North Shore Pool Boys

Two things keep showing up in North Shore Pool Boys' reviews, and they're usually in the same review: the work got done well, and then nobody could get them to come back. This is a Peabody operation that opens, closes, cleans and re-lines residential pools around the North Shore, and it runs on one person — reviewers name Chris in nearly every comment, praising and complaining about the same man. When the crew lands, the accounts are concrete. A homeowner this past May called several other local companies who all wanted to replace his whole pump system; these guys repaired it and charged a fraction of that. In July, another had leaks patched in a brand-new pool days before a 60-person graduation party, with Chris coming out in the rain. Further back, a 2025 reviewer had an 11-year-old liner with holes replaced quickly despite parts delays, another that year had a 15-by-30 above-ground pool set on ground the crew leveled first, and a 2024 customer walked through a full closing — skimmed, vacuumed, chemicals, antifreeze, cover, filters cleaned. More than one person writing in 2025 said they landed here only after other North Shore companies dropped their job [E391045, E391031]. A 2026 reviewer points out how few local outfits will touch above-ground pools at all. The other half of the story is scheduling, and it is the reason to read carefully. Through 2026 the complaints repeat almost word for word: a pool opened partway, a promised return, then silence. One homeowner says the cover came off on 5/15/26, the filter went in, the crew left, the check was cashed, and the job still wasn't finished by late July. Another logged the dates — out on 5/17, told they'd be back the next day, no-show again on 5/27. A third: called a month ago, called again, never showed up. A July 2026 reviewer who said the quality was fine when he actually turned up reports being told he'd taken on more customers than he could handle. It isn't new — a 2024 customer documented no-call no-shows across three separate days, and a 2024 opening left an improperly fitted filter and cover debris dumped into the water. The ratings split the same way. Google sits at 4.4 across 94 ratings and the BBB page is an A+, while Angi and HomeAdvisor both show 1.5 from six [E391106, E391116]. Six of the last twenty-one reviews are negative. One more thing to pin down: in a 2025 review a customer said a $350 advertised "full service" opening brought the pool to usable and no further, and that paying early meant losing priority. Hire them for the hands-on work — liners, installs, pump and filter repairs — where the praise is most specific and most repeated. Then get the date in writing, confirm exactly what a "full service" opening covers, and hold back final payment until the return visit actually happens.