Is Clickbank Ripping Me off?

Around 2 weeks ago I made a clickbank purchase through my own hoplink more as a test than anything else because my clickbank sales for that account had suddenly stopped over 6 months ago and I wanted to check to see if my hoplinks were working.(Clickbank is now taking $5.00 from my account every pay period.)
However, as expected the sale never appeared in my clickbank account.
I then submitted a ticket to clickbank to find out why. (I've copied the content further below)
In following up their suggestions I find that my cookies are being accepted and that as far as I'm aware there is no such software or programs installed which would do as they've suggested and if there was...the cookies would not have been able to be viewed on my PC anyway.
I've since followed up on the ticket and I'm waiting for a reply but Maybe someone here can offer any suggestion?
Sean
Clickbank ticket content: I had noticed recently that i had not been making any sales through any of my promotions so although the practice is frowned upon, on 13/9/2010, after deleting my browser cookies, I made a purchase through my own affiliate hoplink in order to test the security of my links. However it's now been 5 days and the transaction has not appeared in my account. Could you please check the following transaction number because I fear foul play. CB receipt number (Removed) Clickbank response:


COMMENTED: CBCSR (Tiffany W): 2010-09-20 11:58AM Comment:
Hello, Thank you for your inquiry! I show that following HopLink is set up and functioning correctly and when tested, you nickname and Tracking ID appear at the bottom of the order form. The reason your affiliate account could not be credited for your purchase was because settings or programs on your computer prevented our system from setting the cookie used to track affiliate referrals. Tracking HopLinks and affiliate credit with cookies is 100% accurate in the vast majority of cases. For some customers, however, cookies do not work for tracking. In these rare instances, customers either have cookies turned off in their browser, have utilized new browser security and/or privacy parameters, or have other software installed on their computer that prevents ClickBank from setting a cookie at all. Because we know that some customer's computers will not accept the affiliate cookie, we have also developed a new "back-up" technology that can accurately track HopLinks and award correct affiliate credit for most instances where cookies are not set. This new technology works hand-in-hand with our current cookie-tracking system to ensure proper credit is awarded to referring affiliates. The cookieless back-up system has time frame limitations in which the customer must purchase however, and cannot last up to 60 days like a cookie does, but it has been shown to be effective in most cases where a cookie cannot be placed due to the customer's browser settings. This is why, in some cases, if a customer has cookies disabled or a software installed that prevents the cookie from being deposited, and the purchase does not take place within the time frame of the back-up system tracking, it may affect the commission tracking. This is a very rare occurrence and does not seriously affect your success as an affiliate. One thing you can to prevent rare cases such as this is to make sure you are using up-to-date HopLinks that have been encrypted using HopLink Shield. Having up-to-date, encrypted HopLinks greatly reduces the chance of your HopLinks being diverted by spyware programs that prevent cookies from being deposited. To encrypt your HopLinks with HopLink Shield, please visit: