diff --git a/lib/index.js b/lib/index.js
index 413cd6e..426d5a4 100644
--- a/lib/index.js
+++ b/lib/index.js
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ const path = require('path')
 const fs = require('fs')
 const rcFileLocation = path.join(process.cwd(), '.env-cmdrc')
 const envFilePathDefault = path.join(process.cwd(), '.env')
-  
+
 function EnvCmd (args) {
   // First Parse the args from the command line
   const parsedArgs = ParseArgs(args)
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ function ParseEnvVars (envString) {
 // Parse out all env vars from a given env file string and return an object
 function ParseEnvString (envFileString) {
   // First thing we do is stripe out all comments
-  envFileString = StripComments(envFileString)
+  envFileString = StripComments(envFileString.toString())
 
   // Next we stripe out all the empty lines
   envFileString = StripEmptyLines(envFileString)
@@ -135,7 +135,12 @@ function UseCmdLine (parsedArgs) {
   try {
     file = fs.readFileSync(envFilePath, { encoding: 'utf8' })
   } catch (err) {
-    console.error(`Error! Could not find or read file at ${envFilePath}`)
+    console.error(`WARNING:
+      Could not find or read file at:
+        ${envFilePath}
+      Trying to fallback to read:
+        ${envFilePathDefault}
+    `)
     try {
       file = fs.readFileSync(envFilePathDefault)
     } catch (e) {
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index dfa1887..f015b35 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -28,7 +28,8 @@
   "author": "Todd Bluhm",
   "contributors": [
     "Eric Lanehart <eric@pushred.co>",
-    "Jon Scheiding <jonscheiding@gmail.com>"
+    "Jon Scheiding <jonscheiding@gmail.com>",
+    "serapath (Alexander Praetorius) <dev@serapath.de>"
   ],
   "license": "MIT",
   "bugs": {
diff --git a/test/test.js b/test/test.js
index 7769d43..c68d2bf 100644
--- a/test/test.js
+++ b/test/test.js
@@ -250,13 +250,14 @@ describe('env-cmd', function () {
       assert(spawnStub.args[0][2].env.ANSWER === '42')
     })
 
-    it('should throw error if file does not exist', function () {
+    it('should throw error if file and fallback does not exist', function () {
       this.readFileStub.restore()
+
       try {
         EnvCmd(['./test/.non-existent-file', 'echo', '$BOB'])
       } catch (e) {
-        const resolvedPath = path.join(process.cwd(), 'test/.non-existent-file')
-        assert(e.message === `Error! Could not find or read file at ${resolvedPath}`)
+        const resolvedPath = path.join(process.cwd(), '.env')
+        assert(e.message ===`Error! Could not fallback to find or read file at ${resolvedPath}`)
         return
       }
       assert(!'No exception thrown')