2015 Sportwagen TDI S - Dead battery after 14 months

I bought a 2015 Sportwagen TDI S DSG as a “new” 2015 after the stop sale. Purchased the car on May 8, 2017 and had a failed battery this week after only 14 months of useage. Car already has 45k miles on it so it wasn’t covered under warranty.
I noticed a couple rough starts and on the third morning of rough starts I threw some low voltage codes and got a CEL. Car wouldn’t turn over. No lights were left on or anything like that. Took it to the dealership and the battery failed the load test and they installed and replaced the battery for $159. Whatever - didn’t feel like dealing with it.
I know battery capacities / longevity can vary but I should be able to get at least 3 years out of a battery minimum. This makes me guess or at least be skeptical that they didn’t actually replace the battery as part of the sale agreement after it had been sitting on a lot for 19 months prior to purchase.
Anyone had a similar experience or noticed the fact that these batteries seem rather underpowered and can’t reliably assume higher electrical loads???

Where did you hear that replacing the battery was part of the sales agreement? Our CPO with ~20K miles on it when we bought it last year had the original battery.

CPO and new 2015 stop sale vehicles had different resale criteria in terms of maintenance. VW maintenance had to inspect tires, oil, fuel filter, battery etc and if there were any degradations in any of the previously listed, the dealership would replace the items that needed replacing and would be compensated by VWoA. (I know this sounds very similar to CPO)

My vehicle had a dead battery when I went to purchase it and if the cells die - it’s useable capacity can be cut in half if it is recharged. I’m just convinced that they didn’t replace the battery as agreed because a 14 month battery life isn’t the best.

Ya know the dealer did the absolute bare minimum. If the car wasnt on fire it was ready to go. Ill bet most didnt even change the oil after 19 months of sitting. And im willing to bet when they installed your new battery they didnt recode for the new battery. They reset the cel and sent ya away.

I fought tooth an nail for them to put a new battery in the car before we picked up out '15 Passat May '17 for this exact same reason.

The dealer claimed the battery "passed" no issues I said bull crap I don't care I'm not driving off without a new one. They acted like they did me a favor, amazingly enough they actually wrote it up on the dealers dime an not part of the bill of parts/service for VWoA to pick up as part of the NOS sale.

I have zero remorse fighting for that battery though. When we signed for the car April 30 at 7PM, the sales guy said we were lucky cause they just ran out of brakes and they were able to sell any more '15s until more arrived. Once we got the car home May 3rd, I checked all four corners still had original pads and rotors. I brought it to the dealers attention they told me to pound sand, the sales guy "misspoke" and there's nothing they could do, VWoA also backed the dealer and said it was between me and them. I wouldn't have been that bent out of shape if they didn't say anything, but to tell us they did work that never happened and wouldn't admit to the mistake and correct it, shut me off the dealer.

I changed the fuel filter as part of the 20K and it did have a 2017 date stamped on it, so I think it at least got a new fuel filter and prob an oil change.

The dealer I purchased my stop sale 15 from said the battery in the car was fine & passed the test. I towed it hope on a dolly. The next morning is would not start. When I pulled the battery cover to charge it, I saw a little piece of white paper in the corner of the battery box. It looked like a receipt. I pulled it out. Darn if it wasn't a print out of a conductance battery test stating that the battery had failed dated about 3 months prior to my purchase. I emailed them a copy of the print out along with a description of where I found it & a request for a new battery. They quickly agreed.

My experience is that dealers usually do the minimum.