I don't have experience about it, but I don't think that it is some magic tool with what you can mess everything up, and then just disavow and expect everything to be just fine. More like some damage repair than making it all OK.
So in other words: worth using if you have got into troubles. What you have to lose anyways, it is their tool, I am quite sure there is no penalty in using it. But usually it is best to avoid the troubles beforehand.
Also, it is not "forgive me tool", at least in the eyes of Google. You can use it against negative SEO too.
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