Probably lots of affiliates getting paid fine, this is one case that just stands out as showing that the program has no problem making up the rules as they go.
I had to go through this shit with CommissionJunction in the spring. Suddenly they decided that my links were receiving a tiny amount of traffic from somewhere on myspace, and we're talking like under %.1. They reversed about $3k in payments on me that I was hanging a big loss on.
I emailed back and forth forever, and they made it perfectly clear they weren't paying me. Then asked me to keep sending traffic to their merchant. LIKE FUCK I'D SEND THEM ANY MORE TRAFFIC. I
requested that they terminate my account.
Mysteriously a few weeks afterwards a check shows up from CJ. WTF?
I still ain't ever promoting CommissionJunction ever again. It burns because I occasionally see something CJ exclusive I really want to promote. Yet that fucking burn still keeps me far fucking away. You really think he cares to come back for another burning after you just lit him up once already?
This making up the rules as you go shit has got to be kept in check. Just because you're the one writing the check doesn't instantly give you the right to start fucking people "just cuz", when they've done nothing in the wrong...
The right thing to do is to pay the man for his work, rewrite the ToS, and put it behind you. No one is arguing that you can't put these rules out there if you want to. But if you didn't specifically state that this was against ToS, then nothing illegal has taken place, and the sales sent were 100% legit and qualified.
It's the way you've handled it that really leaves a bad taste with people...
Fuck, I even got paid in the end and I still am bitter and turned off of their program!