Last updated: July 31, 2026 · By Vishal Swami, Founder & Lead AI Reviewer, AISagely
A pharmacy chain in Vermont implemented AI for efficiency this spring, and the rollout has done the opposite for a lot of customers. Kinney Drugs, which runs pharmacies across Vermont and upstate New York, expanded its "Burt" voice assistant into prescription refills in May 2026, and VTDigger reported on July 29, 2026 that it's since produced mispronounced drug names, wrong refill orders, and a privacy policy update that lets a third-party vendor touch patient health data.
Short answer: Kinney Drugs, a Vermont and New York pharmacy chain, rolled out an AI phone assistant called Burt (built by Texas vendor Synerio) for prescription refills in May 2026. Customers report garbled drug names, incorrect dosages, missed pickup alerts, and no keypad fallback, while an updated privacy policy allows patient health data to reach the AI vendor — before Vermont's new privacy law even takes effect.
I spend most of my working hours testing AI tools, including the voice and chat assistants companies bolt onto customer service lines, and this story is a familiar shape. When I tested a handful of AI phone assistants from retailers and service providers earlier this year for an unrelated roundup, mispronounced names and misheard confirmations were consistently the weakest part of the experience — in my testing, that failure mode never fully goes away, it just gets marketed as "still learning." A vendor pitches an AI layer as a way to cut wait times; the rollout skips the part where someone stress-tests it against real names, real accents, and real edge cases; and the support staff who were supposed to be freed up end up doing damage control instead. Here's what actually happened in Vermont, and what to do if your own pharmacy, bank, or insurer tries the same thing on you.
What happened at Kinney Drugs
Burt isn't new. Kinney Drugs first introduced "Ask Burt" in September 2025 as a narrow tool for checking vaccine eligibility, and named it after the chain's founder, pharmacist Burt Orrin Kinney, who opened the first store in Gouverneur, New York, in 1903. That version worked well enough that it didn't make news. The problems started when Kinney handed Burt a much bigger job: taking prescription refill requests over the phone, built by Synerio, a Texas-based AI vendor.
VTDigger interviewed nearly a dozen Kinney customers and found a consistent pattern. Kathy Callaghan told the outlet she ended up with duplicate medication because Burt processed a refill she never confirmed: "I've got four bottles of something that I take twice a week sitting here." Dave Bellini was blunter about the value the tool added to his day: "It has absolutely no value, no benefit to the customer." Maria Aveni said the system leaves no way to opt out of talking to a bot at all — "There's no option to use a keypad… it's more of a talk to Burt or don't get your drugs."
The company's own terms hedge on accuracy: Kinney's fine print states Burt "may not be accurate, complete or up-to-date and may be misleading or contain errors and omissions." A spokesperson told VTDigger the chain is "aware that some patients have experienced frustration with Burt, especially during rollout," and said each complaint is being reviewed. Meanwhile, Vermont already has a documented pharmacist shortage, and several pharmacists told the outlet the tool is adding troubleshooting work, not removing it — the opposite of the efficiency case Kinney made for adopting it.
The privacy angle is separate but connected. Kinney updated its privacy policy — spread across 11 linked documents, per VTDigger's review — at the same time Burt expanded, and the new language discloses that protected health information may be shared with AI tools and their vendors. Cody Venzke, senior staff attorney at the ACLU, told VTDigger there's a structural gap here: state privacy laws are catching up slower than companies are deploying AI. UVM computer science professor Joseph Near and Vanderbilt biomedical informatics professor Bradley Malin both raised the same concern from different angles — every vendor added to a health data pipeline is another point where that data can leak or be repurposed.
That gap has a specific expiration date. Vermont Governor Phil Scott signed S.71, the Data Privacy and Online Surveillance Act, on June 16, 2026, giving residents the right to know what's collected about them, correct it, and opt out of having it sold. But most of the law's provisions don't take effect until January 1, 2028. Anything a Vermont pharmacy does with your data between now and then falls outside the law's protections.
What Burt promised vs. what customers reported
| Task | What Burt was rolled out to do | What VTDigger's reporting found |
|---|---|---|
| Vaccine eligibility (2025 launch) | Answer which vaccines a patient qualifies for | Worked well enough to draw no complaints |
| Prescription refills (May 2026 expansion) | Take refill requests by phone without a wait | Wrong drugs, wrong dosages, and duplicate orders reported |
| Ready-for-pickup alerts | Notify patients when a prescription is ready | Customers reported missed or absent notifications |
| Reaching a person | Route callers who need help to staff | No keypad option; some customers say it's Burt or nothing |
| Handling health data | Process requests using patient records | New privacy policy allows data to reach the AI vendor, ahead of state law protections |
Step-by-step: what to do if your pharmacy's AI assistant isn't working
1. Confirm what actually changed
Before you assume you're imagining it, check your pharmacy's app or website for a notice about a new assistant or an updated privacy policy — Kinney's update went out quietly alongside Burt's refill rollout, and plenty of customers didn't notice until they called in.
2. Ask for a person the moment something sounds wrong
If a voice assistant mispronounces a drug name, gives you a dosage that doesn't match what you remember, or asks you to confirm something you didn't request, stop and ask for a pharmacist. Don't press "confirm" just to get through the call.
3. Read the privacy policy update, specifically the AI clause
Search the document for "AI," "third party," or "vendor." That's usually where a company discloses that a tool like Synerio's now touches your data. If you can't find it, that's also worth noting — Kinney's terms span 11 separate documents, which makes this harder than it should be.
4. Get confirmations in writing, not just by voice
Ask for a text or app confirmation of any refill instead of relying on what an AI voice read back to you. A misheard "twice a day" versus "twice a week" is exactly the kind of error that's easy to catch on a screen and easy to miss on a call.
5. Escalate real errors past the phone line
If you get the wrong medication, wrong dosage, or a duplicate order, that's a pharmacy safety issue, not just a bad customer experience. Report it directly to the pharmacist on duty and, if it's serious, your state board of pharmacy.
6. Track your state's privacy-law timeline
Vermont residents won't have S.71's opt-out and correction rights until January 1, 2028. If your state has a similar law pending, look up when it actually takes effect before assuming it already covers how a company is using your data today.
Example prompts you can copy
If you're trying to make sense of a privacy policy or push back on a bad AI interaction, a general-purpose chatbot is faster than reading legal text cold. A few I've used for exactly this:
- Decode a privacy policy: "Summarize this pharmacy privacy policy in plain English, and flag any sentence that lets a third party or AI vendor use my health data: [paste the policy text]."
- Draft a complaint: "Write a polite but firm email to my pharmacy about a refill an AI assistant processed incorrectly. Ask for written confirmation of my current prescription history and a note on my account to require pharmacist confirmation going forward."
- Prep for a pickup call: "I got an automated call about a prescription refill and I'm not sure the drug name was read correctly. Write three questions I should ask the pharmacist to confirm the order before I pick it up."
- Check your own exposure: "Here's a list of companies that have my health or financial data [list them]. Which ones have recently added AI tools to customer service, and what should I check in their privacy policy?"
Common mistakes to avoid
The biggest one I see: treating a confident-sounding AI voice as equivalent to a pharmacist. It isn't, and Kinney's own terms admit as much in writing. Don't approve a refill you didn't request just because saying "no" to a bot feels awkward — Maria Aveni's complaint about having no keypad option is a design flaw, not a reason to go along with it.
The second mistake is skipping the privacy policy because it's long. Kinney's is spread across 11 documents; most people won't read all of them, and that's the point vendors are counting on. Skim for the word "AI" instead of reading start to finish.
The third is assuming a pending state law already protects you. Vermont's S.71 was signed in June 2026, but its consumer rights don't kick in until January 1, 2028. Until then, you're relying on the company's own policy, not the law, if you want your data corrected or your consent withdrawn.
Tools that make this easier
You don't need anything exotic here — a mainstream chatbot handles privacy-policy summaries and complaint drafts fine. If you're picking one for the first time, my AI tool ratings and AI tool reviews compare the options head to head, and the free AI tools roundup covers what you can use without a subscription. How to use ChatGPT and how to use Claude are good starting points if you've never used either for anything beyond casual chat.
This isn't just a pharmacy problem, either. I've written before about why AI automation often doesn’t deliver the productivity it promises, and about companies pulling back on AI spending once the rollout costs show up in complaints instead of savings. Kinney's Burt expansion is a small, local version of the same pattern: efficiency on paper, more work for everyone else in practice.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Burt, the AI assistant Kinney Drugs uses?
Burt is Kinney Drugs' AI assistant, built by Texas-based vendor Synerio. It launched in September 2025 to check vaccine eligibility and expanded to handle prescription refills by phone in May 2026.
Can I opt out of talking to Burt at Kinney Drugs?
Based on VTDigger's reporting, customers say there's no keypad option to bypass Burt on the refill line — you either work through the assistant or don't get through by phone. Asking your local pharmacist directly is the most reliable workaround.
Does Vermont's new privacy law protect my data at Kinney Drugs right now?
Not yet. Governor Phil Scott signed S.71, the Data Privacy and Online Surveillance Act, on June 16, 2026, but most of its consumer rights don't take effect until January 1, 2028.
Is Kinney Drugs the only pharmacy chain using AI for prescriptions?
No. AI-driven refill and customer-service tools are spreading across retail pharmacy and healthcare generally; Kinney's rollout is simply the one that's been reported on in detail so far.
What should I do if an AI assistant gives me wrong prescription information?
Stop before confirming anything that sounds off, ask to speak with the pharmacist on duty, and get the correct information confirmed in writing or through the pharmacy's app rather than relying on the phone call alone.