Lyft accuses Uber of booking THOUSANDS of rides and canceling them

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Lyft claims that 177 Uber employees booked 5,560 rides through its app
Rides were canceled right before pick-up, making it look like Lyft's service was slower than its competitors and drivers were busy
Other companies have accused Uber of similar tactics before
Uber has admitted some of its marketing strategies were 'too aggressive'

Published: 17:58 EST, 12 August 2014 | Updated: 21:26 EST, 12 August 2014

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Ride-hailing app Uber is yet again being accused of deploying a dirty guerrilla war to control the car-on-demand market, using dozens of staffers to book and cancel rides with competing service Lyft to tie up the company's servers.

Lyft — whose drivers sport iconic pink mustaches on their cars — claims that as many as 177 Uber employees have booked 5,560 rides through its app since October, CNN Money reported.

Then, once a driver would approach the pick-up spot, the ride would be mysteriously canceled.

Lyft says that the bait and switch creates a backlog in its system, making it seem that cars are booked up and the service is slower than its competitors. It also causes its drivers to waste time and money on gas for bogus rides.

Shady: Car-hailing service Lyft, which is known for its iconic pink mustaches, says its main competitor, Uber, is employing shady tactics to keep control of the car-on-demand market

One rider alone canceled some 300 rides between May 26 and June 10, according to data released by the company. The user had a total of 21 accounts that combined canceled a whopping 1,524 rides.

Another user had 14 accounts and nearly 700 cancellations.

'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,' Lyft spokeswoman Erin Simpson told CNN Money.

Lyft say that in the few occasions when these rides were completed, they were often short and served only as a recruitment pitch to lure its drivers over to Uber.

Yet Uber, which has been accused of similarly shady tactics before, claim it is not so.

In a rebuttal on Tuesday, the company said Lyft's claims are 'baseless and simply untrue.'

'Furthermore Lyft’s own drivers and employees, including one of Lyft’s founders, have canceled 12,900 trips on Uber,' the company said in a statement to TechCrunch. 'But instead of providing the long list of questionable tactics that Lyft has used over the years, we are focusing on building and maintaining the best platform for both consumers and drivers.'

Guerrilla wars: Uber is accused of once again of booking services with competitors and canceling right away, slowing down the company's competition

This is not the first time Uber is accused of shaking down the competition.

In January, the CEO of a similar car-hailing app, Gett, accused a least a dozen Uber employees of ordering more than 100 rides over the span of three days and then canceling them right before pick-up, TechCrunch reported.

Then a few days later, CEO Jing Herman charged, Uber would contact Gett drivers and offer them money to switch over.

Gett, which launched in New York in 2013, was supposed to be a more affordable option to the city's black car offerings.

Some drivers say that Uber employees often book short trips just to try to convince them to switch over from Lyft

Uber spokesman Andrew Noyes admitted to TechCrunch that its 'local teams can be pretty determined when spreading the word about Uber and how our platform opens up new economic opportunities for drivers.'

'It was likely too aggressive a sales tactic and we regret the team’s approach to outreach of these drivers,' Uber said in a statement to the tech website.

But the company denied that its cancellations had caused any delays of loss of business for Gett, and insisted it had paid cancellation fees for all the rides.

Earlier this month, several Uber drivers told CNN Money that the company warned its drivers they were 'forbidden' to work for Lyft, even invoking a non-existent rule by New York City's Taxi and Limousine Commission as an explanation.

A spokesman for the commission said there are no rules proscribing affiliation with both companies.