In the early 2000's, I exercised some options and did receive the stock certificate. Of course, they were worthless anyway (company was "acquired" for well under the capital put in.)
n.b. Your statement does not mean shares were worthless, only that they were worth less than you paid. Salvage value for large investments is painful, but still worth collecting.
I received a letter saying essentially that the company had declared bankruptcy and some assets (not the entire company itself) were acquired. Nothing was available to pay common stockholders.
So, yes, it actually was worthless.