I'm not saying that suppliers send out crap wood, just that when you have someone else pick wood out for you, you loose the benifit of looking at all of the options and selecting the best grain for what you are doing. Each blank of wood is different, and if you are looking for a certain thing, someone taking orders over the phone can only interpret that so far.
I have ordered lots of stuff online and over the phone.
Each time I got great woods.
But when I bother to fill the old gas tank and make the trip to Dallas and actually go to my favorite supplier I'm only happier because I get to look at the whole selection and mix and match various woods to my taste.