I shouldn't have had to claim, as the website said that people with a suficiently complex password would get their accounts back automatically.
But even a password like:     7L8(l^qDx*(_fSG!3n     apparently isn't complex enough.

So I had to reclaim, which I did.
Then the claim was approved but 1 day later my new password was invalidated and I got noo more responses to my requests!