the english in the text displayed is not very clear. it might make logical sense, but it reads as confused english. i would guess that you are not native english speakers - you need to get someone who does speak english well to fix it for you.

Aside from the text at each step being badly written, users have no idea wtf is happening overall or where they are in the process.

What you need to do is present up front the overall flow (ideally graphically; like 5 steps to completion at the bottom of the page and indicate which have been completed/what is being done now/what is in the future. Do this with graphics and very minimal (1-3 words) text. Writing 3 words to communicate something takes longer than writing 30.

I got pissed when I filled in something, clicked submit, and then the next page was "why?" before it would accept; at that point I bounced.

I'm not sure if arc makes this easier than something else.

your english is slightly off