diff --git a/src/components/views/rooms/MessageComposerInput.js b/src/components/views/rooms/MessageComposerInput.js
index a7c20b02b5..417d003226 100644
--- a/src/components/views/rooms/MessageComposerInput.js
+++ b/src/components/views/rooms/MessageComposerInput.js
@@ -510,7 +510,7 @@ export default class MessageComposerInput extends React.Component {
                     var ErrorDialog = sdk.getComponent("dialogs.ErrorDialog");
                     Modal.createDialog(ErrorDialog, {
                         title: "Server error",
-                        description: "Server unavailable, overloaded, or something else went wrong.",
+                        description: ((err && err.message) ? err.message : "Server unavailable, overloaded, or something else went wrong."),
                     });
                 });
             }
diff --git a/src/components/views/rooms/MessageComposerInputOld.js b/src/components/views/rooms/MessageComposerInputOld.js
index f5366c36ad..378644478c 100644
--- a/src/components/views/rooms/MessageComposerInputOld.js
+++ b/src/components/views/rooms/MessageComposerInputOld.js
@@ -312,7 +312,7 @@ export default React.createClass({
                     var ErrorDialog = sdk.getComponent("dialogs.ErrorDialog");
                     Modal.createDialog(ErrorDialog, {
                         title: "Server error",
-                        description: "Server unavailable, overloaded, or something else went wrong.",
+                        description: ((err && err.message) ? err.message : "Server unavailable, overloaded, or something else went wrong."),
                     });
                 });
             }