@shenkt
Characters are never deleted unless the player himself deletes them, this is just not something the game or anyone working for SWTOR does, and being a subscriber, an inactive player, or a free-to-play player will not change this.
Unfortunately in this case there was nothing else the agent could do. Since the server merge, character restorations are more restricted than they used to be. When very old characters are restored now, they are left in an unplayable state. This is why character deletion cannot be done on a whim: if you delete your characters, you need to be aware that it might be permanent.
Please keep in mind that even when they were not restricted, prior to the merge, a restoration was never guaranteed.
I have edited your message to remove the survey link.