Agree with this ^^. I bought my VCDS cable on a group buy on ukmkivs.net many years back - I've never used it to change settings, but it has more than paid for itself when diagnosing my old mk4 and now the mk5.
For example, my CEL has just come on again - could be something serious, but plugging the car into vagcom has just shown it is the P0441 code which is just the brimming of the tank/charcoal canister emissions guff, so nothing to worry about! £60 saved by not having to go to a garage...
Hope your mistress is sorted soon Martin!