also they charge $600 for something that should be FREE ....PUTTING an Obituaries..... man its all about the money..well that's OK GREED is one of the Sins...they are all going to hell....

$600 for an obit?  Are you sure?  I understood it was by the word.  How many words are you talking about?  The funeral services are listed free under the Funeral section.  Obit with pictures cost....so you think they should provided them free as well?

SOOO WHATCHA GOT AND WHERE YA AT??

My next door neighbors had a yard sale recently. Looked like a weirdo get together when people showed up. Maybe a blessing in disguise when the Californian screwed your ad up.

What you do is watch the adds in the paper for a yard sale on your street then you have your yard sale the same day.  No need to buy an add because everyone going to the other yard sale will also stop at yours. 

I confess I've never put a yard sale ad in the paper.   Maybe thats' why mine don't do well...or maybe because I'm such a packrat I never let go of anything really useful.   I admire people who just say "haven't used it in a while..out it goes."  I have no clue what's in my garage but when I go to dung it out, it's all stuff I can't part with, need, cant live without, will use someday, or have some bizarre reason for keeping it.

What happen to people that took pride in their job, pride in the products they sold, and stood behind both? It boggles the brain to think how much we as a society have change. I was raised to treat your job as though you owned the company you worked for. Give a good days work, for a good days wage. This kind of stuff is the norm any more. I sometimes envision the person I'm talking to on the phone, painting their nails, chewing gum, and just saying "yes I have that handled for you, or yes that will be ready for you at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, when in reality, they couldn't even repeat my name back to me, let alone why I called. I don't know what you can do other than refuse to ever do business with them again unless they refund your money, and run your ad free of charge the next time you decide to haul all your stuff out again. I would speak only to a supervisor. I've gotten to the point that any business I do over the phone, I ask for any and all information I can get on the employee I'm dealing with. Name, first and last if they're willing to give last, and always an employee number. If they refuse to give me that info, I ask to speak directly to they're boss. The chances of being satisfied with what you were needing to get accomplished is much greater when they know you have name and employment I.D. number. Good Luck!

Good assessment and good advice Proam

Did TBC refuse to refund money or run another ad free?

As frustrating as it is, and I KNOW dragging yard sale stuff out when the ad didn't show has to be infuriating, mistakes are made.  They messed up someones name with my grandkids wedding annoouncment, fixed it and re-ran it the following Saturday at no charge.  The mistake was made, nothing more could be done.

In this case a mistake was also made, what would you like them to do about it?

NancyII, roxy1 says she'll call them on Monday. Wanted advise on what to say to them. roxy, let us know how it turns out. Nancy you act as if it is no big deal what happened  to your grandkids wedding announcment. I personally think that if the person with whom your dealing took the time to repeat back to you all information, these mistakes wouldn't be made. Maybe I'm cynical but I hear of people all the time not doing their jobs right. Heck, you can't even order food at a take out window anymore and feel confident that your order is in there right. People just don't have the work ethic they once did. 

 PROAM:  I agree! I had to get down right ballistic with a wedding dress shop in LA over the maid of honours dresses! They never did do my daughters' wedding dress the way they said they would - we had to take it to a seamstress here in Bakersfield to get it fixed!

Also, I now check my "to go" bag before I leave the drive thru. I hate cheese on hambergers and as many times as I say NO CHEESE 9 times out of 10 I get the damned cheese, and that is after they have repeated it back to me 2-3 times!!!!!

witters, No Dang Cheese! Thats funny! I'm the same way. I don't want a cheeseburger, I want a hamburger. You have to go in to order. Don't use the drive up. If you don't check it, it will be wrong. Maddening! Glad there are others that feel the same way. It just seems workers don't care anymore. Companies don't back their products unless you make them. Tempurpedic is one of those co's. They will preach customer satisfaction but when it gets to the get down, nope, not it they've been paid in full.

I didn't say it was no big deal.  I said it was done and couldn't be undone and the best they could do was re-run the kids announcement.  What puzzles me is that YOU act as if the  newspaper is being totally uncaring with your comments here..

"I sometimes envision the person I'm talking to on the phone, painting their nails, chewing gum, and just saying "yes I have that handled for you, or yes that will be ready for you at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, when in reality, they couldn't even repeat my name back to me, let alone why I called"  (your experience of course, not Roxy's) 

Which really didn't appear to be the case with Roxy.  Someone at the paper dropped the ball and, at this point hasn't refused to work with the customer.  What kind of penance do you feel they should do for this mistake?  Do you really feel never doing business with the paper again because they missed her ad is logical?   If I never did business again with every company who has made mistakes I'd be sitting in a cave somwhere.

As for what she should say?  C'mon...she should say what happened.  What else is there?  You KNOW they will offer her a free ad.  I'm not minimizing the completely exasperating issue of the yard sale ad, I'd be furious too...but not knowing what to say to them?    And you villifying the paper because of it?  

My question remains.  Beyond a free ad, what do you want the paper to do about it?

Besides, this was a terrible weekend to have a yard sale.  There were only 33 listed (I track them since I'm a yard saler) and I didn't even bother to leave the house today.  Never never have on one on a Saturday holiday...or even a 3 day weekend.   The dropped ball will actully help her because the yard salers will be out in force next weekend.   Right after the first they have money, and they'll be champing at the bit because this weekend was a dud.

NancyII, I was saying that in my opinion, this stuff happens way to often. Do the employees that screwed up get reprimanded. Often not as the caller doesn't even know who they spoke with. That was the point I was trying to get across. Didn't mean to rile your feathers, or be mean. Thats not my style. Your post at 1:31 asked a question, and I answered it was all. My post was not to criticize you, it was meant as advise. Get names, it does appear to make the person on the other end do the job you asked them to do. Sorry to have irritated you.  Happy 4th everyone...

The death notices are free.

Of course they charge for the obits.  Have you seen the newspaper space that the obits of prominent people take up?  Do you think those should be free too?   I paid $400 for my dad's obit and was thrilled to have a public forum in which to give him a final goodbye. 

It amazes me what people think should be free!

I think the subject of the funeral/death notices came up in one of the Ask The Californian things.    The information in the funeral notices comes from the mortuary...the obits are paid announcements.    At least I think that's what they said.

That's what they said Nanc.

Sometimes a phone call just won't get the job done, and only a personal visit will suffice.

When we wrote a "memoriam" for my great grandmother in the Californian it was printed with so many errors it was embarassing!  They left out words, mispelled other words, and it sounded as if someone were playing a joke rather than trying to pay tribute to a loved one.  We called and had the money refunded.  What was the point of having it reprinted?  It's like screwing up wedding photos - once the moment has passed it's not like you can recapture it.

From what I've seen of yard sales around town it appears people just throw stuff outside and put up cardboard boxes at key intersections which they never take down.  I'm sure the side of town you are in determines its success (for instance, in the SW I don't see "yard sales" I see "estate sales"!).  Next time you should try (for free) Craigslist.org or the bakersfield.com online ads.  They are all free.

I share the frustrations of my fellow bloggers on those teeny boppers at fast food joints getting my orders right.  They are too busy flirting and texting to be focused on their work.  Considering it is fast food I don't expect too much from the workers (many of whom seem to be fresh out of the Rio Grande), but when you're paying $7 for a freakin' hamburger it would be nice to actually get what you pay for!  I've learned to stop and check everything before pulling away from the fast food window.  It ticks me off how they try to speed you up - I like efficiency but jeez - you order, then pay 30 seconds later, and before you can get your wallet back into your pocket they are thrusting the food in your face.  With the economy as bad as it is I wish we had older people working there who have a good work ethic and speak English.

everyone that has been yarding saiing for very long knows that you should put them on at the first of the month when everyone gets paid,,,you dont really want block sales involved because prospective buyers will rush past you to get to the next house before they loose their treasures..it gets pretty cut throat and rude at times.

i was at one early and they hadnt opened yet so i sat back until they were ready to open..two ruthless white women stood infront of the crowd elbows poised ..ready to push back to be first to rip open every box they brought out for everyone to go through..it was almost embarrassing to watch the way they were acting like vultures..i was looking around at the crowd shaking their heads in disgust..it was pitiful

at the same sale I saw a young lady who obviously had just had a child a few months ago and she wanted a bike that had a baby seat on the back..she bartered and told the owner she wanted it and they agreed out loud on a price..the young mother went on to look at a couple more baby things while a man ran up and quoted the price saying you wanted x amount correct..the owner said yes and took his money..thinking he was paying the bill

A couple minutes later the girl came over to pay and the man was loading the bike on his truck..the owner was embarrased and when everyone realized the man just pulled a fast one ..wanted to call him on it but it wasnt our place..if it would have been my home i would have stopped the man and told him the bike had already been called for and given him his money back it wasnt right....the owner assumed they were together because they were both hispanic..

being rude and disrespectful comes in all colors and it sure can take the fun out of it..so be nice people when your out there in the trenches

Roxy, realistically, the only thing you can do is ask for a refund.  If you did by chance get the persons name, or at least the date & time you phoned, you can make a complaint against that person.  I know this doesn't help you when you've made all of the basic preparations for your yard sale.  This will be one of those stories that you can laugh about or you can continue to hold a grudge...for myself, the latter is in no way how to spend your life or enjoy it.  

I'm in agreement, advertise on craigslist (they have a yard sale section) and best of all, it's free.  I always check craigslist & rarely check the paper for yard sales.  If you have some really good stuff that you don't want to bargain with, put it on craigslist in the appropriate section, sometimes you may have to do this 2, 3, 4 times, but it is well worth the wait, if you have the time.  I've sold things that would never have sold in a yard sale just because of my price.

Also, just a reminder: always ask for the persons name, ask them to spell it.  Put it in your calendar on the date you spoke to the person & the time.  This makes the person on the other end  take notice that you are keeping this info so if anything does go wrong, they will be called on it, and remember to always be polite.  But most of all, please remember we are all human and make mistakes...even on the job.

I hope your yard sale was or will be a great success.  They can be quite tiresome, but they can also be loads of fun...especially when you're counting the money.       

Love, Craigslist is how I get rid of items I no longer want or need.  Rather than giving it to Goodwill (who will then sell it for a profit, and they aren't even helping anyone like they used to because they are so expensive) I'll advertise it on Craigslist, and depending on who shows up to get it I may or may not charge them.  This works great on gifted items ... a dresser and crib come to mind.  I had a young lady who came to pick it up and it was obvious she needed it and I told her to just take them and use the $20 for her and her mom to go out to dinner.  In another instance, I was able to get rid of a weight set I no longer needed by having the student wrestler I gave it to read me a book with a Happy Ending.

What I don't like are those who pester you with questions and emails and then don't show up.  The same thing happened when I did eBay 10 years ago.  Those who ask no questions and know what they want and what they are getting are the ones who always bought what I was selling.  The fees on eBay will kill you though.