Uber's "aggressive sales tactic" leads competitor to claim DDoS-like attack

Uber, which has had more than a few battles over the course of its relatively short life, has been accused by competitor Gett of initiating a DDos-style "attack" over the course of three days. Specifically, the black car service says Uber's employees ordered and then immediately cancelled over 100 cars.

Uber has acknowledged the business move, but holds a different position on what went down. Gett's CEO Jing Herman claims the Uber employees who ordered the cars sometimes waited until they had nearly arrived before cancelling the order. In a blog post, Uber says the Gett drivers weren't affected because all orders were immediately cancelled to Uber's expense.

By ordering the drivers, Uber teams then had access to the drivers' numbers, which Gett says they texted with recruitment efforts to join the Uber team. Gett blocked those team members from its system, and Uber has since instructed its employees to stop using this "aggressive" sales tactic.

Said Uber in a statement: "Our local teams can be pretty determined when spreading the word about Uber and how our platform opens up new economic opportunities for drivers. Members of our New York team made requests to generate leads of independent contractors but then immediately canceled seconds later. It was likely too aggressive a sales tactic and we regret the team's approach to outreach of these drivers."

VIA: TechCrunch

SOURCE: Uber