Hi - yes, I did. IIRC they took payment when they actually sent me the exemption as a PDF via email. That may be because I'd been calling them every other day for an update and 'reminding' them that my skills test was in a few days and I needed the exemption beforehand though :lol: It was definitely 7 or 8 working days after I applied that I got the exemption back, anyway.
And yes, what TangoAlphad said too - all of that very valid, including the bit about making sure you're not diverting off into controlled airspace. My examiner didn't do that, but I'd heard a few like to... (so I made a point of saying 'looking at the track we're not going to be in Birmingham's airspace, but I'll be careful because we're not a million miles away').