Admittedly you have to be really into daylilies to care very much. For those that are or want to be into it that much, let's talk about reasons and choices.
If you buy a daylily from a source other than reputable and proven nurseries, you may get a daylily that doesn't look or act anything like the name they've labeled on the package or on-line. This would be any big box store (Those racks where they have bare root plants and a picture on the front.) Any on-line auction or sales site such as e-bay or Facebook lily sites. Not that they are always off but my experience is that they are most likely wrong. They just might be the only resource that still has something you are wanting B.A.D. and your only option. Let's just say "Buyer Beware!"
The reason these places have plants mislabeled or they don't show up as officially described when they're registered by the breeder could be any one of the following:
(1) They are simply substituting anything to get a sale - this is deliberate lying.
(2) They are taken from places that have bought large quantities of breeders' throw aways. These are plants that didn't make the cut and aren't registered but are pretty and they want to get some cash from them. Most reputable serious breeders don't do this or only sell them stating they aren't registered.
(3) Somewhere someone has bought the actual registered plant but then hybridized it with others but still sold it as the original registered variety.
(4) Someone dug the wrong plant and/or mislabeled at the time it was dug. A mistake.
Even knowing all the of above reasons, it still doesn't help you when you get something that wasn't what you thought you were getting.
You can return the plant although it may take a year or two before you catch on the first booms you're getting are wrong. Chances of a refund are slim. Or, if it's pretty and you like it, you can live with it.
Here's my example where I learned about getting a lily so far from what it is actually described. On the flip side, I love this daylily because it's pretty, substantial, is a robust grower and I've divided it many times to fill in places where breeding doesn't really matter.
The daylily was labeled "Bali Hai" and I bought it from a big box store for less than $5 and from a company called "Imported Holland Bulbs".
This is my "Bali Hai":
AHS: 22 inches tall. Flower is 5 inches across. Blooms Midseason. Color: Pink melon with raised orchid midribs and light gold throat.
DIANE: 28 inches tall. Flower is 5 inches across. Blooms Midseason and both continuous and reblooms. Color: Bright coral orange with deeper veining; yellow eye and deep red halo. Slightly ruffled edge.
Yep, not much alike except they're both daylilies. Bali Hai is an old daylily, registered in 1973 by Wild. Whatever the reason Holland Bulbs sold this flower with the Bali Hai label, it was wrong. And whatever the outcome, I have a very nice daylily that I refer to as Bali Hai but realize it's not.
My recommendations:
If you want to buy a daylily from a big box store or an on-line avenue, and don't care what you get, go for it. I will warn you that some on-line sources send flowers that are so small or so unhealthy that you will never get a blooming plant in this lifetime. Some big box store plants, including daylilies, were never meant to withstand our Zone 5 winters. If you've been buying this stuff and it's not making it through the first winter, this may be the reason. Buyer Beware if you don't know and trust your vendor.
If you buy a mislabeled daylily from a reputable nursery (either neighboring or on line) and don't want to keep it, talk to them. If you want a refund or exchange, let them know. Most, but not all, will gladly make it right. (In all fairness, customers will sometimes pick up tags and put them back in the wrong container.) Oakes will always make things right. I bought a lily from Hornbaker's that was mislabeled and they refused to discuss it with me. It was a pretty lily that I told them I was alright keeping but their attitude definitely changed my opinion of their business.
Most big box daylilies are still between $5-10 but you can go to local nurseries or places like Oakes Daylilies on-line and get healthy correctly labeled plants for those same prices. This is especially good if you are just beginning to landscape with daylilies. I still love the first daylilies I bought in that price range when I was starting to garden. These less expensive lilies are great if you want to flood a flower bed with a particular color and don't really care about names or all the new bells and whistles.
Yes, I like my little mislabeled Bali Hai and everytime I see it I break into the song from "South Pacific" (Well, in my mind anyway.)
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