diff --git a/tests/test_scripts.py b/tests/test_scripts.py
index 601e289caa..ad7bfe5add 100644
--- a/tests/test_scripts.py
+++ b/tests/test_scripts.py
@@ -553,19 +553,18 @@ def test_patchset_download(tmpdir, script_runner, archive):
     ret = script_runner.run(*shlex.split(command))
     assert ret.success
 
-    command = f'pyhf contrib download --verbose https://www.fail.org/record/resource/1234567 {tmpdir.join("likelihoods").strpath}'
+    command = f'pyhf contrib download --verbose https://www.pyhfthisdoesnotexist.org/record/resource/1234567 {tmpdir.join("likelihoods").strpath}'
     ret = script_runner.run(*shlex.split(command))
     assert not ret.success
     assert (
-        "pyhf.exceptions.InvalidArchiveHost: www.fail.org is not an approved archive host"
+        "pyhf.exceptions.InvalidArchiveHost: www.pyhfthisdoesnotexist.org is not an approved archive host"
         in ret.stderr
     )
-    command = f'pyhf contrib download --verbose --force https://www.fail.org/record/resource/1234567 {tmpdir.join("likelihoods").strpath}'
+    # Force a download from a real URL, but one that doesn't have an existing file
+    command = f'pyhf contrib download --verbose --force https://httpstat.us/404/record/resource/1234567 {tmpdir.join("likelihoods").strpath}'
     ret = script_runner.run(*shlex.split(command))
     assert not ret.success
-    assert (
-        "SSLCertificateError" and "hostname 'www.fail.org' doesn't match" in ret.stderr
-    )
+    assert "tarfile.ReadError: not a gzip file" in ret.stderr
 
 
 def test_missing_contrib_extra(caplog):