crackling on airpods pros 1 gen

My airpods are crackling. They were bought in JohnLewis on 5th Feb 2020 and I went in to apple on 18th Feb 2023. Been told that as they were bought in John Lewis that there was nothing Apple could do. Been back to john lewis but I dont have the receipt. Surely as its an apple product and genuine that it should be recognised by Apple directly. But Trafford Centre said they could do nothing? Its says for 3 years from purchase that apple would help. I was just slightly out of that time scale. Surely Apple should help instead of trying to charge me 174 GBP to repair.