TD Bank Facing Lawsuit Over Penny Arcades

TD Bank has been hit with a proposed class action in Florida claiming that its Penny Arcades, which are the coin-counting machines the bank provides for both customers and non-customers, are inaccurate and cause users to lose out on the full value of their money.

According to the complaint, Penny Arcades weren’t originally meant to be used for commercial coin counting. Initially, they were intended to be used by children to give them an incentive to count their change and save their money. The lawsuit states that despite the machine’s original purpose, Penny Arcades are represented as a reliable method of coin counting.

Days before the lawsuit was filed, a segment on NBC’s Today Show highlighted the fact that despite TD’s claims that the machines are tested at least two times a day for accuracy, independent testing found that several machines in the New York City area shorted consumers by amounts of up to 15%. TD Bank reportedly took its Penny Arcades out of service the day before the segment aired so it could test its methodology and increase the machines' accuracy.

The complaint alleges that TD Bank knew about the malfunction and chose to hide it – in violation of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. The lawsuit is looking to compensate both a Florida class and a nationwide class of people who used the machines within the last four years.