diff --git a/qa/rspec/commands/base.rb b/qa/rspec/commands/base.rb
index 1fe62499d..3f06c2a02 100644
--- a/qa/rspec/commands/base.rb
+++ b/qa/rspec/commands/base.rb
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ require_relative "system_helpers"
 
 module ServiceTester
 
+  class InstallException < Exception; end
+
   class Base
     LOCATION="/logstash-build".freeze
     LOGSTASH_PATH="/usr/share/logstash/".freeze
diff --git a/qa/rspec/commands/debian.rb b/qa/rspec/commands/debian.rb
index 6ddbd0824..30fa8c8da 100644
--- a/qa/rspec/commands/debian.rb
+++ b/qa/rspec/commands/debian.rb
@@ -22,9 +22,14 @@ module ServiceTester
 
     def install(package, host=nil)
       hosts = (host.nil? ? servers : Array(host))
+      errors = []
       at(hosts, {in: :serial}) do |_|
-        sudo_exec!("dpkg -i --force-confnew #{package}")
+        cmd = sudo_exec!("dpkg -i --force-confnew #{package}")
+        if cmd.exit_status != 0
+          errors << cmd.stderr.to_s
+        end
       end
+      raise InstallException.new(errors.join("\n")) unless errors.empty?
     end
 
     def uninstall(package, host=nil)
diff --git a/qa/rspec/commands/redhat.rb b/qa/rspec/commands/redhat.rb
index 67ec8143a..eebba934b 100644
--- a/qa/rspec/commands/redhat.rb
+++ b/qa/rspec/commands/redhat.rb
@@ -22,12 +22,12 @@ module ServiceTester
 
     def install(package, host=nil)
       hosts  = (host.nil? ? servers : Array(host))
-      errors = {}
+      errors = []
       at(hosts, {in: :serial}) do |_host|
         cmd = sudo_exec!("yum install -y  #{package}")
-        errors[_host] = cmd.stderr unless cmd.stderr.empty?
+        errors << cmd.stderr unless cmd.stderr.empty?
       end
-      errors
+      raise InstallException.new(errors.join("\n")) unless errors.empty?
     end
 
     def uninstall(package, host=nil)
diff --git a/qa/rspec/commands/suse.rb b/qa/rspec/commands/suse.rb
index 028d9a5ca..5db5e47a3 100644
--- a/qa/rspec/commands/suse.rb
+++ b/qa/rspec/commands/suse.rb
@@ -19,12 +19,12 @@ module ServiceTester
 
     def install(package, host=nil)
       hosts  = (host.nil? ? servers : Array(host))
-      errors = {}
+      errors = []
       at(hosts, {in: :serial}) do |_host|
         cmd = sudo_exec!("zypper --no-gpg-checks --non-interactive install  #{package}")
-        errors[_host] = cmd.stderr unless cmd.stderr.empty?
+        errors << cmd.stderr unless cmd.stderr.empty?
       end
-      errors
+      raise InstallException.new(errors.join("\n")) unless errors.empty?
     end
 
     def uninstall(package, host=nil)