texas

"Oh my God, I see eyes!" screamed Carla Hill after opening a bag of greens from Walmart.  More »

There's hope for the continued survival of humanity past the point where we invent robots with the ability to exterminate us and built robots of their own. How do I know this? Because we've invented "deep fried butter." If we can do that, the robots don't stand a chance.  More »

If man were to dig a fancy pit that rich people would fight to throw money into, we suppose it would look a lot like the Dallas Cowboys' new $1.2 billion stadium. For only $800,000 you can rent a suite that doesn't include tickets to the game — or food and drink.  More »

It's all well and good to be a hero. Just, if you're an employee of a Randalls grocery store, do it on your own time. That's what an employee at their Round Rock, Texas store learned when he was fired for recovering a customer's stolen purse.  More »

We've all been there, trying on a pair of shorts in a Kohl's dressing room when suddenly we feel the cold sting of three used syringes. Or maybe it's a joy that was limited to a Texas woman who was shopping yesterday at the Kohl's in Harris County, Texas.  More »

The government is offering a $4,500 credit to anyone willing to trade in their old clunker for a new fuel efficient car, but there's a catch. Well, several catches...  More »

The Texas Attorney General filed suit against aptly named electronics retailer Conn's, accusing the store of aggressively marketing extended warranties to customers, then doing everything in its power to avoid honoring those warranties.  More »

Swine flu has claimed its first US victim. Details were scant but Texas health officials said the woman lived close to the Mexican border and had other, chronic, health problems. [AP] (Photo: law_keven)  More »

It's every Freecycle moderator's nightmare. A family in the Dallas/Fort Worth suburb of Mansfield woke up to discover men with a truck packing up their portable basketball hoop...which they weren't giving away. It had been listed on the "free" section of Craigslist by their neighbor...a police officer in a nearby town.  More »

Enterprise Rent-A-Car failed reader Jimmy in every possible way, which is quite the accomplishment since he only wanted a full size car to drive around his visiting friends. GEICO, Jimmy's insurance company, set him up with Enterprise after he lost a head-on collision with a deer. Enterprise managed to muck up nearly every step of the rental process, promising to deliver cars they didn't have, delivering the wrong class of car, and upselling unnecessary insurance that they wrongly said GEICO would cover. Jimmy's never going to use Enterprise again, and inside, you'll see why...  More »

Texas has issued the largest fine in the state's history to the peanut company blamed in the salmonella outbreak: $14.6 million. [AP]  More »

Heartland Automotive Services, Inc., which runs 31 Jiffy Lubes in the Austin area, has to pay a $300,000 fine after admitting to pumping used oil into the city's sewer system instead of recycling it. Normally shops are paid by the gallon for used oil, but in this case a damaged wall let water seep into the oil collection area and create a toxic mess that couldn't be sold—so instead of paying to remove it, they pumped it down the drain.  More »

Roy and his friends in Austin, TX would like to thank Consumerist readers for helping them locate a skee-ball machine they could all chip in on and practice on for their Brewskeeball league. They ended up finding one on in College Station, TX on Craigslist for $800. Score!  More »

Well, here's a truly weird story, disorderly conduct charges have been dropped against a Texas woman who dropped an f-bomb at her local Walmart.  More »

The National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo have put together an index of the most and least affordable metro areas. The index was created by calculating what percentage of a city's residents making the median income can afford a house in that city.  More »

On Thursday, Texas ordered the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) to recall all products shipped from its plant in Plainview, Texas. The order came after Texas Department of State Health Services discovered dead rats, rat droppings, and bird feathers in a crawl space that was connected to the plant's ventilation system.  More »

Abel's Copies is standing by their strict "No Refunds" policy even after ordering the wrong course packet for reader David. The workers at the off-campus bookstore near the University of Texas at Austin insisted there was only one instructor for David's course and that they couldn't order a new course packet unless David paid in advance. When David got home, he realized that Abel's sold him the wrong packet. He called the store and learned that Abel's had the right packet in stock for $25 less than he paid—but Abel's refused to issue a refund...  More »

Meet Gregg and Brittiny Peters. They've had a pretty terrible year. Two of their children were diagnosed with costly medical disorders, and as the bills began to mount, they decided to start over by selling all their worldly possessions on eBay. Enter Donnia and Keith Blair, who upon learning of the Peters' plight, bid $20,000 and won the auction. Here's the catch: the Blair's are willing to pay, but they don't want to take any of the Peters' things. This has apparently infuriated the Peters.
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If you live in or around Austin, Texas, you can save 3 cents or more per gallon by turning your driver's license into a debit card.  More »

Against a a backdrop of cheery balloons, and exclamatory soap opera digest headlines, the signs at this Austin supermarket checkout lines read, "All job fairs have been cancelled until further notice." Sign of the times, perchance?  More »