Emails will be answered, perhaps not five minutes BEFORE they are sent, but they will. I am sure that with the transition, there were a lot of unexpected issues that had to be resolved. Paul is known in the industry for the timely handling of affiliate issues. I had some myself, and they were taken care of accordingly.
The gmail one is a good one indeed. I use that one for design and stuff of the kind so I usually have it open and will reply quite fast. Same with affiliates at deckmedia.com