UPDATE Look Out-OI’ Zauss Is Back In Town

Gene Zauss, the swimming pool contractor (“Beware of Pool Sharks,” May 1987) who stiffed many a customer and creditor before slipping out of sight, has surfaced and appears to be up to some newer tricks, Last we heard, Zauss was a managing partner of Nelson Pools in Arlington, having landed there after filing for personal bankruptcy last year. As owner of the now-defunct Blue Fountain Pools, Zauss was frequently accused of shoddy workmanship and ran up thousands of dollars in unpaid bills to subcontractors before dropping out of sight early last year. Zauss is now an employee of Tropical Pools in Dallas.

Hurst businesswoman Lisa Gold is a former customer and an old Zauss nemesis. Imagine her surprise when she received a brochure from Tropical Pools that featured a color photo of her swimming pool built a couple of years ago by Blue Fountain Pools. “I never gave anyone permission to photograph or use a picture of my pool for advertising purposes,” says Gold.

Gold is still fuming about features she claims Zauss and Blue Fountain Pools never delivered for her $47,000 swimming pool. She says she paid several thousand more to correct Zauss’s shoddy stonework and replace faulty pool equipment. And then there’s the $2,000 lien on her property placed by Blue Fountain’s unpaid plastering contractor. Gold says she learned that Tropical Pools ordered the brochures with the picture of her swimming pool on it over a year ago. She says Zauss told her he had nothing to do with the brochure.

Though he eventually returned a call placed to Tropical Pools, Zauss immediately refused comment and hung up after recognizing the name of a D writer. Several calls to Tropical Pools managers also were never returned. Other messages left for Zauss at Nelson Pools were never returned by Zauss or anyone else.