The experience was very good (so far) at Frank Keane VW (Dublin), got a courtesy car, T-Roc 1.5L petrol, felt it was a major step back in ride, comfort and sound deadening. Was alerted on day 2 that the upgrade hadn't taken at step 5, and VW Germany now involved, car handed back on day 3 all done. Passed the battery check also.
Now runing on software 1741, no idea what that is, but the car did a quick additional upgrade back in the driveway. Charging perfectly, and have bought all the VW free packages in the in-car shop to get the App running again.
Many thanks to all the contributors here (esp sidehaas), it made this process a lot more illuminating and easy to understand, my one quibble was the handover guy propably not up to speed, I felt I knew more about this process than him, he was amazed when I enquired on what software was the car now running, his reply was 'the latest'.
Rob