Yup, it's always something.
@ Mark: You can remove SMD parts with a conventional iron (assuming it has a small enough tip), and you are careful. If you want to have fun you could try to play chopsticks with two irons, one for each end of the part, but I did lots of rework with just a basic single iron before investing in a hot air station.
I have found that sometimes it is easier to add a touch of fresh solder to improve wetting (added flux from the new solder makes it easier to melt old solder), and try to lay the tip across the top of the part to melt solder on both pads at same time. You don't need to worry about overheating the part, since you should just discard them, but you do need to be careful about overheating the PCB and possibly lifting lands. Tweezers might help, but parts that small will often lift and stick to the iron from surface tension once free from the PCB.
Sounds like a good project to bust your SMD cherry on....
JR
@Steve... I ASSume the service guys get copied on ECNs like that. It was probably identified through a customer complaint (albeit years ago). Not always simple to connect the dots when dealing with lots of SKUs. I know how that goes....good luck.