Hi TimS.
Did they quote you a price?

Apparently it only takes about 30 mins, so I don't think it's labour. I presume this is just for the software, not the software plus maps as I presume that would take much longer.

The subsequent maps are free from the link I posted above, hopefully Mill Volvo in Newcastle might offer a competitor price on Monday once they discover the update.

Should it be done for free if the car is in for a service?

You could try but I fear that upgrades to functionality which are not related to the car e.g. Safety, engine or gearbox are not included in the update promise.

Certainly people here have observed that they had to pay for infotainment system upgrades.

It's a chargable update, since the dealer has to 'order' it from the mothership. It also takes a while, owing to the large download, so I can understand dealers not automatically offering it as part of a service. It would of course make sense to discuss the option if a customer books a service.

Donald's of Ipswich are doing mine; they were unaware of it until I phoned, but the service department were really helpful when I pointed out the info on the Volvo support site cited above.

My 2014 maps are fine in East Anglia where we've only recently moved away from horse-drawn carts, but recently in France and Wales they were starting to get out of step with the roads, so this is a really welcome update.

I don't think so. Nor will it be covered under any warranty. There was discussion some time ago here, about software updates and the consensus was that unless it was to rectify a fault, infotainment updates/upgrades were not free. Several years ago, I was not charged for an upgrade to Sensus 3 from the previous version but the previous version was buggy.

What's to stop me doing this myself if i buy the download via Volvos new portal and using my DICE device?

Which portal is that?

They quoted £75.54, although knocked a little off subsequently because I'd alerted them about this relatively new update. I bought the car new from them, and it's had all its three services there, so there might be some goodwill involved in that quote; I don't know. Seeing as the update seems very new, I suspect some dealers won't know about it. Donalds get a thumbs-up because they didn't simply tell me it's not available.

Mill Newcastle were almost agressive in their denial of its existence!