This is toal BS by localbitcoins and make me never want to use them. Pay the man his coins!
wow, this really is bad.
I would probably never try localbitcoin.
Please do not write off dozens of honest businessmen because of a support person's ill-chosen words. Just be cautious in choosing a trader. Traders' policies and feedback reputations are open and visible to the public.
Some of us even offer no-questions-asked money-back guarantee when requested within 24 hours, thus bypassing the LBC dispute system entirely.
True, if OP has chosen a reputable trader, he would probably never need to contact the admin at all.
But the big problem shown here is how the admin on localbitcoin is trying to resolve a conflict.
The OP has provided lots of (IMO, way more than enough) proofs showing that he did send the money but never receive the bitcoin.
Yet, somehow the admin changes the escrow amount randomly (no explanation to OP), and later even refuse to release the escrow at this moment because of OP's reddit post.
This kind of support service is completely unacceptable.
update:
Nov 24 - I still did not receive any of my BTC.
No further statements from localbitcoins.com
OP, please keep updating your situation.