I have been ordering fabric online for the last 5 years and have never encountered a problem before. However, last month I ordered fabric that was discontinued from various shops (probably about 8 different shops) in order to get the yardage I wanted in the various coordinating fabrics. I piled the fabric on my table as it came in and never got around to folding it for my stash until about a month later.
Lo and behold one of the fabrics (1 yard) was shorted - instead of being 42 inches wide someone has cut the length the entire yardage so my width was only 30 inches. Once I checked the receipt against my credit card I threw them away. I have no way of telling which quilt shop did this.
LESSON - Inspect and measure your fabric as soon as you get it.