Sounds like you were using an exchange server for your work, and you were storing all your information on that server. Could have been avoided by not storing personal data on your work servers and making sure you have the settings set to store them on the device itself or MobileMe/iCloud.
This kind of behaviour is probably something businesses like. Info on company servers stays on the servers.
This isn't an "iDevice" issue, it's a data ownership issue.
Yeah I too was on an Exchange server. I had no idea it was storing on only Exchange/that one account. Really hard to discern where it was saving contacts to, hence why I had about 8 or so contacts left over when I deleted the account.
This kind of behaviour is probably something businesses like. Info on company servers stays on the servers.
This isn't an "iDevice" issue, it's a data ownership issue.