One of the critical elements of Microsoft’s catch-up-to-Google game is its adCenter platform. Like Google’s AdWords, adCenter is the system that allows advertisers to place contextual advertisements on MSN/Live.com search results. But according to Business 2.0 Beta, some adCenter users are finding it difficult to get their keyword choices approved by the system:

A Business 2.0 Beta tipster reports that seemingly innocuous terms like “startup team” and “board of advisors” are getting rejected by AdCenter […]

When Microsoft was contacted for comment, their response was equally as frustrating:

“Unfortunately, we do not have any information to provide at this time. We apologize for this inconvenience. Thank you for your nderstanding.”

A comment to the story shows that another user had no problem getting the same terms approved on their account. Other comments, however, suggest that adCenter may have some glitches in how it handles ad word approval. Terms and keywords that Google has approved aren’t being approved by adCenter and it’s leaving a bad taste in the mouths of users.

Here’s the thing. Whether this is a wide scale issue or not is beside the point. It doesn’t really matter if its a glitch, either. What matters it the perception that it perpetuates. If Microsoft’s product has problems, and the company seems unwilling to comment on them, acknowledge them, or even respond in a supportive way… it sends the message that they just don’t care.

Maybe they don’t care about their users. Maybe they don’t care about adCenter. Either way, it’s not a positive message.