The Perils of Petty: When 'Free' Smart Home Devices Come With a Side of Malicious Compliance
Are you dreaming of buying a “smart home” and inheriting all those fancy, wall-mounted switches and gadgets the previous owner installed? Hold that thought—and maybe read this story first. Reddit user u/its-a-me--Mario recently shared a tale on r/MaliciousCompliance that’s part petty revenge, part legal chess match, and all-around nerdy fun. It’s a cautionary tale for both techies and homebuyers alike: sometimes, getting exactly what’s in the contract is far worse than you think.
Picture this: years of tinkering, coding, and flashing custom firmware onto smart switches, only for a house sale to turn those carefully curated gadgets into a battleground of wits. What could possibly go wrong? Spoiler alert: a lot, and hilariously so.
Let’s set the stage: Our protagonist spent years building a sophisticated smart home—think switches that don’t talk to the cloud, a doorbell camera that’s only usable via his home PC, and reprogrammed devices that shun the manufacturer’s app. When it came time to move out of state, he naturally planned to take his prized gadgets along for the ride. After all, who wants to leave behind their nerdy masterpieces for someone who might not even know what a YAML file is?
But then comes the classic contract conundrum. The buyers—a seemingly friendly bunch—were told the devices would be removed, and no objections were raised… until the contract failed to spell it out. Cue the lawyers. The buyers’ lawyer (described as “car-salesman-type”—never a good sign) insisted that everything attached to the wall must stay, or else legal action would ensue.
Now, here’s where the real fun begins. Our hero, lacking any deep emotional attachment to the devices (and perhaps relishing the chance to avoid a weekend of uninstalling and re-flashing firmware), decided to comply—with a twist. If the buyers wanted the “smart” home, they’d get it, alright. Just not the way they expected.
In a fit of delightful, malicious compliance, he programmed the switches with some “special” features before closing day:
- Movie Night Mayhem: The entertainment room lights set to blast on at full brightness, randomly, right when you’d want a cozy, dim-lit movie evening.
- Bedroom Boogie: Ceiling lights and fan in the master bedroom toggling on and off at random hours in the night. Sleep tight!
- Kitchen Consolation Prize: The truly smart kitchen cabinet lights? Those weren’t in the wall—so those were packed up and moved out, per the strict letter of the contract.
Meanwhile, without the original PC and with custom firmware locking the buyers out of standard setup apps, the “free” smart home was now a haunted house of flickering lights and unreachable controls. You want everything by the book? Enjoy your “smart” home—if you can figure out how to use it.
What’s the moral here? For buyers: Don’t assume you’re scoring a tech jackpot just because switches look fancy. For sellers: If you’ve modded your home, get every detail in writing, or you might set the stage for a battle of petty wits. For everyone: Contracts matter, but so does understanding what you’re actually getting—or leaving behind.
The comments on the post are predictably divided. Some call the original poster an a**hole, others cheer the ingenuity. Our protagonist owns up to the pettiness—pointing out that sometimes, strict compliance with unreasonable demands is its own kind of justice. After all, the contract demanded he leave the devices "as is"—not "as usable."
So next time you’re buying—or selling—a house full of tech, ask yourself: Do you really know what’s behind that glowing switch? And more importantly… do you know who’s still got the admin password?
What would you have done in this situation? Have you ever been burned by a contract loophole, or pulled off some revenge-by-the-rules of your own? Share your stories in the comments below!
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Original Reddit Post: Enjoy your 'free' smart home devices