Battery and keyboard replacement

Several week's ago, I took my MacBookPro (2018) to a Apple Service Center in Austin for diagnosis and repair. At the time, my battery was not in bad enough shape to be replaced, bit I was told tat Apple would replace my battery and keyboard for $249. Today, I made the same nearly 4-hr. round-trip (counting the time at the Apple store) to the Austin Service Center and was told that my battery now should be replaced, bUt Apple will charge me $699 to replace the battery and keyboard. A local repair shop told me that if the battery is replace, Apple has to activate a sensor on the control bar for the computer to be functional. Is there any way to avoid this sensor issue so that I don't have to pay the new price that Apple wants to charge me for replacing the battery and keyboard?