Uber Acknowledges Nasty Ploy to Sabotage a Competitor
Employees at car service Uber ordered -- and then canceled -- over 100 cars from a New York competitor called Gett and then attempted to poach its drivers.
By Geoff Weiss •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Uber's voyage to revolutionize the modern transport model and topple a budding crop of competitors has lately been a bumpy ride.
Rival car company Gett says Uber employees in New York ordered and then canceled -- in some cases, at the very last minute -- more than 100 cars last week, resulting in a disruption of its service. After receiving the Gett drivers' cell phone numbers from the orders, an Uber employee texted the drivers in an attempt to poach them from Gett.
"Our local teams can be pretty determined when spreading the word about Uber," Uber acknowledged in a blog post, adding that its actions against Gett were "too aggressive." The company claims, however, that it paid cancellation fees and that Gett's drivers lost no time as the requests were canceled immediately. Gett denies both claims.
"We collected contact info and canceled within seconds," Josh Mohrer, Uber NYC's general manager told Entrepreneur. "This had nothing to do with sabotage."
Related: Uber Deepens Discounts on Its UberX Service
Gett, for its part, does not seem to be taking the incident sitting down. In a blog post on its website featuring a battle still from the movie Braveheart, the company -- which launched exclusively in New York last August -- thanked its users by offering them a discount code and pleaded, "We need your support now more than ever."
Gett said that it was evaluating its legal options.
This isn't the only bad press currently surrounding Uber and its polarizing co-founder and CEO, Travis Kalanick. In addition to a lawsuit by its drivers who allege the company is stealing their tips, the company will soon face its first wrongful-death lawsuit after an Uber car tragically struck and killed a 6-year-old girl in San Francisco on New Year's Eve.
Related: How to Outwit Your Competition
