I agree with your thoughts on this - at least for cars that don't do more than 10,000 miles per annum. I had a bad experience with a Passat 1.8T that was on Long Life servicing involving the brakes being worn out with no one picking it up before I bought it as it had been nearly two years between visits to the dealer!
T&D is Time and Distance which for VW is 10,000 or every 12 months - whichever comes first.
I had my dealer switch my GTI over when I booked in with them for it's first service after buying it as I only do 5,000 to 6,000 per annum. This way, I get to do my MOT at the same time.
Hope this helps,
Steve