I kind of know what you mean. I ordered a variety of pushbuttons a few weeks ago, with the intent to see what would work best for my application. A chance drop-in at (what was formerly Radio Shack and is now the source) let me discover that they had something so close to what I was looking for, that I didn't mind spending the extra money. When the parts I'd mail-ordered arrived, I was able to confirm that the parts I'd bought locally were superior for the purposes of my prototype design. I wouldn't have bought the extra (local) pushbuttons, if I hadn't been so impatient waiting for the others. I bought them, and sure enough, the mail-order came the next day.
In a somewhat related story, I've been ordering sheet music for my band program, and all the recent selections came fine, except for one. They only sent the conductor's score (no parts for the instrumentalists). I gave the store (
www.sheetmusicplus.com) a call, and asked them what the deal was. After a bit of a run-around, they said no problem and they'd send the rest on right away. Two weeks later, the package came: another conductor's score, nothing else. So now I have two conductor's scores, which are useless because I don't have music for the student's to play! I left a message with the latest problem, but I haven't heard from them about it yet. I kind of resent being in a position where I feel like I'm being a scammer - I have no problems returning the conductor's scores, I just want the full score and parts (that I've already paid for)!