I never had these problems. MikeyBoyAz's post described what I do. The pedal should default to back side down with the front pointing up because all the weight is in the back of the pedal. You should get the hang of sliding your foot forward across the top of the pedal and catching the loop sticking up with your cleat. Continue forward and down and it should clip in with very little effort. Sometimes I'll miss because the cleat is spinning or some anomoly, but generally its effortless.