Parking brake operation

[DickyS]

I would appreciate a little help with a problem I am experiencing with my local Audi dealership and its body shop, regarding the parking brake.  

I have a well specked (inc. Hold assist) 2013 plate automatic SQ5 in Samoa Orange (ordered Oct ’12; delivered July ’13).

Following damage involving the o/s rear quarter (a bollard leapt out and attacked me), everything still functioned normally.  However, when it was returned from the Audi approved body shop, the parking brake no longer came on automatically when the ignition was switched off. Audi refuse to believe that it ever worked as I described, and as detailed in the owners manual, quote “Vehicles with automatic gearbox: The parking brake is automatically applied when you switch off the ignition” (Page 82: version Englisch (sic) 05.2013). Newer vehicles, possibly as early as mid 2014 don’t appear to have this function (or it is linked in some way to Hold Assist, which wasn’t the case in my vehicle); and certainly current Q5s don’t. 

It hasn’t helped that a replacement unit, supposedly exactly the same as that which is in the car, also didn’t function as above.

I’d be very grateful if anyone with a similar aged automatic would confirm that their brake works as described, in the hope that it might convince Audi that I am not making it up! And/or anyone with experience of this problem themselves.