~9 sec from 0 - 60 is about right for stock.

It may be the "service syndrom" you are experiencing... your car feels better (or in your case worse) when you get it back from service, even if nothing was really done to affect performance.

That really blows that they put a remanufacturered one in your VX, though... but what can you do.

Without putting your VX on a dyno before the work and then after the work, there's no real way to "prove" it's behaving differently. However, putting it on a dyno and checking if bhp or actual HP is up to specs might be something you could do... if you don't know anyone that can do this, a performance shop will probably charge you $100 - $200 to run tests on it. It may be worth it to you, and especially if you can show that it tests out substantially below the "advertised" specs.

I'd be more interested in knowing why you've thrown a rod twice? That seems kinda strange, unless you are red lining the sucker