diff --git a/lib/outlook/hyphenation.ex b/lib/outlook/hyphenation.ex
index 98bd333..ac7dc95 100644
--- a/lib/outlook/hyphenation.ex
+++ b/lib/outlook/hyphenation.ex
@@ -9,13 +9,18 @@ defmodule Outlook.Hyphenation do
       ]
     )
 
-    response_raw = HTTPoison.request!(
+    case HTTPoison.request(
       :post,
       System.get_env("HYPH_URL"),
       form,
       get_multipart_headers()
-    )
-    response_raw.body
+    ) do
+      {:ok, %HTTPoison.Response{status_code: 200, body: body}} ->
+        body
+      _ ->
+        # this is poor but for now better than loss of all work
+        html
+    end
   end
 
   defp get_multipart_form fields do