Smart Plugs

On my birthday I received a box containing two Smart Plugs - a gift from Julia.
Great, I thought - with my new found technical expertise I will now be able to control lights/appliances via Alexa.
Oh boy - what an epic task.  THREE hours later - after entering more passwords than I can remember, and more resettings and rebooting than I have done for a while I managed to get a result.
Julia has now been disinherited and excommunicated - with dire warnings of the physical danger she is in should she ever have any similar thoughts for future birthdays.....