Yup, I was offered this manual process with a 5% fee on 10/06/2013 in regards to a withdrawal on 07/18/2013. We went back and forth because I wanted a timeline if I were to go the manual process, and I got the same BS I've always gotten.

edit:
I was actually offered this on 10/05/2013. Here's the start of the conversation
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb21/Raralith/mtgoxmanualwithdrawl2.png

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb21/Raralith/mtgoxmanualwithdrawl.png

2x withdrawal for $40 vs. $200 "manual" withdrawal which is 5x more. AND no timeline.