Gearbox T5 auto box question

I'm looking online at an 2005 automatic T5 campervan I would rather like to buy, but I have no experience of VW vans and have been somewhat put off by a bloke I know who builds lots of stuff, telling me that the automatic gearboxes are prone to total failure needing extremely expensive replacement.

I've googled this and of course come up with a number of instances, but can anyone shed any light on how common this is? I don't want to buy a load of trouble, and the mileage on this one is about 80,000.