diff --git a/email/ncmec.go b/email/ncmec.go
index 438f3f7..c4808e4 100644
--- a/email/ncmec.go
+++ b/email/ncmec.go
@@ -247,7 +247,7 @@ func (c *NCMECClient) status() (reportResponse, error) {
 // get is a helper function that executes a GET request on the given endpoint
 // with the provided query values. The response will get unmarshaled into the
 // given response object.
-func (c *NCMECClient) get(endpoint string, query url.Values, headers http.Header, obj interface{}) error {
+func (c *NCMECClient) get(endpoint string, query url.Values, headers http.Header, obj interface{}) (err error) {
 	url := fmt.Sprintf("%s%s", c.staticBaseUri, endpoint)
 
 	queryString := query.Encode()
@@ -255,7 +255,8 @@ func (c *NCMECClient) get(endpoint string, query url.Values, headers http.Header
 		url += "?" + queryString
 	}
 
-	req, err := http.NewRequest(http.MethodGet, url, nil)
+	var req *http.Request
+	req, err = http.NewRequest(http.MethodGet, url, nil)
 	if err != nil {
 		return errors.AddContext(err, "failed to create request")
 	}
@@ -264,13 +265,14 @@ func (c *NCMECClient) get(endpoint string, query url.Values, headers http.Header
 	for k, v := range headers {
 		req.Header.Set(k, v[0])
 	}
-	res, err := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
+	var res *http.Response
+	res, err = http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 	defer func() {
 		io.Copy(ioutil.Discard, res.Body)
-		res.Body.Close()
+		err = errors.Compose(err, res.Body.Close())
 	}()
 
 	// decode the response body
@@ -279,7 +281,7 @@ func (c *NCMECClient) get(endpoint string, query url.Values, headers http.Header
 
 // post is a helper function that executes a POST request on the given endpoint
 // with the provided query values.
-func (c *NCMECClient) post(endpoint string, query url.Values, headers http.Header, body io.Reader, obj interface{}) error {
+func (c *NCMECClient) post(endpoint string, query url.Values, headers http.Header, body io.Reader, obj interface{}) (err error) {
 	url := fmt.Sprintf("%s%s", c.staticBaseUri, endpoint)
 
 	queryString := query.Encode()
@@ -288,7 +290,8 @@ func (c *NCMECClient) post(endpoint string, query url.Values, headers http.Heade
 	}
 
 	// create the request
-	req, err := http.NewRequest(http.MethodPost, url, body)
+	var req *http.Request
+	req, err = http.NewRequest(http.MethodPost, url, body)
 	if err != nil {
 		return errors.AddContext(err, "failed to create request")
 	}
@@ -297,19 +300,16 @@ func (c *NCMECClient) post(endpoint string, query url.Values, headers http.Heade
 	for k, v := range headers {
 		req.Header.Set(k, v[0])
 	}
-	res, err := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
+	var res *http.Response
+	res, err = http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 	defer func() {
 		io.Copy(ioutil.Discard, res.Body)
-		res.Body.Close()
+		err = errors.Compose(err, res.Body.Close())
 	}()
 
 	// decode the response body
-	err = xml.NewDecoder(res.Body).Decode(obj)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-	return nil
+	return xml.NewDecoder(res.Body).Decode(obj)
 }
diff --git a/email/ncmec_test.go b/email/ncmec_test.go
index 8ab4153..fd59385 100644
--- a/email/ncmec_test.go
+++ b/email/ncmec_test.go
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ func TestNCMECClient(t *testing.T) {
 	if testing.Short() {
 		t.SkipNow()
 	}
-	t.Parallel()
 
 	os.Setenv("NCMEC_USERNAME", "")
 	os.Setenv("NCMEC_PASSWORD", "")
@@ -58,10 +57,16 @@ func TestNCMECClient(t *testing.T) {
 
 // testFinishReport is a unit test that verifies whether we can finish a report
 func testFinishReport(t *testing.T, c *NCMECClient) {
+	// quickly assert NCMEC is up
+	res, err := c.status()
+	if err != nil || res.ResponseCode != ncmecStatusOK {
+		t.Fatal("NCMEC down")
+	}
+
 	// open a report
 	now := time.Now().UTC().Add(-time.Hour)
 	report := newTestReport(now)
-	res, err := c.openReport(report)
+	res, err = c.openReport(report)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
@@ -83,10 +88,16 @@ func testFinishReport(t *testing.T, c *NCMECClient) {
 
 // testOpenReport is a unit test that verifies we can open a report with NCMEC
 func testOpenReport(t *testing.T, c *NCMECClient) {
+	// quickly assert NCMEC is up
+	res, err := c.status()
+	if err != nil || res.ResponseCode != ncmecStatusOK {
+		t.Fatal("NCMEC down")
+	}
+
 	// open a report
 	now := time.Now().UTC().Add(time.Hour)
 	report := newTestReport(now)
-	res, err := c.openReport(report)
+	res, err = c.openReport(report)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}