Telkom "upgrade"

I was recently approached by Telkom sales with an offer to upgrade my line from a 2meg to a 4meg uncapped line at no extra cost and with no change to my Email account. No brainer so I accepted the offer. After many efforts to log on to my Email to no avail I eventually got hold of an operator who advised the account had not been activated .This was fixed immediately. To my utter dismay I now discovered that my Email was now a blank canvas. All my previous Emails ,sent items and contact list all gone. I have called various people numerously to get my info. restored and the only answer I get is that the sales person should have told me ,which he did not.Why would I even consider the offer if it involved losing all my data. I am exceptionally upset with Telkom and will move to an alternative as soon as possible breaking a relationship of over 40 years.