Deleted some contacts...can I get them back if they are not in my backups?

Question

I used an app that let's you delete a ton of contacts at once, I think it was called Cleanup.
Now when I conntected my phone to my computer after deleting a few thousand contacts outlook synced my computer's contacts with my iPhone (not sure if this is regular) and so all of my contacts that got deleted from my phone also got deleted from my computer and now I'm missing contact info from about 3,000 of my clients.
I downloaded a backup recovery program but only 2 backups showed up and both contained the address book I currently have. Is there any other way I can get my contacts back?

Answer 1

According to this document: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1766 Contacts are not included in the backup. Only the settings for Mail, Contacts, Calendars accounts.  It's not worded very well, but that's what it means. The information regarding the accounts are synced to is backed up, not the contacts themselves. Contacts are intended to be synced with an address book or cloud service. There is only enough contact information in the backup to maintain the "Phone Favorites" list. (the emphasis below is mine).
Backed-up information includes purchased music, TV shows, apps, and books*; photos and video in the Camera Roll; device settings (for example, Phone Favorites, Wallpaper, and Mail, Contacts, Calendar accounts); app data; Home screen and app organization; Messages (iMessage, SMS, and MMS), ringtones, and more. Media files synced from your computer aren’t backed up, but can be restored by syncing with iTunes.