Charter Communications deletes 14,000 customer email accounts

St. Louis (MO) - Charter Communications has blamed a "software error" on completely deleting the contents of 14,000 of its customer e-mail accounts.

During routine maintenance, Charter "erroneously deleted active accounts along with the others," according to spokesperson Anita Lamont.

The company said there is no way to restore the lost e-mails. "We really are sincerely sorry for having had this happen and do apologize to all those folks who were affected by the error," said Lamont.

Charter provides cable TV, Internet, and digital phone service in 29 states and has a total of around 2.6 million broadband subscribers. The service provider said it will give a $50 credit to all affected customers.