Help
Billing, lab attempts, something not working, or just a question — the answers below come straight from how StationX Courses & Labs is built. Anything they don't cover: contact@stationx.net.
Contact
Email contact@stationx.net — a person reads it. We reply within 2 working days. Or use the contact form on stationx.net. Include the email address you sign in with and, for a lab problem, the lab's name.
I paid on courses.stationx.net and the labs are locked
The labs on this site come with StationX Membership, and the vendor-certification labs with the StationX Infrastructure Labs add-on. Both are sold here, on labs.stationx.net. A course or membership bought on courses.stationx.net is a separate purchase: it does not switch on the labs here by itself.
What your account has on this site shows in the menu under your name, top right — Free means no lab access yet. To get the labs, see StationX Membership or compare the plans on Pricing.
Billing
Your plan, card and invoices
Go to Plan & billing (in the menu under your name). Each subscription has its own card: the plan, the price, and when it renews — or, if you have cancelled, when your access ends. Update card opens Stripe's secure card screen for that subscription. Recent invoices lists your latest invoices: Receipt opens a paid one, Pay an unpaid one.
Switch between monthly and annual
On Plan & billing choose Change plan. Monthly to annual happens straight away: you see what you pay today before you confirm. Annual to monthly is booked for your renewal date, and you can undo it until then. Annual saves $169 a year. A plan with a failed payment, a cancelled plan, or a Price Lock Pass cannot be switched there — update the card or restore the plan first, or email contact@stationx.net about a pass.
Cancel
On Plan & billing choose Cancel membership (or Cancel Infrastructure Labs — each subscription cancels on its own). One page confirms who you are, the plan and the date it ends; Cancel now does it. On that page you choose the type: an ordinary cancellation (at the end of the period you have paid for) or, if you have a serious reason, a cancellation for cause — tell us why; if your plan is still running, our team looks at it and replies by email. Your access continues to the end of the period you have paid for, nothing more is charged, and we email you a confirmation. If the last payment failed, the plan ends straight away and that unpaid invoice is cancelled, so it is never taken.
Not signed in? Choose Cancel your membership at the bottom of any page and enter your account's email: we email you a link that opens the same page, with the same Cancel now.
After cancelling you may be shown one optional offer — for example, a pause — with an equally clear No thanks. Changed your mind? Restore my membership on Plan & billing turns renewal back on with one click, any time before the end date.
If a payment fails
Your card is retried automatically over the following days and you keep your access while that happens. A bar at the top of every page, and Plan & billing, show it with an Update card button; paying the overdue invoice restores everything automatically. If the retries run out, the subscription is marked unpaid and access ends; access on a past-due subscription ends in any case 45 days after the first payment failed. Starting a new subscription from Pricing brings access back at once.
Refunds
Changed your mind? Tell us within 30 days of your first payment and, if you haven't started a lab yet, we refund it in full. Once you've started using the labs, we can't refund what you've used. The free practice labs on Try a lab don't count. Starting a lab means launching a real lab in Membership or Infrastructure Labs. You can still cancel at any time, so it doesn't renew. To ask, email contact@stationx.net from your account email. If a renewal payment is taken and you didn't mean to continue, tell us within 14 days of that payment and, if you haven't started a lab since it, we refund it. We do not refund part of a month or year. Lab access ends when the refund is made. To cancel so it doesn't renew: Plan & billing → Cancel membership. This does not affect your statutory rights. The full terms are in the refund policy.
Lab attempts
Two kinds of lab, two rules:
- Labs in StationX Membership — unlimited attempts. Launch as often as you like.
- Labs in StationX Infrastructure Labs (the vendor-certification add-on) — 3 attempts per lab. That is the vendor's contractual limit, so we cannot extend it.
What counts as an attempt
An attempt is counted at the moment we issue your signed launch: after you click Launch on an Infrastructure Labs lab and the lab provider answers, we sign the launch and your browser passes it straight on to the provider. That is one attempt. The count is per lab, not per course block: the same lab can appear under several blocks and they share one count of 3. A launch that never gets as far as that point — the provider was down before it answered, or you closed the tab straight away — stops counting after 10 minutes, so it does not cost you an attempt. We cannot see whether the lab then starts in the provider's environment, so once we have issued the signed launch it is an attempt, even if the lab then fails to load or you close the tab before it appears. If a fault at the provider's end cost you one, email contact@stationx.net with the lab name and when you launched it: we can see each launch, and if the provider was at fault we can give the attempt back. Closing a lab you have opened does not give the attempt back.
Scored labs
Some labs are marked Scored. A scored lab checks your work and records a score you can see on the lab page.
Time limits
StationX Courses & Labs sets no time limit on an attempt. If the lab window shows a clock, it belongs to the lab environment itself. If a lab timed out on you mid-way, email contact@stationx.net with the lab name.
At 0 of 3
The Launch link on that lab is replaced by a 0 of 3 attempts left badge and a direct launch is refused with You have used all 3 attempts for this lab. Every other lab is unaffected. If you believe an attempt was counted wrongly, email contact@stationx.net with the lab name and roughly when you launched it — we can see each launch.
Each lab's remaining attempts are shown next to its Launch link in the lab catalogue when you are signed in.
Labs not working?
- Give it a minute or two. Your lab is built fresh when you launch it. Keep the tab open while it gets ready.
- Allow the lab provider. Launch hands you to the lab in this same tab, on our lab platform (
labondemand.com). An ad or script blocker that stops that site stops the lab — allow it and launch again. - Use a current browser. The labs run in the browser with nothing to install; an up-to-date Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari is all they need.
- Sign in again. A sign-in lasts 7 days. If a Launch sends you to the sign-in page, sign in and you are returned to where you were.
- "A launch for this lab is already starting" — a launch you began a moment ago is still in flight. Wait a few minutes and try again; it is not an extra attempt.
- "Lab launching is coming soon" — that catalogue is not switched on yet. Nothing is wrong at your end.
- Still stuck? Email contact@stationx.net with the lab name, the time you launched it and what you saw.
Booking your certification exam
You book every exam with the organisation that awards it; for some CompTIA exams you can buy the official voucher from StationX first. Today that is Security+, Tech+, Network+, CySA+, PenTest+, Cloud+, Linux+ and SecAI+. You then book your exam date with CompTIA.
- Check the exam code. Your roadmap names it (for example SY0-701). Vendors retire old versions, so book the code your roadmap shows.
- Buy the voucher. On those CompTIA roadmaps, use the Book the exam box. For any other exam, go to the certification body's own website and follow its route to schedule the exam or buy a voucher. Where we have a link to it, the readiness panel's book the exam opens it.
- Budget for it. Exam fees are set by the vendor and are not included in Membership. Where a roadmap has a cost guide, it is in that roadmap's Before the exam list.
Emails you'll get
Two senders, so you know what each email is:
- From Stripe, our payment processor — a receipt for every payment and every refund, a notice if a payment fails, and a reminder before your subscription renews. Money only.
- From StationX, sent from
noreply@stationx.net— a welcome email that points you to your first roadmap, and a nudge to launch your first lab if you haven't yet. And what happens to your access: when you cancel, and when a refund is made. Replying reaches contact@stationx.net, where a person reads it.
More questions
Pricing, beginners, what Infrastructure Labs are, whether you need a powerful computer: the Before-you-join FAQ. Buying for a team: StationX for Teams.