Uber Goes Dirty Against Lyft With Cancelled Rides, Recruitment Drives
It’s already hard for a transportation network company out there, yet Uber apparently wants to make it harder for the pink mustache plushies of Lyft through a high-stakes game of Ding-Dong-Ditch.
According to CNN Money, Lyft reported 5,560 rides were ordered, then cancelled, by 177 Uber employees since October of 2013. The TNC also found that some rides were ordered by Uber recruiters and enthusiasts looking to lure drivers into the high glamour, less hipster world the suit-and-tie TNC bases its image upon.
This hasn’t been the first time Uber has been accused of playing dirty pool within the emerging transportation network industry. As early as this year, the TNC’s New York-based staffers were linked to 100 such cancellations, prompting Uber to “tone down their sales tactics.” That said, 5,492 of the cancelled rides were ordered after the statement was issued.
In addition, when Lyft arrived in New York in July, Uber sent a text to its drivers stating the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission prohibited TNC drivers from working for more than one company. The commission stated otherwise, and Uber issued a statement that its official policy allowed its drivers to work for other TNCs.
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Uber may be disruptive but they are also vulnerable. Again, as a 100+ rider I've had a few issues (one major) which Uber addressed only partially at best. I would give them an 8 for car service and a 3 for customer service. It's all chummy until there's a serious issue then the shutters go down & at no point can you reach a human on the phone, ever. Talking to other regular users I've found my experiences to be far from unique. As to Signal11's point; I believe it will be insurance issues that bring the hammer down on TNCs. Currently Uber's policy covers passengers up to a paltry $1M but much of the onus of coverage is left to the driver's auto policy holders and if anyone has a floor full of lawyers eager to prove their indemnity it's them.
Caption: Just walk away Martha and don't look back. I can't believe he had the gall to open your door with his fly down.
Well, I have suddenly lost interest in using uber.
The lessons of history are lost on the Uber generation so sure that it's inventing a brave new world. But then old habits return: Crushing the competition with unethical behavior - practiced by Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller in the 1890's - becomes Uber's response to a dynamic market. And the response will be the same, too: Government regulation. Just like the cut-throat industrialists led to Teddy Roosevelt and trust-busting legislation, Uber and it's practices will lead to new rules governing TNC's. In short, it won't be the taxi industry that gets the government involved, but Uber's own over-reach. They'll deserve it.