Interesting trip to Sunderland today. Dropped the car off and walked a mile and a half to the coast (via Fulwell) to kill some of the 2 hour wait. A fella with a dog sat down next to me and started having an impromptu karaoke session with his wind up radio, and kept offering me a roll-up tab (which I declined). He said he listened to the radio because his dead dad talked to him through it and sang aongs with him. Made a sharp exit and back to the dealership. Waited an hour past the time it was supposed to take, in the meantime I sit opposite a South African Woman in the waiting area who is in tears because she paid Pulman £500 to fix a fault on her auto gearbox which has recurred and now they say it is something different. The fault is intermittent and so Pulman want £75 an hour to detect the fault, and will keep it indefinitely. They think it might be some valve which has something to do with the auto box on her 5 year old Polo, if it is the valve then it's a £900 bill + however much labour it takes for the fault to show. But it might be something completely different. I advised her to go to a good independent, an actual mechanic rather than someone who just replaces part x because the computer told them to, and doesn't have labour rates of £75 an hour.
I then get asked about my driving mode issue (In Sport from the start, car doesn't drive like it's in Sport unless you come out of Sport into another mode and then come back to Sport). The bulletins are checked and no defect of this type is listed. I asked if they are going to report my defect and they say no. If they don't report my defect then how does VW get to hear about it and then raise a bulletin if there are enough people with the same issue as me? Useless.
Had a look at their R in the showroom, it is very dusty on the exterior - not exactly showing it off.
Came home with the car and refitted my DTUK box.