Unsurprisingly, the battle between Lyft and Uber has spawned a host of dirty tricks. CNN reports that Lyft claims to have received more than 5,000 fake driver requests from Uber employees, who then subsequently cancel their requests just to make life more difficult for Lyft employees. In fact, Lyft claims that one would-be passenger has used his phone number to set up 22 different accounts that he’s used to singlehandedly order and cancel more than 1,800 rides.
“It’s unfortunate for affected community members that they have used these tactics, as it wastes a driver’s time and impacts the next passenger waiting for that driver,” a Lyft spokesman said in response to the data. “We remain focused on growing the business faster than any competitor through better customer experience and innovation.”
CNN also found earlier this year that Uber started sending out messages to its drivers telling them that it was against local regulations to work for both Uber and Lyft shortly after Lyft arrived in New York City. Of course, this claim turned out not to be true but it also was probably an effective way to deprive Lyft of some potential drivers.
The bottom ride is that if you find your Lyft driver isn’t arriving as promptly as you’d hoped, it really may not be their fault. That said, it’s somewhat surprising that Lyft hasn’t yet come up with a comprehensive way to deal with fraudulent ride claims yet, especially since certain phone numbers seem to be repeat offenders.
