Did they allow you to watch while they replaced the battery?
I had to turn in the Macbook Pro at the Apple store and it took them more than a week to return it. They had to ship to a centralized repair center. I doubt anyone got to watch.
No. They had it for a week and called me back in to pick it up. The replacement (as far as I understand) is not done at the Apple store.
Yes, laptops with new batteries are not part of the ban.