McCarthy Pools

We had a great experience working with Tom Lussier and his crew. We had three quotes from three different pool company's and though each had their own methods, products, and suggestions, McCarthy Pools had the best in all three categories. They went above and beyond to transform our not so pool friendly sloping backyard into the backyard every homeowner dreams of. We had some unforeseen snags along the way and they worked around them seamlessly, Tom always answered our questions. He was very clear on what was our responsibility and what was theirs. I would highly recommend McCarthy pools for a new install.

Summary: great initial experience, but then service performed incompletely, with no communication, and a complete lack of follow-up. Pool out of commission for two weeks in late July, not great timing. On to the review: I had high hopes for McCarthy. Tom L came out initially when we did the home inspection and talked to us about the pool state, and we made an informal plan for salt water conversion as well as some minor maintenance work (new o-ring, etc) once we bought the house. When that happened, I emailed Tom and we got an idea of the cost. McCarthy quickly sent a quote for the estimated work on July 1st, and I signed the agreement and paid the ~1500 for the initial deposit around July 7th. While I was on the phone paying the bill, the (very polite) woman on the phone mentioned that there would be additional electrical work needed for the salt water conversion (this was, to be fair, also listed on the quote) which would be an extra cost on top of the estimate. This was fine and I didn't think anything of it. She then asked, did I want to use my own electrician or theirs. I said theirs was fine, since I had no idea what the work was and how it would need to be coordinated. At this point I really didn't have any idea of when the conversion would happen and wasn't particularly worried about it, though an estimated time frame (e.g. late July, early Aug, mid Aug, whatever) would have been nice. Without warning, on July 15th, the service team came over, startling my to-be sister-in-law who was watching my fiance's children at our house, and began doing the conversion work. They left no instructions but left the salt water power supply in its box in the downstairs. I called the service team to make sure they had everything they needed, and they said everything was fine, so I did not leave work to go back to the house. I emailed Tom L the next day to mention what had happened and mentioning that the work was incomplete as I'd told the service team that I'd be happy to use their electrician. Since it was a Saturday I didn't expect a call back, but Monday afternoon I still hadn't heard anything so I called the service department at about 2PM and was told they would call me back between 3 and 5 PM. Never got a call back. The next day my fiance called them and got the same runaround. On the third call she was told we had to talk to Tom L directly. I didn't know what to do but by this point my pool was turning very green and was already clearly unusable. I frantically tried to get my personal electrician to come and help wire up the power supply but he ended up not available until Friday. On the 22nd I emailed Tom explaining all the issues which happened during the incident and saying how disappointed I had been by the McCarthy folks. To his credit Tom immediately called and apologized and said 'that's not how it should have happened'. He then gave me some advice and stopped by I believe on his own time to try and help clear up the pool. Unfortunately communication with him then broke down again, and I've not heard from anyone since July 26th when Tom said he would 'be by tomorrow'. I don't know if anyone has since come by the house I get the feeling that the McCarthy folks are a bunch of well meaning people who are trying to do a good job, but their communication and followup, both internally and with their customers, leaves a lot to be desired. I cannot recommend them for pool service. As it is I had no use of my pool for two hot weeks in July, which is when you really want to be using your pool.

unknown

The pool was originally built by McCarthy's about 20 years ago, and it had not been opened in the last 5 years.  The project went very smoothly.  They began pumping out the water on a Monday afternoon; the liner was installed the next day.  We filled the pool with the hose so it took about 50 hours to fill.  They checked on the pool daily as it was filling.  They provided all pool opening chemicals and explained how to use the new systems.  We spoke to 2 other companies about installing the new liner; I do not believe either of the others would have provided the nearly level of service McCarthy Pools provided.  The pool looks like new again.