1999 Sharan gear selection fault

[nesheehan]

Hi,
i was driving last week and the car developed a gear selection fault as i changed gear. there was no forewarning or grinding, just a floppy gear stick and i was unable to select any gear. car was towed to local non vw specialist. they have had a look and advised the gearbox needs removing so thay can possibly fix the selector mechanism. they think this is unlikely so are advising that i prepare to get recon box at £895 and new clutch possibly. i will be looking at £1300 min bill if this is the case. some other posts seem to suggest there may be a quicker and cheaper fix. any advice please.
many thanks

[RedOne]

have a quick look at whether the control cables are still attached to the selector levers on top of the box. I had the one cable pop out of it's holder/guide which resulted in a similar fault. Managed to sort it out with a tie-wrap

[sandman]

I had a simular problem, was only anle to get 3rd and 5th. have just had the gear selector changed and cost me £400, and i don't belive for that cost they dropped the box, bearings had apparently distroyed themselves. but now have to deal with getting the clutch done as i burnt that out trying to get it safley of the duel carrage way.