Not meaning to be a jerk, but I don’t see immediately how this relates to Exclusion issues.
You mention this:
This is a pretty basic aspect of Z-Wave. A device always will accept an Exclusion, regardless of its current state. So, if I’m understanding you and your report correctly, you can Exclude devices. Something may be amiss with your Hub entering Inclusion mode, which would explain the lack of flashing green LED.
We can definitely look into that part. Please reply to the Support Ticket whenever you have a chance so we can proceed (last reply was from us yesterday evening).