I used coinbase once, only purchased .1 BTC for $40.73 USD though.
Didn't feel comfortable verifying my bank account - they can either log in for you or deposit two small sums to verify.
This was really testing the waters and it took me about a week to commit, took a couple hours for me to take the gamble and hit the submit button, too.
I was very unhappy with waiting a week before receiving my BTC, fortunately the price of BTC dropped back to ~$450 and it cleared. I won't be doing business with them again unless BTC is moderately stable, and will only purchase small amounts at a time.
As with all non-regulated fiat sites and BTC being new - it really is the wild west out there.
i just made an order.. it says the funds won't be cleared until dec 2 due to the thanksgiving weekend... that's a whopping that's over a week that i'm going to have to wait (4 business days total).
meanwhile, if the prices for BTC drop, i'm sure they'd be happy to "honor" the price i paid.. but if it goes to mars? maybe they'll just cancel it by saying "sorry, we had issues with your bank."
i need to find a better way.