Could be maybe I have been lucky and have spoke to either the nice csr guys or the one's that actualy play the game. The issue with the gold I wonder how many people have tried to get what they didnt have in the first place? Not saying that your friend was one of them, Just maybe thinking perhaps it happens a lot and they dont want to spend what I would see as a long time sorting the wheat from the chaff so to speak ?
Far as I understand they have no way to replace items that have been deleted or lost due to some bug etc so I was told, But I do know that they back up people's chars as a friend of mine by mistake deleted her trader on eq1 , and sent in a petition and got it restored the next day with all items and plat, apart from the few most recent items she had aquired on the day it was deleted, So I guess it all depends on how often they back up char data, I would imagine that when you are actualy playing the game yes they can pin point your location but I doubt if they can know what items or how much gold etc you have on you untill you actualy log out? ,, Just an educated guess thats all lol, dont flame me if I am wrong
, But I would be interested to hear if that is correct or not if anyone knows for sure?