No, I would expect 3k+ for all that work plus parts. There are some here who complained that V.W would not do this mod. as a routine precaution. It sounds like they would rather wait for their engines to grenade before doing anything? IMHO if I was worried about impending timing chain doom on a highish mileage, I think I might have done the chain and tensioner myself to avoid the cylinder head failure. I think you were very lucky with the outcome.
The tensioner problem manifests itself at cold start after the engine has stood, the chain loses tension on the back slope because oil pressure has been lost. At first cranking before oil pressure comes up, the slack chain jumps a tooth or worse the engine misfires and jumps more teeth. Once the engine runs it is then doomed as pistons whack against the valves.
With my simple V.W cam belt system, the belt tensioner roller uses a big strong spring and a one way ratchet, just like self adjusting brakes. Any slack in the belt and the tensioner only moves a notch one way on the ratchet and never moves backwards.
The oil pressure type tensioner for chains is designed differently and I think their past problems arose when the ratchet or piston could move back to the very slack position? You wouldn't notice at first because oil pressure could eventually tension the chain, but cold cranking from zero oil pressure will find any design flaws with disastrous consequences. Why do they use this system for chains? Because in theory it reduces the size of the tensioner in the limited space under the timing cover. I'm glad my TDi has a quiet belt!
