Failed Pressure Plate? How did it happen?

2011 Jetta Sportwagen 2.0, manual transmission, bought it used with 30,000 miles and under warranty. I have put almost 40,000 miles on it and it's at 68,500 right now. I have had no trouble up to this point (other than the air conditioning blower, gas tank flap sticking, and radio blitzing out at times). I've just taken it in for multi-point inspections at the 10,000 mile Dealer maintenance checks.

I took my car in to the Dealer on a Monday morning for the Dieselgate fix, and within a day after having it back it was functionally undrivable so I had it towed back to the Dealer with my free roadside assistance as a result of the scandal.

Before talking with the Dealership the next day (by this time Thursday) I had already discussed the situation with two mechanics and they both verified it was not the clutch itself. Here's some stats:

1. the car stick shift was slightly tighter than normal (not driving like "butter") and seemed a little rough, but it was so minute I thought I was just "feeling things" when I got it back on Tuesday night, mostly because the VW Rep told me that she and only one of technicians know how to drive a manual transmission so she pulled it up for me mad: flag!);

2. over a day period the car started getting difficult to put in second, then fourth, then by Wednesday night I was unable to shift it in ANY gear while going through an intersection and had to coast off the road;

3. the car would go into gear when the engine was off (not turning) and without the clutch it could be "driven", albeit not smoothly of course;

4. the Dealer said it was the clutch and that would be a minimum of $3,000.00 (it wasn't - see photo of clutch pad after 70,000 miles: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxbuYMIsneeXLUVYd3d3QUM4RlE/view?usp=sharing);

5. I opened a case with the VW Company Mothership and the next day, now Friday, and not only did this Dealer lie to VW Co. about telling me that only one technician can drive a standard; but, they also offered me an "employee discount" for the work making it around $1,500.00. Thanks.;

6. I just wanted to GET MY CAR OUT OF THERE so we "drove" it without the clutch over to a local German-engineered car business and instantly felt good giving them the Dieselgate money instead of turning around a day later and giving it back to VW. BUY LOCAL!;

7. it was not the Master Cylinder;

8. it was a failed Sachs pressure plate (see photo of Pressure Plate Failure: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxbuYMIsneeXUDVGcjRFZEZ1LVE/view?usp=sharing); notice where the input shaft goes is not perfectly round and the fingers are not evenly spaced either.

Questions on the top of my mind right now:

A. Any idea of if and how the Dealer could have done this in a day's time, if someone that did not know how to drive a standard drove it?

B. How did this mechanically happen, whether human error or part failure?

Any other ideas please write away....I will read every single word to wrap my ahead around this. I am also happy to take and post more photos.

THANKS for giving this a whirl!

Failed diaphragm spring. Doesn't happen often, but does happen.

Not likely your dealer friends caused this - just a coincidence.

If your dealer would have caused a clutch failure, the most likely issue would be that the friction plate would be trashed due to excess slippage - this is not the case from your picture.

Ive had a couple diaphragm clutches go after they got smoked hard enough to soften the heat treated spring. Yours isn't looking cooked enough to qualify. Like previous post: random failure imho