August 10, 2026
Dial M for Machine Meltdown
Kinney Drugs pulls back AI phone assistant after hundreds of customer complaints
Customers roasted the robot pharmacist, and Kinney hit the emergency off switch
TLDR: Kinney Drugs is pulling back its AI phone assistant after customers complained about garbled calls, dosage mistakes, and missed prescription notices. Commenters turned the mess into a bigger rant about companies replacing humans with robots to save money—and whether that always blows up in their faces.
Kinney Drugs thought its new phone helper, Burt, would make prescription calls smoother. Instead, the internet is treating this like a full-blown customer service face-plant. After reports of confusing calls, wrong dosages, and missed refill alerts, the company is now backing away from the experiment and bringing back the good old touch-tone phone system for incoming calls. That alone says a lot: when people would rather mash buttons on a phone tree than talk to your shiny new robot, the vibe has gone very, very bad.
The strongest reaction from commenters was basically: stop using customers as test subjects for cost-cutting gimmicks. One person compared it to the infamous outsourced call center disasters of the 2000s, saying companies chased savings and then had to crawl back when customers revolted. Another called it the "kiosk economy"—that creeping feeling that real humans are being replaced, not because it helps people, but because it helps profits. And then there was a side fight: Kinney said Burt is safe because it isn’t open-source, which instantly sparked a nerd rebellion from people insisting that open-source isn’t the villain here.
Even the humor had teeth. One commenter dryly noted they had to close three popups just to read the story, including two cookie trackers—perfect accidental comedy in a story about privacy worries. Kinney says Burt will survive in a smaller role through opt-in refill texts, but in the court of public opinion, Burt has already been dragged.
Key Points
- •Kinney Drugs is scaling back its AI assistant, Burt, after customers reported incoherent calls, wrong dosages, and missed prescription notifications.
- •Burt was introduced in May to help communicate with patients about prescriptions and refills.
- •Kinney Drugs President John Marraffa said the company did not deliver the right customer experience, despite meeting privacy and security requirements.
- •The company will return to its previous touch-tone phone system for incoming patient calls.
- •Kinney Drugs said Burt is HIPAA compliant and will remain in use for outbound refill texts only on an opt-in basis.