diff --git a/src/main/java/redis/clients/jedis/Connection.java b/src/main/java/redis/clients/jedis/Connection.java
index 7a5323c..a10f8c3 100644
--- a/src/main/java/redis/clients/jedis/Connection.java
+++ b/src/main/java/redis/clients/jedis/Connection.java
@@ -140,7 +140,12 @@ public class Connection {
 
     protected String getStatusCodeReply() {
         pipelinedCommands--;
-        return (String) protocol.read(inputStream);
+        final byte[] resp = (byte[]) protocol.read(inputStream);
+        if (null == resp) {
+        	return null;
+        } else {
+        	return new String(resp, Protocol.UTF8);
+        }
     }
 
     public String getBulkReply() {
@@ -169,7 +174,11 @@ public class Connection {
     	}
     	final ArrayList<String> result = new ArrayList<String>(bresult.size());
     	for(final byte[] barray : bresult) {
-    		result.add(new String(barray, Protocol.UTF8));
+    		if( barray == null) {
+    			result.add(null);
+    		} else {
+    			result.add(new String(barray, Protocol.UTF8));
+    		}
     	}
     	return result;
     }
diff --git a/src/main/java/redis/clients/jedis/Protocol.java b/src/main/java/redis/clients/jedis/Protocol.java
index c8ed6fc..a6a89e4 100644
--- a/src/main/java/redis/clients/jedis/Protocol.java
+++ b/src/main/java/redis/clients/jedis/Protocol.java
@@ -97,8 +97,8 @@ public final class Protocol {
         return null;
     }
 
-    private String processStatusCodeReply(final RedisInputStream is) {
-        return is.readLine();
+    private byte[] processStatusCodeReply(final RedisInputStream is) {
+        return is.readLine().getBytes(UTF8);
     }
 
     private byte[] processBulkReply(final RedisInputStream is) {
diff --git a/src/test/java/redis/clients/jedis/tests/commands/ControlCommandsTest.java b/src/test/java/redis/clients/jedis/tests/commands/ControlCommandsTest.java
index 0bc4020..68be673 100644
--- a/src/test/java/redis/clients/jedis/tests/commands/ControlCommandsTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/redis/clients/jedis/tests/commands/ControlCommandsTest.java
@@ -21,8 +21,9 @@ public class ControlCommandsTest extends JedisCommandTestBase {
 	    String status = jedis.bgsave();
 	    assertEquals("Background saving started", status);
 	} catch (JedisException e) {
-	    assertEquals("ERR Background save already in progress", e
-		    .getMessage());
+		assertTrue(
+				"ERR Background save already in progress"
+					.equalsIgnoreCase(e.getMessage()));
 	}
     }