diff --git a/pythonwhois/net.py b/pythonwhois/net.py
index 53f87ba..8ee1a9f 100644
--- a/pythonwhois/net.py
+++ b/pythonwhois/net.py
@@ -91,4 +91,9 @@ def whois_request(domain, server, port=43):
 		if len(data) == 0:
 			break
 		buff += data
-	return buff.decode("utf-8")
+	try:
+		d = buff.decode("utf-8")
+	except UnicodeDecodeError:
+		d = buff.decode("latin-1")
+	
+	return d