Bought a ‘smart’ device that isn’t actually smart? Here’s what you can do

It’s hard to remember the last time a new gadget wasn’t described as “smart”. From televisions and speakers to air purifiers, refrigerators and even doorbells, almost everything you buy today comes with some promise of intelligence built in. These products are designed to learn your habits, respond to your voice, anticipate your needs and quietly make life easier in the background, and it’s working, demand for AI-powered devices in India is rising rapidly, with more and more people choosing “smart” over standard every time they upgrade.

On the surface, it feels like progress. You’re no longer just buying a product; you’re buying convenience, automation and a better experience. But that promise doesn’t always hold up once you get the product home. You might find yourself resetting the same device over and over again because it won’t stay connected, or discover that the voice control only works when it feels like it, or that the “AI-powered” feature you paid extra for doesn’t seem to do much at all. Sometimes, it’s subtler than that, the product technically works, but never quite in the way you expected. It feels incomplete, inconsistent, or just not as “smart” as you were led to believe.

And that’s where things start to get complicated, because when something clearly breaks, you know where you stand. A cracked screen or a faulty motor is easy to point to. It’s visible, measurable, undeniable. But when the problem is intelligence, or the lack of it, it’s much harder to define what’s actually gone wrong.

You’re left trying to explain something that sits in a grey area. The product works… just not well. It performs… just not reliably. It includes the feature… but not in a way that feels usable. That grey area is where a new kind of consumer complaint is emerging.

You’re no longer just buying hardware, you’re buying a promise

What’s changed is not just the technology, but the expectation that comes with it. When you buy a traditional appliance, you expect it to do one or two things well. A washing machine washes, fan cools, a television displays content. As long as those core functions work, the product is doing its job.

But smart devices are sold very differently, they’re marketed around experience. Around intelligence, the idea that they will adapt to you, simplify your routines, and deliver something that feels noticeably better than a standard product. That messaging isn’t accidental, it’s central to why these products are often priced higher.

So when that experience doesn’t materialise, it doesn’t just feel disappointing. It feels like something hasn’t been delivered. You didn’t just buy a speaker, you bought one that was supposed to understand you. You didn’t just buy a camera, you bought one that was supposed to recognise faces or detect movement intelligently. If those features don’t work properly, or only work occasionally, the product hasn’t really met the expectations that were set when you decided to buy it. And yet, when you try to raise that as an issue, you may find that companies don’t always see it the same way.

“It’s working as intended” isn’t always the full story

One of the most frustrating responses you can get when you complain about a smart device is also one of the most common. You explain that something isn’t right, and the reply you get is: “The device is working as intended.”

Sometimes, that comes with additional explanations. Performance may depend on your internet connection. Features may improve over time with updates. Certain limitations might be mentioned in the fine print…Individually, these points can be valid. But together, they often miss the bigger issue.

If a product is marketed in a way that creates a clear expectation, then simply functioning at a basic level isn’t always enough. The experience matters, as too do reliability and consistency.

If a voice assistant only responds correctly half the time, it technically works, but that doesn’t mean it works well enough to match what was promised. If an AI feature exists but rarely delivers useful results, it may be present, but not meaningful. This is the gap that more consumers are starting to push back against.

The nature of complaints is evolving

As smart devices become more common, the complaints people raise are becoming more nuanced. It’s no longer just about whether a product turns on. It’s about whether it delivers what it was supposed to deliver, in the way it was supposed to deliver it.

That might mean dealing with software bugs that make a product unreliable, or updates that introduce new problems instead of fixing old ones. It might mean features that were highlighted in marketing materials but don’t perform as expected in everyday use. It might even mean devices that depend heavily on apps or services that don’t function consistently, leaving the hardware itself feeling incomplete.

These are not imaginary problems, and they’re not minor either. They directly affect how usable a product is in real life, but because they’re tied to software, performance and experience rather than physical defects, they’re often harder to resolve.

You still have rights, even if the issue isn’t obvious

It’s easy to assume that if a product isn’t physically broken, there’s not much you can do, but that’s not the case, consumer protection in India doesn’t just cover whether a product works, it also covers whether it matches the description and claims made about it. If a device is marketed as “smart”, “AI-powered” or capable of specific features, those claims form part of what you’re buying into.

If the product consistently fails to deliver those features in a meaningful way, you’re not just dealing with disappointment, you may be dealing with a valid complaint.

Clarity is what turns frustration into action

The challenge is not whether you have a case. It’s how clearly you can explain it, when something feels off, it’s tempting to describe the problem in general terms. You might say the product isn’t good, or that it doesn’t work properly, or that you’re unhappy with it.

The problem is that vague complaints are easy to dismiss, what makes the difference is being able to point to what was promised and how the product falls short of that promise. This changes the conversation entirely, instead of arguing about opinions, you’re highlighting a mismatch between expectation and delivery.

That might mean referring back to the product listing, the features highlighted on the packaging, or the way the product was described when you bought it. It means explaining not just that something doesn’t feel right, but how and when it fails in real-world use.

“Software issue” doesn’t mean “not your problem”

Another common pattern with smart devices is the idea that issues can always be fixed later. You might be told that a bug will be addressed in a future update or that improvements are on the way. But that doesn’t mean you’re expected to wait indefinitely for a product to become what it was supposed to be when you bought it.

If the problems persist, if updates don’t resolve them, or if the device remains unreliable over time, it’s still a valid concern. A product that depends on software still needs to function properly as a complete experience, not just in theory. You paid for something that was meant to work now, not at some undefined point in the future.

This is where complaints need to catch up with technology

What’s happening right now is a kind of lag, technology has moved quickly, products have become more complex, more dependent on software, more focused on experience rather than simple functionality. But the way many people approach complaints hasn’t fully caught up yet.

There’s still a tendency to think in terms of obvious faults, things that can be easily seen and demonstrated and while those still matter, they’re no longer the only standard that applies. As a consumer, you’re allowed to expect more than basic functionality when that’s what you were sold and when that expectation isn’t met, it’s something you can act on.

Smart devices are becoming a bigger part of everyday life, and that’s only going to continue .But as they become more advanced, the definition of what it means for a product to “work” is changing too. It’s no longer just about whether it turns on. It’s about whether it delivers the experience you were promised when you decided to spend your money. If it doesn’t, if it’s unreliable, inconsistent, or simply not as capable as it was made out to be, you’re not being difficult for questioning it, you’re being a smarter consumer and in a world full of “smart” products, that matters more than ever.

If you have any thoughts on this topic, or any other consumer issues you would like us to cover, feel free to get in touch with us at support@resolver.co.uk

Join our Newsletter!