diff --git a/app/workers/preparsing.rb b/app/workers/preparsing.rb
index 0f4e2d16..666bc582 100644
--- a/app/workers/preparsing.rb
+++ b/app/workers/preparsing.rb
@@ -110,6 +110,7 @@ def perform(genotype_id)
       file_has_mails = true
     end
 
+  ensure
     # not proper file!
     if not file_is_ok
       if file_is_duplicate
diff --git a/spec/fixtures/files/broken_genotype_file.gz b/spec/fixtures/files/broken_genotype_file.gz
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..bae5cf4d
Binary files /dev/null and b/spec/fixtures/files/broken_genotype_file.gz differ
diff --git a/spec/workers/preparsing_spec.rb b/spec/workers/preparsing_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9de0c5d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/workers/preparsing_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+RSpec.describe Preparsing do
+  subject(:worker) { described_class.new }
+
+  let!(:genotype) do
+    create(
+      :genotype,
+      genotype: Rails.root.join('spec', 'fixtures', 'files', 'broken_genotype_file.gz').open
+    )
+  end
+
+  context 'when there is an exception' do
+    it 'still sends emails ' do
+      expect { worker.perform(genotype.id) }
+        .to raise_error(ArgumentError, 'invalid byte sequence in UTF-8')
+
+      expect(ActionMailer::Base.deliveries.count).to eq(1)
+      expect(ActionMailer::Base.deliveries.last.subject)
+        .to eq('openSNP.org: Something went wrong while parsing')
+    end
+  end
+end