As a test I sold one bitcoin on Mt. Gox back when it was at $1200 something each. Then I tried to transfer the proceeds into a verified bank account. That was back in December sometime. That money still hasn't showed up.
I did the same at Coinbase. The US$ were transferred in promptly, and when Coinbase said they would be.
A bit of googleing tells me that Mt. Gox has a reputation for being very slow to transfer.
If you can't actually change the money and get it, can Mt. Gox be considered an "exchange"? And why pay attention to the price there?
A lot of the bitcoin related businesses I've had to deal with for this strike me as "amateur". That's the kindest way of putting it.
The problem isn't all of Mt. Gox's fault. They've been hit with closing of their link to American banks. Also, BTC-e is having problems with the Russian system to. It's a battle royal going on behind the scenes, IMO.
I have used a few fractions to purchase a couple of watches from Overstock. That went very well. Perhaps as more and more merchants take bitcoin and litecoin, moving it into fiat will not be the desirable thing to do. One other thing I'm thinking about is exchanging some for gold/silver. There is a PM vendor in the states that takes Btc.
I will always have a little crypto, if for no other reason than diversification.