outages can occur, causing people to turn to generators, portable heaters and other heating sources that may not be safe.

While you should install a carbon monoxide detector to ensure your family’s safety – I also turn to our sister company, Aire Serv Heating and Air Conditioning, Inc. for information that can help keep my family safe this winter.

For more information on how to safely heat your home, check out www.aireserv.com/~/media/6021ED1FABD540D3BFDC467CDE28A647.ashx.

Here’s wishing you a world class day!

I was particularly impressed with one of our Mr. Rooter Plumbing technicians in Houston. He showed me what really caring about the customer is all about. Donny Follett went the extra mile (literally!) for one of our customers. You see…the customer was in a wheel chair, and was talking about how good a cheeseburger from McDonald’s would be. Mr. Follett thought about how he could make the day a little better so he went to McDonald’s on his break and bought our customer a quarter pounder with cheese combo meal. And he didn’t stop there – the next morning, Mr. Follett brought the customer breakfast from McDonald’s too.

I would like to take this moment to thank Mr. Follett for brightening the day of one of our customers. To me, providing outstanding customer experiences is the most important part of this company. One of our Code of Values is…Treating others as we’d like to be treated.  When someone calls Mr. Rooter Plumbing they are usually having a bad day because their plumbing has created some sort of an emergency that has interrupted the day – or worse the night. Our goal at Mr. Rooter Plumbing is to turn your bad day into a good one. Mr. Follett’s story reminds me that it’s not always about plumbing.  Sometimes it’s a smile or helping someone change the batteries to their smoke alarm they cannot reach…and sometimes it’s a trip to McDonald’s.  I am delighted and proud to have him as one of our ambassadors of the Mr. Rooter brand.

If you have a great experience like this with Mr. Rooter, (or another company who really wowed you) we’d love hearing about it! You can always email us at MrsRooterBlog@MrRooter.com.

Here’s wishing you a world class day.

I am happy to announce to you we will be launching My Home Life® online this February as an online newsletter.

Every season My Home Life will bring you a wide range of helpful articles for managing your home and life. We’ll provide you informative content about home repair, maintenance,  remodeling, as well as a variety of tips and trends to help your home run smoother. And who couldn’t use a smoother running home.

In addition to some great plumbing ideas we’ll also share some great ideas for electrical, heating and air conditioning, renovations, glass and appliances. If it matters to your home it matters to us.

It is my hope this informational newsletter will help you better enjoy the new year with a safe and happy home. You’ll find plenty of great articles throughout the e-magazine to help you get the most enjoyment out of your living spaces.

Our first issue this February will focus on ways to conserve money. I know after the holidays I am always on the lookout for cost savings ideas. As we climb out of this recent recession we appreciate that our readers are more interested than ever in how to reduce costs.

Here’s wishing you a world class day!

The other day I was reading a story about a house fire that started in the laundry room. It got me thinking about the many loads of laundry I do, and how much lint and debris builds up in my dryer. My husband reminds me fairly often that I don’t remove the lint from the dryer after each load – and truth be told (I hate to admit this) – he is right. The last time I removed the lint it was half an inch think – not good. After doing some research, I found some interesting information.

Did you know there’s a National Fire Prevention Week? While it’s not until October, it wouldn’t hurt for us to pay attention to this important information now. Wanting to keep my and your family safe, I turned to our sister company Mr. Appliance for some advice. They have some great tips to keep your dryer in good working condition all year long. 

To check them out, you can visit www.mrappliance.com/about/press/PR_MRA_100209_DryerFire_CORP.pdf.

Here’s wishing you a world class day.

Did you know Mr. Rooter Plumbing sends out regular e-newsletters full of information and special offers?  If you aren’t familiar with it, our Timely Tips e-newsletter is filled with savings, simple tips and seasonal information.  It’s a great way to help you keep your home’s plumbing system up-to-date and working properly.  

We e-mail our Timely Tips e-newsletter to subscribers on a monthly basis. Coupons are included on a regular basis and are good for six months. And…you can also forward the savings along to friends, so they can take advantage of our coupons as well.

If you want to sign up, go to www.MrRooter.com.  Here’s wishing you a world class day.  

I am delighted to share some good news with you. Mr. Rooter Plumbing was recently included in two prestigious rankings. I send my thanks to our franchisees, their superb teams, and the staff here at the corporate headquarters for their hard work.

First, Entrepreneur magazine ranked Mr. Rooter Plumbing No. 139 in its annual Franchise 500 list. We moved up eight spots from last year’s ranking, which we are excited about!

If you are not familiar with this list, it is known as the world’s first, best and most comprehensive list of franchises. If you want to see the other franchises that made this list, visit www.entrepreneur.com/franchise500. Congratulations to four of our sister companies – Aire Serv®, Glass Doctor®, Mr. Appliance® and Mr. Electric® – that also made the Franchise 500 list.

Mr. Rooter Plumbing also ranked No. 132 in the 2^nd annual AllBusiness AllStar Franchises.

AllBusiness.com, which is an online media and e-commerce company, assembled this list of the top 300 franchises. Winners are ranked by franchise unit growth rate, financial strength, system size, availability of financing, Web visibility as well as years doing business and years franchising. You can visit http://www.allbusiness.com/allstar-franchises/11736542-1.html to see the full list.

We couldn’t have done this without the hard work of our Mr. Rooter Plumbing franchisees and their teams. Thank you for providing world class customer service and creating outstanding customer experiences!

Here’s to a world class day.

If you’ve had a backed up kitchen sink or your pipes have frozen, you’ll want to read these New Year’s resolutions from Mr. Rooter Plumbing. (They’ll also help you save water, the world and some money!)

This year…

- I will not pour grease down the drain.

- I will insulate my faucets and exposed pipes to prevent them from freezing.

- I will not put pumpkin pulp and seeds down the drain.

- I will save water and lower my water bills by having a recirculation pump installed. (www.savewaternow.com has more information).

- I will make my house more energy efficient to receive a tax credit. (Visit www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=tax_credits.tx_index for details).

I hope you add some of these resolutions to your list. Here’s wishing you a prosperous New Year!

One of the things I really enjoy about the new year is the opportunity for making resolutions.  I just love looking for a resolution to begin the new year on a fresh note.  Sometimes it is serious and significant, like giving more to charity throughout the year or running my next marathon. Other years I make fun and whimsical resolutions like sleeping 10 more minutes a night to become a kinder, gentler version of myself or promising to smile at the first person I see in the hallway at work each day.

Whether they are things we hope to accomplish, a small improvement on ourselves or habits we hope to improve, New Year’s resolutions can be a fun part of the holiday festivities.  

If you’re interested in the Top 10 New Year’s resolutions for 2010, you should check out this site:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2454100/top_10_new_years_resolutions_for_2010.html?cat=2.

In my next blog posting, I will share with you some fun plumbing resolutions you should add to your list of New Year’s resolutions.

Here’s wishing you a most happy, prosperous, and healthy New Year!