My experience is pretty much the opposite. With my current character I've teleported away from a losing pk probably a hundred times, usually pretty low on hp and I'm pretty sure I've only died once as a result. I've gotten bad teleports, but a second teleport has always saved me. The way teleport worked before, combined with the size CF is now, meant that carrying two potions virtually guaranteed safety. Your odds of two bad teleports in a row is pretty tiny.

I never even use recall potions anymore because of the drawbacks. Going to a predictable location where people can set traps or enemies can just randomly happen to be is way worse than being in some random spot nobody goes to. And the fact is that most rooms in CF are out of the way. Having a healer at recall helps, but I still find it riskier to recall than teleport.

And I think it's silly that teleport is a better escape than word, since it's clearly meant to be the other way (word is higher level when people get it, more expensive in potion form and halves moves).