diff --git a/lib/pact/hal/entity.rb b/lib/pact/hal/entity.rb
index 8fe2f5c4..4a09852a 100644
--- a/lib/pact/hal/entity.rb
+++ b/lib/pact/hal/entity.rb
@@ -68,6 +68,14 @@ def respond_to_missing?(method_name, include_private = false)
     end
 
     class ErrorEntity < Entity
+
+      def initialize(data, http_client, response = nil)
+        @data = data
+        @links = {}
+        @client = http_client
+        @response = response
+      end
+
       def success?
         false
       end
diff --git a/lib/pact/hal/http_client.rb b/lib/pact/hal/http_client.rb
index 130e362c..d83b202a 100644
--- a/lib/pact/hal/http_client.rb
+++ b/lib/pact/hal/http_client.rb
@@ -3,11 +3,12 @@
 module Pact
   module Hal
     class HttpClient
-      attr_accessor :username, :password
+      attr_accessor :username, :password, :verbose
 
       def initialize options
         @username = options[:username]
         @password = options[:password]
+        @verbose = options[:verbose]
       end
 
       def get href, params = {}, headers = {}
@@ -41,9 +42,11 @@ def create_request uri, http_method, body = nil, headers = {}
       end
 
       def perform_request request, uri
-        options = {:use_ssl => uri.scheme == 'https'}
         response = Retry.until_true do
-          Net::HTTP.start(uri.host, uri.port, :ENV, options) do |http|
+          http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port, :ENV)
+          http.set_debug_output(Pact.configuration.output_stream) if verbose
+          http.use_ssl = (uri.scheme == 'https')
+          http.start do |http|
             http.request request
           end
         end
@@ -52,7 +55,7 @@ def perform_request request, uri
 
       class Response < SimpleDelegator
         def body
-          bod = __getobj__().body
+          bod = raw_body
           if bod && bod != ''
             JSON.parse(bod)
           else
@@ -60,6 +63,10 @@ def body
           end
         end
 
+        def raw_body
+          __getobj__().body
+        end
+
         def success?
           __getobj__().code.start_with?("2")
         end
diff --git a/lib/pact/hal/link.rb b/lib/pact/hal/link.rb
index 9414e8ee..4804b9ad 100644
--- a/lib/pact/hal/link.rb
+++ b/lib/pact/hal/link.rb
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ def wrap_response(http_response)
         if http_response.success?
           Entity.new(http_response.body, @http_client, http_response)
         else
-          ErrorEntity.new(http_response.body, @http_client, http_response)
+          ErrorEntity.new(http_response.raw_body, @http_client, http_response)
         end
       end