Have alphanumeric code set up. iPhone asks for a numeric code

Hi there,

My wife has an iPhone 11. She uses alphanumeric code since forever. Yesterday her iPhone run out of battery. Upon recharging it asked her to enter the 6 digits code even tho she has an alphanumeric code set up.

How is that possible?

She proceeded to restore the iPhone, however, upon resetting the iCloud password it also asked for a numeric code instead of the alphanumeric one.

She tried all of the possible codes and nothing works.

Now she's lost everything that wasn't backed up and has no access to the phone since apple just said "we'll tell you in 24 hours how many more hours you have to wait before you can change the iCloud password"

is there any way to solve this instead of blunt waiting?