Express Replacement

Hello, I purchased my Airpods Max November of 2022 and I've been experiencing issues with them connecting automatically to my phone, even after rebooting, restarting etc. They've gotten to the point of showing me a message that I'm "trying to connect to Airpods that aren't mine", when they actually are. I was wondering if I were to get express replacement with my apple care, would that mean I would be getting a refurbished pair back? Also, am I able to go to the apple store to get them checked out, even if they were purchased at BestBuy?