[Filament]

You guys know other companies that dont require you to send anything back? That you can just se with the SN

If you're convincing, you don't need to send things back. I've gotten multiple companies to offer replacement without sending back anything even though their company protocol "requires" me to send the item back. That's the fun part of SE, imo

Indeed I agree with you, but what are good ways to prevent sending back the item? I only know catching fire, leaking battery acid (but for which devices can I use this method?), and blood. But all these reasons look kinda bad to me expect for the leaking battery one...

Really depends on the product. Different products you can come up with different excuses.
One person on these forums just got away with an exploding monitor, torched a random monitor, then was able to get away with saying he disposed of it with Dell. Goes to show that it can be extreme, as long as you're able to back it up/ convince the rep.