Monday, October 19, 2026
Breakfast: I prepared for myself two eggs scrambled with fresh dill, sourdough toast with salted butter, hot water. Trash management. Swept leaves in front of the home and in the lower entryway in the stairwell. Cleaned south bathroom washlet filter. Prepared a return of Oupes products. Today I updated my review to say, "I purchased a bundle of an Exodus 350 and a 100W solar panel. After receiving both items I discovered that I could not connect them because the cable included with the solar panel did not fit the port on the Exodus 350. It took a long time for us to determine what had gone wrong: Oupes accidentally sent me an older model of solar panel that did not have a compatible cable to fit the port on a newer design of the Exodus 350. I had expected to be sent products that would work together out of the box, and this seemed a complete failure to me. Once we realized this, they agreed to send me a cable that would resolve my problem. I agreed. 12 days later I check the tracking info which says, 'We'll add a delivery date as soon as we get your package.' I contact support again. They let me know that the cable they had planned to send me was unfortunately no longer in stock. I could purchase a cable separately and be reimbursed or replace the solar panel. I wanted to love this company and its products, but by now it had been over 3 weeks, and this was too much burden for me to bear. I felt as though I were being asked to do their customer support, quality control, and purchasing. I decided to return both products because the confidence I lost in the company to simply and effectively deliver two products that work together led me to lose confidence in the company as a whole—even if the products might be great. While email support was not flawless or very timely, they were polite and sincerely wanted to help me once each of the many problems were discovered. The lessons for Oupes to improve upon my experience should be obvious from the above: track your inventory better, send only bundles that work, enable your staff to know when inventory is low, and require them to follow up with customer-reported problems until they are resolved. Oupes has a long way to go to earning me as a customer again, but I have hope for them, and I look forward to seeing them improve. I hope the story of my experience shared widely in the company can inspire them to do so." Errands with Patrick: dropped off Oupes packages at a delivery drop point. He left to visit his mom and Kerry. I returned the Always DVD at the library then walked home. Lunch: shrimp roll, side of blueberries with plain yogurt, water. I contacted the repair shop that for $27 I shipped my defective Husqvarna battery or charger to a month ago. They said they filed a warranty claim and Husqvarna sent us a new battery. I need to pay $20 return shipping or pick it up. I chose to have it shipped. Walked and rode Muni to a medical provider and back to get my covid vaccine. The only trouble I had was that the signage in the hallway wasn't clear enough, and I ended up waiting in the wrong room for about 20 minutes. Continued work on the project to convert our CC&Rs to a more pleasantly readable form. Dinner at home with Patrick: pumpkin bisque with warm bread, hot water. Afterwards we watched YouTube. Patrick went to bed. I processed dirty dishes, cleaned the kitchen, and started the dishwasher. Late snack: blackberries.