@Hardy.

Patently untrue. Deleted characters over level 50 are never deleted from Blizzard's system. I know of people requesting restorations on characters deleted for three years who get them back, no questions asked. Lower level toons are presumed to be less valuable and are deleted from the system after a couple of months (length of time depends on level), but so long as you get your request in before the purge they'll meet such a request without demur.