Escrow has been a way of business operating even though its loud in the crypto ecosystem. Outside the crypto world, when I order a product online and I pay with my credit card, the money does not just go to the seller the bank hold it for a while while I won't be able to spend it as well until some time have passed or the seller provides confirmation before such fund is released. The same for AliExpress merchant site where payment made is kept by the site until confirmation and other conditions before being released to the buyer its not a new thing happening what it does is boost customers confidence in the business.
arbitration is not perfect and can also have issues, or an arbitrator could be a scammer. Its important that arbitration be decentralized, not just one big company like bitpay, but lots of individuals.
I would take a separate position on bitpay. Bitpay is a company that has proven itself to be a worthy business and they are not relenting on making that a priority. Just like the forum only few individuals that have distinguished themselves in the community can act as escrows that is centralization as against decentralisation where everyone would act as escrow. The point is both centralised escrow and decentralised ones (after verification) can function hand in hand to boost confidence in the market.