Investigating Looksmarts PPC

Hi all
I'm a little annoyed at looksmarts pay per click listings results in msn.
After sending them mail ref some listings provided by looksmart to msn directory results, that it appears some sites arnt paying for this service to bulk out the lack of paid for ppc listings.
Example-
Search for property for sale in msn
I find that not any of the first listings up to number 67 has a looksmart tracking code attached, this leads me to conclude that these sites arn't paying for this service.
I sent Looksmart mail asking for an explanation and here is their reply-

We do not discuss other clients accounts with customers and I am not sure where you are getting the information about who is paying and who is not but I can say your claim is not correct.

Well Mr looksmart, its clear they arn't paying by the lack of tracking code or is it time I left this internet stuff to play my flute in the forrest?

I suspect this is the result of the free $15 click throughs listings they allowed webmaster when they changed from a yearly fee to ppc, but with the lack of tracking code it cant be ?
However as a paying customer of looksmart ($300 a month) I'm far from happy with their reply.
Can anyone shed light on this please
I tried to find the correct thread to post this to but couldnt find one dedicated to looksmart
Anyone else find the above kind of listings in msn?

For $300 you better well have an account rep you can call and complain to. Otherwise, your money may be better spent elsewhere.

I've sent looksmart further mail as follows and can't wait for thier reply which I will post here-

Can you please explain the lack of looksmart tracking code on the following listed sites ref keyphrase supplied in previous mail
villas in spain (keyphrase)
Number 3 Not paying for ppc
Number 4 Not paying for ppc
Number 5 Not paying for ppc

All are listed in WEB DIRECTORY SITES

I would like an explanation and not "I can say your claim is not correct".
Please note your reply will be posted in seochat as there are many webmasters eager to learn why sites are listed free and some aren't in web directory results
le:

Also Mr boss man (darrin) is it possible to change my user name from maluk to mal-uk?
My current user name sounds like I'm from the punjab! No offence intended but would like my name to reflect the country I'm posting from.
:

Hello Mr Maluk from the punjabi

You can become Mal from the uk if you click at the top of this page on 'Profile' (tabs up top) and change your name there.

Keep us informed of any reply from looksmart wont you!

Ok
Here it is -
The reply of the century -
Customer service reply from looksmart -
Sent to a $300 a month customer -
Potencial To spend $3,000 a month -
Here is their very techie reply when quizzed why some sites gain free listings and others have to pay -
Are you ready for this?
I'm not sure your ready , you need to read the above posts first
Ok , now your ready-
This is the full rather long winded reply from looksmart when confronted by little old me -


As I have said we do not discuss other customers accounts. I will be happy to discuss your listing, but I will not discuss another customers listing with you.

Regards,

Henry Owens
LookListings Small Business Team

Did I read that correctly or did some of the mail get lost in the post!!!

Mal -----------------------------------UK
Ex looksmart lover

So respond, tell them to call you to discuss your account.

Let us know.

It seems that this Henry guy is being lazy. You need to make him work now.

Thanks rusty The problem is they are USA based and dont give a damn about customer service as you can see from the above reply.
I put forward a relevant question but I'm chatting with brick wall !They simply wont answer me as they know they are wrong in listing sites for free.
What I would like to do via this forum is to build a post about looksmarts PPC and see if anyone else has the same problem.
I can then point looksmart to this thread.
From the responce so far from seo members it dosnt seem that many here use looksmarts ppc .
I'm not miffed about my sites rank in msn as its number one , however I am miffed that some sites below my listing arnt paying so why should this be ?
We arnt big business and dont have a huge budget to spend , we are 2 guys who love the internet and help others to gain business via our site, at present it runs (money wise) even or a slight profit.
From free traffic point of view we gain more traffic from this than from ppc but need a high profile listing in msn to attract further business if you know what I mean .
Anyway lets get this post at 100 miles an hour as this affects the future of looksmart and their lack of respect for customers.
Mal_______________________________________________ UK

Hmm...isnt that why some people choose to optimize their sites over using the ppc method.

They rather spend the time/money with SEO tactics then PPC.

Good luck.

Again I agree with you.
The business parnership we have contains a corporate web designer along with little old me who has been involved in search engine marketing for around 5 years.
I no longer work on other sites as ive retired from this.
Many sites who pay a new marketing company to expose their website rely on ppc , however our site is number one for the top searched for keyphrases across all the top 10 search facilities.
My real concern here is for those sites who are experimenting with pay per click only to find that some sites above them arn't paying for this service in directory results pulled from looksmart, this is a bloody injustice thats need rectifying.
If I were moaning about my rank , then yes looksmart could tell me to go away , but thats not my reason for contacting them .
To conclude-
Looksmart need to stop this right now or face the seochat curse.
I've looked at the traffic to this forum and its massive , massive targetted traffic can gain massive results, end of story .
Take note looksmart.
Darrin Your thought on this please?

Mal-UK,

Your not alone my friend. I have been posting negative threads about LookSmart for over a year now. They have taken me so many times it not funny any more.

They are very subjective about there guidelines and seem to let some customers get away with murder while not letting other customers even spell their name right.

I have complained several times and even joined a class action law suite against them. Right now I receive $205 per month in credits from LookSmart as part of the law suite and all the complaints they received from me. I still spend $650 per month total and I am considering moving those funds over to Overture and Ad Words.

MSN is partly to blame as well, because they accept results from Inktomi, LookSmart, Zeal, and others. There internal algo that decides how to display results is not consistant and I can't figure out why they show some listings where they do.