Hi, I have a very similar problem, I went in to my VW dealership because my alarm/central locking on my '97 Passat remote wasnt working even after I replaced the batteries, they told me I need a new key and a litle bit disgruntled I paid the £80 to buy a new key and have it programmed to my car. Got my car and keys back, unlocked it and everything was fine, when I got home my windows werent working, central locking wasnt working properly, alarm wasnt working etc, I had a look at fuse 14 ( after consulting this forum) and found that it had gone and I replaced it. I took the car for a drive ( abhout 10 miles) stopped at a convenience store, did some shooping, got back and everything was still working, I drove back home ( another 10 miles) and the fuse had gone again. I am assuming that the people at the VW garage must have messed something up, exposed a wire or something as this was NOT the case 3 hours earlier before I actually took the car in to have the key recoede to the car. Any ideas on this would be a great help to me as well.