New Denby broke immediately - complain?

[AOwlAOwlAOwl]

Lots of our cobalt blue Ikea dinner service (7 years old) has started to chip and look a bit scruffy so thought I'd treat ourselves a bit and replace the most used dishes with equivalent Imperial blue Denby. While I was on the website I bought some tiny sauce dishes as well as they were on sale.

They were delivered yesterday, tonight I went to give them all a rinse in the dishwasher. DH was loading the small dishes and one slipped out of his hand and dropped into the top drawer, didn't hit anything apart from the wire rack and immediately cracked in half.

Now I was under the impression Denby is supposed to be hard wearing and can take a little bit of bashing about - am I wrong? I'm now wondering whether I have wasted £100 on dishes that won't last. Should I complain? Return the whole lot? I'm not usually a moaner but we both feel a bit disappointed at something that was supposed to be a treat. What would you do?

YABU - why would you complain, accidents happen
YANBU - you haven't even eaten off it yet

“The following are excluded from the terms and conditions of the guarantee:

Damage caused by foreseeable wear and tear, accident, misuse, abuse or commercial use.”

From the Denby website. I think dropping it would come under ‘accident’ or ‘misuse’.

I just bought a car and drove it in to a tree - I want a refund! Or I just bought a new coat and ripped it on some barbed wire! Once you have purchased something unless it’s not fit for purpose (so in your case served up some mashed potatoe and the plate cracked for example) then any damage is on you

Denby are good. Tell them the first time you used it, your husband fumbled it, it barely dropped more than a few inches, and split in half. I expect they will give you a replacement, if only for good will.

YABU. It’s China, it breaks if you drop it

@littlepeas

You want to complain because your dh dropped a dish a d it broke? Surely that’s the expected outcome .

This ^^

YABU I think. It wouldn't even occur to me to complain. Generally if I drop a dish, I can't be too surprised if it breaks (does sound unlucky in your case though).

Denby is pretty tough but it isn't indestructible.
I've got the regency dinner plates (50p each like new from a charity shop) - binned all my old Ikea plates, I love them.

Seems like a few people have mentioned a drop in quality which is a shame. Quite glad I only bought a few dishes and not a whole dinner service tbh. Might stick with the chipped IKEA!

Just try phoning them and see what they say. I wouldn't expect thick Denby (not the China rubbish version) to break from a small drop into a wire dishwasher rack. Mine survives being knocked against many very hard things and drops onto carpet and work surfaces (I'm clumsy).

We don’t pay very much for breakables for precisely this reason - I never want to be upset if we manage to break something!

I had to shoot my Denby. I was sick of the sight of it. Lasted so long. Bought in 92. DH wanted to keep a couple of bowls and they are still fine

I’ve found it too be amazing in general. Dropped dinner plates mugs etc from standing which have bounced. They probably will replace in your case as sounds unusual.

Still using my Grandma’s Denby wedding set that is over 80 years old. Not a chip or crack in sight. We even put it in the dishwasher and fairly sure dishwashers weren’t invented back then. Sounds like quality has declined.

I've had the Imperial Blue set for over 25 years, very careful with it, wash it in the sink.

@AOwlAOwlAOwl

Seems like a few people have mentioned a drop in quality which is a shame. Quite glad I only bought a few dishes and not a whole dinner service tbh. Might stick with the chipped IKEA!

My stuff is all seconds so not the top quality.

Never had a problem.

I would complain. People pay extra to Denby because of the hard wearing reputation, otherwise you’d buy something prettier and more delicate.

I have a set of Denby Imperial Blue, it's two years old. The plates and pasta bowls have been great, but every breakfast bowl has at least one big chip, despite them being the least used item in the set. I keep thinking I will email Denby about it, I know they are out of warranty, but it's odd that just one style has chipped so easily and annoying because they aren't exactly cheap.