You are getting macbooks swapped out at apple? I'm not a power customer either, they just take the laptop away and tell me its ready next friday. Sounds like the fixes they do then and there aren't hardware issues in your case.
I've definitely had at least a battery swapped then and there. If it's anything more than that yeah I guess they're defaulting to swapping it. I'm not complaining about the policy!
You only need a normal consumer heat gun to detach them. It's a big hair dryer. It's not the rocket science people make it out to be. I guess they have one in the back.
