This happened to me and I paid 17.5K upfront when asked , they then changed the EDD to end of the year Oct-Nov. I then asked for the money back as I felt it was a little misleading the way it was positioned. At the point of paying the EDD was June so assumed it was to get delivery allocated and sorted. This kicked off a whole nightmare trying to get the refund.
A month after it started they then found a cancellation so I had to pay again as the money was in no mans land, basically paid 2 *17.5 and they are in the process of refunding one amount. Nightmare. Luckily I'm dealing with someone in Tesla that appears to be really customer focussed now so looks like it's progressing.
Don't pay until you have a VIN or some further confirmation unless you are happy for the money to be out of your account for potentially several months.
My situation was similar, especially with the EDD dates being June, but I paid and left the money in the account and didn't request a refund. In my case this certainly helped as when I spoke to the advisor he said and quote "why are you waiting 3 months if you're already paid up" - the million-dollar question that I wanted him to answer!
Thank you. This is really insightful.
I’ll probably just wait now and wait for the VIN to be confirmed, not expecting anything to be confirmed till late July or August
I found he then escalated once I said I was all paid up and could be flexible with pick-up location and spec (provided the apr didn't change). This then uncovered the secret "list" everyone's getting themselves added to, and turned out they had a car ready for me to pick up within a few days albeit in Southampton rather than Staines. Fortunately, with my financial situation, I was OK without the funds as I had already sold my model 3 privately (once they moved goal posts with the trade-in).
I secretly hoped it would show them I was ready to go and help them with another sale before the Q end. They just needed to 'find' a car for me, which they did within a day or 2 after I spurred them on. Had they allocated me a car so close to the Q end had I not paid? Who knows, but I had nothing to lose apart from being without the funds, which I set aside for them anyway. So in my eyes, the money was already 'spent'.
Also, I'd like to add I'm not certain if your case or anyone else's will be similar but that seemed to have worked for me, and I got the car before the 30th - just as my original EDD.
Good luck to those who are still patiently waiting and once again sorry to have queue jumped those who ordered before me. It really is unfair but that's something Tesla needs to sort out - I personally think it's better to be proactive rather than reactive, but that's my nature. The wait is certainly worth it and fingers (and everything else) crossed for a record-breaking Q2!
Hope this helps someone.