diff --git a/Core/Resgrid.Search/LuceneIndexHost.cs b/Core/Resgrid.Search/LuceneIndexHost.cs
index 3ee542e47..dbbecea28 100644
--- a/Core/Resgrid.Search/LuceneIndexHost.cs
+++ b/Core/Resgrid.Search/LuceneIndexHost.cs
@@ -399,8 +399,10 @@ private void StartBackgroundPullIfDue()
 				catch (Exception ex)
 				{
 					// Only one background pull runs at a time, so the counter has a single writer. Error, not Fatal: the reader
-					// keeps serving its last local revision and the next attempt backs off.
+					// keeps serving its last local revision and the next attempt backs off. The backoff runs from the failure,
+					// not from the attempt: a request that hangs until the client timeout would otherwise have used it all up.
 					var failures = ++_consecutivePullFailures;
+					_lastPullAttemptUtc = DateTime.UtcNow;
 					Logging.LogError(ex, $"Search index '{IndexName}' pull from the object store failed ({failures} in a row); next attempt in {PullInterval().TotalSeconds:0}s at the earliest.");
 				}
 			});
diff --git a/Core/Resgrid.Services/Records/RecordsOccupancyService.cs b/Core/Resgrid.Services/Records/RecordsOccupancyService.cs
index ac7b61416..aa8c662b7 100644
--- a/Core/Resgrid.Services/Records/RecordsOccupancyService.cs
+++ b/Core/Resgrid.Services/Records/RecordsOccupancyService.cs
@@ -492,8 +492,11 @@ async Task<string> AddressOf(Contact c)
 				list.Add(new SourceCandidate { Kind = RmsOccupancyCrosswalkSourceKind.Contact, SourceId = contact.ContactId, ContactId = contact.ContactId, DisplayName = contact.Name,
 					NormalizedAddress = address, Latitude = point.HasValue ? (decimal?)(decimal)point.Value.Latitude : null, Longitude = point.HasValue ? (decimal?)(decimal)point.Value.Longitude : null });
 			}
-			// Pois carry no DepartmentId column; a department owns its POIs through their POI type.
-			var poiTypes = (await _poiTypes.GetPoiTypesByDepartmentIdAsync(departmentId)) ?? Enumerable.Empty<PoiType>();
+			// Pois carry no DepartmentId column; a department owns its POIs through their POI type. The repository logs and
+			// returns null on failure (an empty query is an empty list), and treating that as "no POIs" would stamp an
+			// inventory that never saw them as complete.
+			var poiTypes = (await _poiTypes.GetPoiTypesByDepartmentIdAsync(departmentId))
+				?? throw new InvalidOperationException("The department's points of interest could not be loaded, so the inventory was not recorded. Try again.");
 			foreach (var poi in poiTypes.Where(t => t?.Pois != null).SelectMany(t => t.Pois).Where(p => p != null))
 			{
 				list.Add(new SourceCandidate { Kind = RmsOccupancyCrosswalkSourceKind.Poi, SourceId = poi.PoiId.ToString(), DisplayName = poi.Name, NormalizedAddress = AddressNormalizer.Normalize(poi.Address),
diff --git a/Tests/Resgrid.Tests/Rms/RecordsOccupancyServiceTests.cs b/Tests/Resgrid.Tests/Rms/RecordsOccupancyServiceTests.cs
index e5a5bfd68..a32281f32 100644
--- a/Tests/Resgrid.Tests/Rms/RecordsOccupancyServiceTests.cs
+++ b/Tests/Resgrid.Tests/Rms/RecordsOccupancyServiceTests.cs
@@ -133,6 +133,24 @@ public async Task Inventory_groups_sources_by_address_and_proximity_and_suggests
 			_h.Crosswalks.Rows.Should().HaveCount(3);
 		}
 
+		[Test]
+		public async Task A_failed_poi_lookup_fails_the_inventory_instead_of_recording_it_without_pois()
+		{
+			SeedContactsWorld();
+			// PoiTypesRepository logs and returns null when its query fails; a department with no POI types gets an empty list.
+			_h.PoiTypes.Setup(p => p.GetPoiTypesByDepartmentIdAsync(Dept)).ReturnsAsync((IEnumerable<PoiType>)null);
+
+			Func<Task> inventory = () => _h.OccupancyService.InventoryCandidatesAsync(Dept, Admin);
+			await inventory.Should().ThrowAsync<InvalidOperationException>();
+			_h.Crosswalks.Rows.Should().BeEmpty();
+			var status = await _h.OccupancyService.GetReconciliationStatusAsync(Dept);
+			status.InventoriedOn.Should().BeNull("an inventory that never saw the POIs is not recorded as run");
+			status.State.Should().Be(RmsOccupancyOwnershipState.ContactsOwned);
+
+			_h.PoiTypes.Setup(p => p.GetPoiTypesByDepartmentIdAsync(Dept)).ReturnsAsync(new List<PoiType>());
+			(await _h.OccupancyService.InventoryCandidatesAsync(Dept, Admin)).SourcesScanned.Should().Be(2, "no POI types is a successful, empty lookup");
+		}
+
 		[Test]
 		public async Task Linking_a_preplan_candidate_creates_an_occupancy_with_provenance_hazards_and_a_site_link_then_the_switch_becomes_possible()
 		{