So he did respond to me
To
[email protected]: Sent 18/01/2014
Hi ##Support##
Just wanted to check the status of my order. As I havent heard anything yet
Have you you got your hosting site up and running?
--Still not response--
so on the 21/01/2014
To
[email protected]: Still waiting any news?
Finally a response later that night
to Me: Sent 22/01/2014
Hi ##MyName##,
We are unable to mine enough LTC currently to provide you a payout.
We are able to give you a full refund due to this though!
Thank You. Sorry about the inconvenience.
and he gave me a refund the next day
Im not sure what kind of operation he is running, it seems that it is a one man operation, but (and I can only assume from what I've read on other posts and through his email exchange) that he "has purchased/hired" some equipment and he is running it somewhere in chicago. Its not a very complete system as he tells you when you have recieved a payout rather than any automated system so maybe he does it off a spreadsheet or something. Maybe I came to him too early in the lifecycle of his project and expecting something like Cex.io rather than pure email exchange. Im not going to knock the guy for setting up his business but I do think its early days and there should at least be some explanation as to how he is working the payouts and the rest of his facility from the website