This is a true story in which I narrowly avoided disaster, not because I was smart but because I was lucky.

Ordered mohair upholstery fabric samples in two colors (plus four other samples). Paid plenty for them too. They arrived and one in particular (chocolate) looked very nice -- but somehow I didn't see the other color (espresso). So I called and ordered another one in that color. It arrived. I found the espresso one that had arrived earlier with the original set. I compared. They were different. Very different. So I phoned up and said,if they are different how do I know that the yardage of the chocolate one I like (and just put an order in on) is going to match the sample I have here? The response -- we made a mistake with the two samples that were different from each other. But just to be sure that the one you like, the one you ordered, chocolate, is the same as the sample upon which you based your order, I will send you out four samples and you just tell me which one you want. So, the four samples arrive. Three are totally different. One is sort of like the chocolate sample I had earlier received -- but it was thinner, not as soft, not as nice. So I called and said, Well one is close but it is NOT like the sample upon which I based my decision to order. So she said, we made a mistake, That first sample of the chocolate that you got is a much more expensive fabric, twice as much.

Well, I cancelled my order. And quaked to think that if I had not had that accidental misplacement of the espresso, and gotten more samples, and discovered the entire set of "mistakes" that were made, I might have gotten a fabric on my chair that was not what I thought I was ordering, based on the first sample, and not something I liked at all. And these mohairs cost -- a lot!

What have I learned -- always, always, get a cutting for approval from the exact bolt from which your yardage will be taken. Do not ever trust samples. Dye lots can vary. In this case I may even have been in the midst of a bait and switch. Even giving the benefit of the doubt and chalking this whole saga up to a series of honest mistakes -- wow -- I am lucky to have gotten away. If I had the guts I would have asked for a refund on my samples -- even they were expensive.