I cannot imagine how adding additional complexity to an already stressful situation can make it any safer.
In my situation having the long hose made getting my buddy back to shore a lot easier.
The above report does not make sense with a properly configured long hose setup, there is no way for the hose to get caught on necklace unless the necklace was put on after the primary (not correct) or they managed to loop it after deploying (theoretically possible). It catching on the harness is a possibly but more than likely that is also operator error.
I'll stand by, he did not know how to use his equipment. I was taught long hose by a GUE instructor after trying it I realized that there are less potential failure points with it when done properly. But again it is about each divers comfort and training.