ok, got my code from cdkeys, activated & preloading now
Think the problem may have been the packages cdkeys have been selling. As a preorder, they've been selling the base game by itself but also a 'PC + Beta' package, which is the one i bought a couple of weeks back without really paying attention to the beta part (mainly because the private beta had already finished a few weeks earlier and the open beta was 'open' - no code needed). So, i got my download link with my receipt & thought that was the game code. It wasn't. It was the private beta code (confirmed), something which customer support made clear at the time. Was expecting the new code (code for the game proper) to appear in the download link but it didn't. Maybe their system saw that a code had previously been sent and assumed the order was complete - no idea.
Anyway, contacted customer support again a couple of hours ago explaining this and a new code then appeared in my download link about 20 minutes ago (replaced the old code), a scanned code (not something you can copy & paste into uplay), which worked after i typed it in.
ps, they didn't mention anything specificially, but in the reply i got from customer support today, they say:
Keys for Tom Clancy's The Division 2 have now been sent out for all those who pre-ordered. If you haven't received it, please check your original order confirmation email and follow the download link. First time customers will have to go through phone verification, upon completion you should get the key from the same download link.