can't open rear passenger door!!

[Fiffola]

My rear passenger door wont open, now for starters i know i need a new mechanism as i had the same problem with the front passenger door, but my mate who is a vw mechanic seems to reckon to do the job correctly we need to remove the back seats to enable us to remove the back panel to get the door open,this seems to be abit of a pain in the bum if you ask me, so does anyone have any ideas of how to get it open without all the messing about???? anyone's advice would be grately appreciated, cheers kris.