A court battle is under way between Coca-Cola and a company that makes it possible for you to use a debit or credit to buy a soft drink out of a vending machine.
Coca-Cola Refreshments wants USA Technologies Inc. to return nearly $1 million in fees collected from Coke vending machines after the two parted ways two years ago, according to a lawsuit filed recently in federal court in Atlanta.
A USA Technologies spokeswoman told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Tuesday that the suit was “baseless and without merit.”
“USA Technologies intends to vigorously defend itself against these accusations,” spokeswoman Stephanie Prince said.
CCR, the U.S. bottling and fountain operations of Atlanta-based Coca-Cola, said Malvern, Pa.-based USA Technologies failed to disconnect its card-reading devices on Coke vending machines and continued to collect monthly fees as if it were still servicing the devices and processing transactions.
Coca-Cola’s website says the beverage giant has “hundreds of thousands” of vending machines, including tens of thousands that are in the process of being outfitted with credit/debit card readers.
The extent of CCR’s agreement with USA Technologies was not available, including the number of vending machines under USA Technologies’ control.
While the lawsuit does not provide a dollar figure for the original agreement, it says USA Technologies received 5 percent of a vending machine’s monthly proceeds as a service fee and then “a percentage” for processing transactions after soft drinks were purchased. The remainder of the “cash-free revenue” was turned over to CCR, the suit says.
The breach-of-contract lawsuit doesn’t say why CCR began terminating USA Technologies’ services in late 2012.
CCR said it has repeatedly demanded its money, and it wants a jury to decide the case.
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