If you are considering a pool, I highly recommend South Shore Pools. From day one when the pool was merely a thought, Steve was there helping me bring it to life. Never pushing for a sale, but there to answer all my questions with his many years of knowledge and experience. Both him and Joe designed a pool that fits perfectly in my yard and I couldn't be happier. Every employee that I experienced throughout this process was nothing but professional and courteous, including the office staff , always letting me know exactly when they were coming, An absolute pleasure to deal with. I can't wait till spring to finish the landscaping and start enjoying it. A huge thank you to South Shore Pools for bringing this to life and making our yard our little oasis!! read more

I have had a great experience using south shore pools for the past five years. They did an amazing job with the pool and the pavers. They were there per the schedule they communicated and finished the job on time per their commitments. Joe was highly responsive throughout the entire process. My backyard now looks like a resort! I hired them for weekly service and they have always done a great job maintaining the pool as well as for the opening and closing each season. I also want to share, I had some initial challenges with the Town and both Steve and Patti were all over it. They provided me great support working through the entire process! read more

Getting an in-ground pool is a big decision and South Shore is seriously the BEST pool company on Long Island! The owner Steve was the first to come to the house and give us an accurate estimate of what it would entail to get a built-in pool in Brookhaven. Steve was professional, courteous and so helpful! Then you have Patti in the office, she is wonderful and goes above and beyond and explains everything, even when I was not always the easiest to work with. Then when you do the pavers, you have Joe, who is such a pleasure to work with, answers all your questions and does a beautiful job! I can't give this company enough praise. I never write reviews but when I saw some of these negative reviews I had to comment because this company deserves 5 stars!! read more

Although my pool was put in 10 years ago by these arrogant idiots, I never thought to do any kind of review until recently. I completely & wholeheartedly agree with every negative review about SSP. While I believe the pool was built well, that does not make up for the lack of customer care these idiots have. Steve, the owner, his sister, Patti, & Joe the salesman--rude & arrogant. I called around to find someone to change our liner last year. Never even got a return call from these people. Figured it would be easy, probably have all my pool info on file there. I called twice, never got a call back. Not sure if that should have been Patti or Joe. But happy they didn't. SKY BLUE POOLS did a great job with our new liner. Call them, if in need for any work for your pool. Owner was here & very nice. read more

****SPECIAL NOTE: MAKE SURE YOU LOOK OVER YOUR CONTRACT BEFORE THE SALES PERSON LEAVES. THEY DO NOT PAY ATTENTION OR LISTEN. DO NOT SIGN UNTIL YOU GO OVER ALL YOU WANT AND DO NOT WANT ****Rude, unorganized, treat you like they do not need your business. We had them install our pool about 9 years ago. Did a good job installing but I NEVER over the years recommended them to anyone. Anyone who asked me I would say "do not use south shore pools." The reason? Patti from the store. She is literally the rudest, most unprofessional, nasty CSR I have come across. So unprofessional it's embarrassing. We did use them to install a new liner this past month. It took everything NOT to call them back but we did because the install was good. REGRETTED THE DECISION CALLING THEM AGAIN- THEY LITERALLY DO NOT CARE ABOUT THE CUSTOMER. And ALMOST 10 years later Patti answers the phone and it was regrettable from that minute on. There was miscommunication throughout process. Will once again, NEVER recommend this company. Patti if you are reading this- the employees and most customer think you are nasty AF. PLEASE DO NOT LET HER DEAL WITH CUSTOMERS. SHE MAKES IT UNCOMFORTABLE AND MISERABLE. SHE IS A RELATIVE OF THE OWNER- YOU GUYS SHOULD BE ASHAMED. read more

I hired South Shore pools to replace my liner. They were great. They called, popped by, inspected the liner and gave a fair price when compared to the other quotes I received. I was out of town when they installed the liner and I was thinking oh no, this is going to be terrible. They did a fantastic job. The liner is smooth, no wrinkles and beautiful. I had the old liner replaced 5 years ago and used a company that did not do a good job. It was terrible. The liner was wrinkled and almost impossible to vacuum. This was a water job since I am near the canal. I would recommend them to anyone. read more

Called for a service call to change the sand in my filter They scheduled it for next week They email the morning of the call They showed up and did a good job read more

Good construction process! but after that its all down hill horrible customer service and they seem to blame everyone else but them selfs, I do believe the reason they do business is because they are cheaper than everyone else take that away and it's a shit show. Swim King charges more but they have an excellent team to help with any issues or warranty, and they call you back and fix issues not hide behind a phone , I don't like ripping any small business , but this is deserving sadly, save the aggravation oh and you will get aggravated trust me and call Swim King. read more

Very poorly ran business. Especially the owner Steven Bertolino, he's extremely unprofessional. I had ordered supplies for my pool, i was told multiple times it had arrived and that they had it. When i came in, steven bertolino told me he had not seen the items for two days and that they went missing, he seemed like i was a bother to him and that i was in the wrong somehow. I asked what happened to my order when i had called several times and was told that he had them, he wouldnt even offer a refund just told me that he would re-order the items i needed for my pool. I told him i wanted my money back and wanted to go else where, he told me i was out of luck and even had the nerve to laugh in my face over it. Seems like he doesn't mind losing clients with how unprofessional him and his staff are. Beware, go somewhere else or else you'll get scammed! read more

got the pool put in last year, since then they been here 4 times do to a leak from the backwash valve. Recently called them AGAIN and that douche steve tells us its your problem now. Turns out his 'pool tech" / moron put the spider gasket on upside-down. steve is just a f$*÷@ing as$^+le and i say that for the way he was speaking to my wife on the phone, you're lucky you weren't at my house speaking like that read more

Very dishonest business. Called for a pool opening and to have my old pump swapped for a new pump. I was told $250 and $25 extra for the pool heater start. I received a receipt for $275 from the driver of the truck and found out later that I was being billed $499 without even being told! No mention of extra charges at any time. Very sneaky and shady business. read more

Good quality construction but save yourself the hassle and deal with a company that has their act together. The theme of my experience is lack of communication and coordination: 1. Starting with the owner, who was pompous and arrogant. On my first and only interaction with him, he waved a wad of cash in my face, complained that time was money, and I was wasting his time. This was all was due to a lack of communication and lost documents in the business office. It was made clear to us that we were just a job for them, and they were more concerned with keeping to a schedule than doing things the right way. 2. We were promised at contract signing the pool work would be coordinated with the contractor performing my landscaping. They never returned his calls. He ultimately stopped by the office for updates, which they did not provide. All coordination was last minute and not communicated with advanced notice to have the contractor be available. 3. The office informed us that the pool was complete. My husband called twice about concerns the salt system functioning properly. It wasn't until contacting an external pool supply store and testing the water that the company indicated salt was never actually added yet. 4. We paid $500 for someone to come, open the pool and explain how things work. This never happened. We were never refunded the money and have learned about the pool functions through YouTube and the local pool store. read more

I always feel like I'm bothering the workers by coming into the store. Over priced and rude. They are my last resort. They have the parts I need on hand however I always feel like I'm going to be spoken about soon as I walk out the door. Shame as pool season is short you would think they would be excited to see people. read more

Basically I was treated like they didn't need or value me as a customer. That's putting it nicely. Next!

We had our pool installed in the fall of 2013 which means this is only our 4th summer with the pool. Last summer we opened the pool to find the water was low and it took a ton of calls to actually get someone from South Shore to come look at it. Well yet again my pool was opened on Tuesday by another company we always use for our openings and the water was about 3 feet below the skimmer line. I immediately called South Shore as they were the company that we paid alot of money too only 3 years ago. I explained the situation to the woman on the phone, Ruth was her name I believe. She told me that maybe something fell in the pool before it was closed. What? Really?! I said there is no way because the pool was fully functional when we closed it and we have a loop loc cover. She was completely short and unprofessional. She said she would put in a service request. I don't know what archaic system they use but by Wednesday afternoon I still didn't hear from anyone. My husband also called and told the person he spoke to how rude they were to me and that it was unacceptable to treat a customer that way. I called back on Wednesday for the same woman to tell me that there was a service ticket put in but she had now way of knowing when they were coming. She then said, to my astonishment, that they don't communicate with their trucks so they don't know their schedules. Again, what! I explained that this wasn't a routine service call and that their workmanship was obviously flawed which is why a 3 year old pool needed a service call 2 years in a row. I also said that I needed to be home when they came to look at the pool and I needed a time frame. I was then told to log onto their website every morning and look for my ticket number, then when I see it I can estimate when they would come by what number I was on the schedule. How can a company in the customer service business expect or allow the customer to have to guess when they are coming and hope to be home when they did. When I told Ruth that there has to be a better way and I can't believe this is how they do things she basically said, this is how we do it and there's nothing she could do. So first she excuses me of having something fall into my pool which caused the leak and the water to be low then proceeds to tell me sorry but I can't tell you anything about when our company will show up. The rudeness and matter of fact attitude was the most unprofessional I have ever dealt with. An unhappy customer and a bad review is the last thing they should want but like the other reviews this company does not care one bit! After getting aggravated by their conduct and demanding better service, I was told to call back in the morning. I woke up this morning to an email from south shore saying that they due to the treatment they received from me they refuse be treated that way and will no longer work with us. They said find another pool company. OMG! S now its my fault their company has terrible customer service and nasty people answering their phones?! I have never in my life experienced anything like this and they can be sure that every social media contact i have will know NEVER to use South Shore Pools. They can't be bothered standing by their work adn making their cusotmers happy. How dare they! read more

Despicable business practices. Shoddy workmanship. Massive company lacking in any personal touch or customer service. With the dozens of pool companies in Suffolk County, stay far away from this outfit. There are far better, more honest people to work with for your pool needs. read more

Absolutely the worst company to deal with and I do not recommend them to anyone. The owner, Steve bertolino does not return calls or take pride in his business. Was promised completion date that came and went. This company does not tell you when they will be coming and just show up. Every time I contact the store I get these Idiot I employees who give me the run around. Spare yourself the aggravation and go elsewhere read more

they opened my pool on a friday while i was out of town,when i got home on saturday i found the pool filter on,the water level down about 8 inches from the skimmer and the motor not running,i couldnt get in touch with anyone until monday and when i did they promised to return my call within 20 minutes from their service center.an hour and a half later i called and they had no record of my previous call.when i told the lady what happened she didnt seem to care.I expressed my concern to her about the motor being in the on position with the water level way below the skimmers again she didnt seem to care.I expressed to her i was very concerned about the motor seizing since now it wont turn on and i have a swamp in my backyard she told me she could create a service ticket.I said ok when will somebody be out here?since its monday morning i was hoping for today,she said oh no it definitely wont be today.I asked her can it be tommorow?she said she had no idea but it will be asap.I said asap meaning when?the end of the week?she said maybe, By far the worst customer service i have ever dealt with,they just do not care,i shouldve stuck with dunrite pools, read more

When thoughtfully planning every detail of my daughters wedding in my backyard we decided to replace our pool liner.We ordered the liner in April thinking that would be plenty of time for memorial day weekend.We stressed how important it was to be completed by a certain time.The charming salesman was very quick to take our deposit when what he should have done was to be honest and let us try to find a company that could accommodate our needs .When we have have 150 guests in my backyard looking at my awful pool I will let them all know who is responsible. read more

We had a custom pool designed by this company. Craftsmanship is top notch. The attention to detail is 100%. When they were finished they cleaned up there mess. Very professional. Love my pool. read more

Customer service at South Shore Pools is very poor. They are always over booked. Can never give you an exact date of an appointment. They will not power Vac your pool until 1 week after opening! If crew runs into any problems they can not or will not resolve it. They always want to come back for another service call. Telephone customer service has no clue what is going on or who you are when you call. They do not call back as promised. Do not use this company! read more

I interviewed several pool contractors over the last few years and decided to go with South Shore Pools, I am very pleased with all of the work. Joe Rastello in sales set all of the expectations we would encounter along the way and they were exceeded. We knew upfront there would be a different crew for each part of the job and we also knew up front roughly how long each part of the job would take. Every crew that came to our home was courteous, professional, and very efficient. Being a first time pool owner, I was most impressed with the response time to when I thought there was something wrong with the equipment running the pool. I had placed a call that afternoon and they were there the next morning to look at everything and explain to me how to operate the equipment properly. My family and I are all enjoying the beautiful new free form pool with some cool and unique features. I think they did an outstanding job. read more

Very happy with my experience. they were very helpful and had great suggestions for design in view of the size and shape of my yard and deck as well as zoning issues like set-backs. Love what the final size and shape was and the workmanship as well. they were right smack in the middle of the busy season but always took time to speak to me and were very informative. very fair pricing as well. very pleasant experience except for the disruption of your yard which is unavoidable of course. read more

I emailed the owner and asked if he could call me regarding my concerns. He responded to my email (but didn't call) and said he responds to questions, but not threats. There never were any threats from me, only questions and concerns about a pool that wasn't working properly. I emailed him again stating this, and he replied (not called) that my concerns were irrelevant and offered me 4 free bottles of shock to treat my pool and told me what steps I needed to take to fix it on my own. He can keep his free bottles of shock and his arrogant attitude. I'd never deal with this company again unless something broke that was under warrantee. I'm very shocked and surprised at the owner and sales manager because they both initially came across as pretty decent guys that I was comfortable with. Don't be fooled. I should have read the reviews about the company before I spent $35,000 with them. read more

These reviews do not reflect my experience with South Shore Pools one bit. South Shore Pools built and services my pool each season and each and every time I have called them with an issue or concern they have been extremely helpful and polite. I like that I don't have to be home for the service. Sure, they book for a week and do not tell you what day, but that is the trade off. I love my pool and I love dealing with them. It seems that these reviews are from disgruntled crybaby customers. "Goo Goo Goo! nobody showed up immediately for my service or told me exactly when they would be there". If you want a company that will do quality work where you don't have to be involved in every step of the process then this is the company I would recommend. read more

In October of 2013, we hired South Shore Pools, Inc., of East Islip to install an inground pool and spa. Construction began in November 2013. The day of groundbreaking, I met with the owner Steve of South Shore Pools for the first time. We discussed where the pool was going to go and the filter and heater. At no time, did he tell me that we could not put the filter and heater on the side of the house, because it would not be up to Massapequa Park code. The only thing he said, was that we could not place the filter or heater under the window, so we agreed to move the filter and heater away from the window, but still keep it on the side of the house. Due to the cold winter, they had to stop construction, which was totally understandable. At this point the, the steel walls and concrete were put in. We never received an inspection from the town to see if the steel was put in properly. South Shore pools poured the concrete without the town's inspection. Eventually, South Shore Pools had to get a letter from Thomas D. Blore Architect, P.C. 88 Fairview Avenue, Islip Terrace, stating that the inground pool was constructed in accordance with the construction documents dated 10/22/13. When spring came, we were ready for the liner, filter and heater to be installed. When it came time for the inspection of the filter and heater, we did not pass Massapequa Park town inspection, because the filter and heater were not up to code. The filter and heater were placed only 3 feet from the property line. After talking with the town inspector, we looked at or plans and stated clearly on the plans it states, that the pool equipment shall not be closer than 5 feet from the rear and side property lines. (when the pool company originally sent the plans into the town to get the permit, the pool company put in writing that the pool equipment shall not be closer than 4 feet from the rear or side property lines) The town inspector in red pen changed the 4 feet to 5 feet. When, my husband called South Shore Pools to see how we were going to remediate this problem, we were told that either we have to file for a variance with the town that would cost us and it will take three months to get on the schedule or we could have the heater and filter moved for a cost, because it was our fault that the filter and heater were put on the side of the house. I called back immediately and spoke with the manager, Patti. She reiterated what my husband had told me. I told her, I didn't think it was fair that we were being held responsible for what seemed like their mistake. I asked to speak with the owner Steve. I told him the same thing I told his manager, that we should not be held responsible for having to move the filter and heater. He responded by saying, "You wanted the filter and heater on the side of the house. " I agreed, I did say that but I didn't know we needed to have five feet or any amount of feet from the property line. I was just thinking aesthetics. I told him, "I thought you were suppose to be responsible for the pool equipment being installed up to code." As I was trying to talk, and tell him that we had a certain amount of money set aside for the pool and that we didn't have any extra money to pay to move the filter and heater, he said to me, "If you keep talking, I'm going to hang up on you." So, I stopped talking and I just listened. When he was finished talking, I asked him to repeat my options, he said the same thing as his manager. He also mentioned there would be a fee. I asked him to tell me how soon he could move the filter and heater? He responded, by telling me,"I can move it when my busy season ends." Unfortunately, for me my husband and I had already paid him almost $30,000.00 in cash. I couldn't understand why the pool company, the plumber who we hired through the pool company or the electrician, also hired through the pool company didn't know the code for Massapequa Park. While all of this was going on, the salesman Joe, who we first met in July of 2013 was who was going to be handling the masonry work. My husband and I kept debating if we should continue to use this company. When I spoke with Joe I explained what happened with Steve and Joe promised us he would take care of everything from this point forward and there wouldn't be any more problems. We decided to stay with South Shore Pools for the masonry work. We signed a contract with Joe for the masonry work on April 23, 2014, promising that the brickwork would be done by July 4, 2014. We mentioned we didn't want the brickwork started until the heater and filter were moved and we had passed inspection. In the meantime, the pool was working, but the spa was not. We asked to have the pool company send someone to show us how to clean the pool and how to maintain the pool. A worker was sent over and he showed my husband how to clean the pool, and he told us to leave the Polaris in the pool. We did what he said. Email me to see rest of my review and photos. read more

We were given their number by a friend who had their pool installed by this company. Our liner needed to be replaced. We gave them a $1,000.00 cash deposit on March 21st. We told them we wanted the liner installed in May just before Memorial Day and were told, "No Problem." Then never heard from them again. We called just about every day from May 1st through May 21st. Calls were met by a rude receptionist who told us our liner was on order. Finally, the week of Memorial Day weekend, we were told, sorry, new installs get 1st priority! Are they kidding! I would NEVER consider passing their name along as anything but dishonest. We were lucky to not have to take them to court for our deposit return but have to wait an additional 2 weeks for a much more reputable company to install. read more

Our experience with this company was a pleasure. From design to final product the transition was amazing. They are highly recommended. The service dept. has an amazing respectful staff who are on point with any questions asked. When dealing with masonry division the salesman knew what product he was selling and answered all questions to our expectation. read more

This is an un biased review of South Shore Pools. They just completed a liner change for me. The salespeople were fine, and the installation crew was professional. In a nut shell, the job went pretty well and the liner is a perfect fit, was installed perfectly, and the pool looks wonderful. I have used them before for openings and closings and they are fine, but you must be patient as they do not schedule an exact day. For this job there were some scheduling delays and difficulties due to weather, which was understandable but very frustrating. The completion of the job once the liner went in was a bit unorganized ( I was left with a full pool in a lovely green shade for more than a few days over a long weekend) but eventually went fine and the actual pool mechanics were all very capable. Thanks to Patti and Ruth in the office for helping me with the final set up. I do recommend that you get your liner ordered in March to be sure for a May installation. read more

Could not be more rude or unprofessional . Taken advantage of people will always come back to you . Especially do to your company"s faulty installing methods and short cuts . I cant be more clear make sure you do not make the same mistake i did hiring this horrible company. read more

We interviewed several pool companies before remodeling our pool and converting to a salt based chlorination system. South Shore Pools won the job because they seemed to have the ability to meet all of our needs for the project. The salesman, Joe Rastello, was very nice and knew what we were looking for. After looking at pictures of previous jobs they did, we signed a contract and moved forward. The problems started early on when they couldn't really tell us when they were going to arrive to work. They finally called us and showed up for a few hours the next day. They begin many projects at the same time and do a little bit of work on each one every day. Even the different crews that would come to our house had no idea where they would be working the next day. As a result the project took two months when it could have been done in a week. I put the job on hold for two weeks when they demanded over 60% of payment before their third day of work. After that I would wait several days between each return visit when they would do a couple of hours of work. It seems the company is run poorly and unorganized. Perhaps they just try to take on too much and need a better approach to allocating their resources. After they finally finished, months after the target completion date, I noticed the liner they installed was not properly fitted to the pool. They told me the liner needed time to settle and should look perfect within a month. When it didn't, they told me to give it more time. Finally after the summer, the owner of the company, Steve Bertolino, came to the house to evaluate the pool in September. When he told me I was right and the liner wasn't installed properly, I assumed they would make an effort to fix it quickly. When Steve told me they were too busy closing pools and they wouldn't be able to get to me until October 15, I was upset but was happy to have a date set for ending this terrible experience. That date came and went with no correction to the problem. After e-mails, phone calls, and texts they finally attempted to fix the issue on November 26. Of course, the pool was covered before and after they made the correction so I wont see the results until the spring. I can only assume there will still be issues but I think at this point I'll just go elsewhere. I definitely should have used the company we used to do the masonry/patio around the pool for the pool work. They wanted to build me a new 24x40' pool for the same price South Shore charged for the renovation of my existing pool. Silly me for using a company that supposedly has an expertise in pools. Never again! read more

Our pool liner was damaged as a result of Superstorm Sandy. South Shore Pools were very responsive to my call to have the liner replaced and the job was done by the end of November. I also had the steps replaced at that time. I had been asked to remove portions of the wood decking to accommodate the work, which I did, but their work crew then ripped out more, including portions off the under frame. No attempt was made to replace any of that framing. The pool was covered for the winter once the job was done. I opened the pool in April to begin work on the deck replacement. At that time I realized that the new steps were set about two inches lower than the previous unit. Where the original decking came flush to the top of the steps, the deck boards would now be higher, by about two inches. They also left the metal coping that the boards fit into open at both sides of the steps, creating a potentially hazardous condition. I placed a call and was told that the salesman, Joe, would get back to me. He did, about a week later. He stated that he had told me the new steps would be lower, which he did not. He also said that this was not their job, but somethong my contractor would have to work out. I explained that I was doing the work myself and needed their help. "Not our Problem," I was told. At the time I was also not sure the new chlorinator was functioning properly. Joe actually told me that the chlorinator doesn't supply the chlorine to the pool, I have to keep shocking it! Funny, the old chlorinator did a great job of adding chlorine to the pool. Not happy with Joe's responses, I called SSP again and asked to speak with Steve, the owner. I was told the Steve was "too busy" to be bothered by customer calls. Needless to say I got a bit upset. I was again told that Steve was a very busy man who owned two businesses and couldn't get back to me for at least two weeks. Two weeks have come and gone. No Steve. I am about two thirds done on the new deck. I also realized that when they replaced one of the skimmer units it was set about 1/2 inch too high. Something I guess I'll have to fix myself. Looks like I will need to pay a mason to pour a cement apron around the steps to make the two inch transition up to the decking. I plan to sue SSP for that extra cost. Steve, if you read this, still waiting for your call!!! read more