Payment is taken at the first dtage of the process, in my case 4th January. Then everything went silent once I had submitted everything to Podpoint. I phone and emails on numerous occasions to try to get an installation date but to no avail. I could get someone to answer the phone but then they would only email the person allocated my case. This continued until the middle of February. In the end I had to tell my car dealer that I might not be able to take delivery of the car as planned in early March because I could not get the Podpoint put in. I am not sure how they did it but the dealer managed to get Podpoint to call me back and the appointment was arranged for 26th February. The installer turner up on time and fitted the charge point ok but the whole expericne was already ruined. Steer well clear