Can I return a defective laptop that still has activation lock, and remotely wipe it later if ever asked about it? Hear me out.

A bit of a complicated one.

I bought my wife a MacBook M1 for Christmas, and upon setup we realized it was defective. Lines permanently burned into the screen. FAR more than what it’s worth to fix. I factory reset it and was about to return it, and then I learned what activation lock was. My wife doesn’t know the password to unlock and she’s being extremely unhelpful, not taking this seriously and not checking her emails for reset links. Not even replying to my constant texts about it and not trying to guess the password. To be fair, she is a very busy lady. My question is, can I go ahead and return it in the shape that it’s in, and then wipe it remotely (which is how activation lock works) if asked about it? I’m aware of a policy that when you return the wrong item you have a small window of a week or two to return the right one before being charged again. Could I use that time to work on an activation lock solution? I’m on my own to handle it and I’m only even asking because it’s defective. Will it really matter if it’s ultimately going to be hit with a hammer?