diff --git a/Network/HTTP/Conduit.hs b/Network/HTTP/Conduit.hs
--- a/Network/HTTP/Conduit.hs
+++ b/Network/HTTP/Conduit.hs
@@ -49,6 +49,22 @@
 -- >      $ simpleHttp "http://www.haskell.org/" >>= L.putStr
 -- >
 -- > Cookies are implemented according to RFC 6265.
+--
+-- Note that by default, the functions in this package will throw exceptions
+-- for non-2xx status codes. If you would like to avoid this, you should use
+-- 'checkStatus', e.g.:
+--
+-- > import Data.Conduit.Binary (sinkFile)
+-- > import Network.HTTP.Conduit
+-- > import qualified Data.Conduit as C
+-- > import Network
+-- >
+-- > main :: IO ()
+-- > main = withSocketsDo $ do
+-- >      request' <- parseUrl "http://www.yesodweb.com/does-not-exist"
+-- >      let request = request' { checkStatus = \_ _ -> Nothing }
+-- >      res <- withManager $ httpLbs request
+-- >      print res
 module Network.HTTP.Conduit
     ( -- * Perform a request
       simpleHttp
diff --git a/Network/HTTP/Conduit/Request.hs b/Network/HTTP/Conduit/Request.hs
--- a/Network/HTTP/Conduit/Request.hs
+++ b/Network/HTTP/Conduit/Request.hs
@@ -331,10 +331,11 @@
             <> fromByteString " "
             <> (case S8.uncons $ path req of
                     Just ('/', _) -> fromByteString $ path req
-                    _ -> fromByteString "/" <> fromByteString (path req))
-            <> (if S8.null (queryString req)
-                        then mempty
-                        else fromChar '?' <> fromByteString (queryString req))
+                    _ -> fromChar '/' <> fromByteString (path req))
+            <> (case S8.uncons $ queryString req of
+                    Nothing -> mempty
+                    Just ('?', _) -> fromByteString $ queryString req
+                    _ -> fromChar '?' <> fromByteString (queryString req))
             <> fromByteString " HTTP/1.1\r\n"
             <> foldr
                 (\a b -> headerPairToBuilder a <> b)
diff --git a/Network/HTTP/Conduit/Response.hs b/Network/HTTP/Conduit/Response.hs
--- a/Network/HTTP/Conduit/Response.hs
+++ b/Network/HTTP/Conduit/Response.hs
@@ -75,16 +75,16 @@
     | 300 <= code && code < 400 = do
         l' <- lookup "location" hs
         req' <- setUriRelative req =<< parseURIReference (S8.unpack l')
-        return req'
-          { method =
-              -- According to the spec, this should *only* be for
-              -- status code 303. However, almost all clients
-              -- mistakenly implement it for 302 as well. So we
-              -- have to be wrong like everyone else...
-              if code == 302 || code == 303
-                  then "GET"
-                  else method req'
-          }
+        return $
+            if code == 302 || code == 303
+                -- According to the spec, this should *only* be for status code
+                -- 303. However, almost all clients mistakenly implement it for
+                -- 302 as well. So we have to be wrong like everyone else...
+                then req'
+                    { method = "GET"
+                    , requestBody = RequestBodyBS ""
+                    }
+                else req'
     | otherwise = Nothing
 
 -- | Convert a 'Response' that has a 'C.Source' body to one with a lazy
diff --git a/http-conduit.cabal b/http-conduit.cabal
--- a/http-conduit.cabal
+++ b/http-conduit.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 name:            http-conduit
-version:         1.4.1.8
+version:         1.4.1.9
 license:         BSD3
 license-file:    LICENSE
 author:          Michael Snoyman <michael@snoyman.com>