diff --git a/tests/test_wakatime_project.py b/tests/test_wakatime_project.py
index b4e481f..02d0aa2 100644
--- a/tests/test_wakatime_project.py
+++ b/tests/test_wakatime_project.py
@@ -95,6 +95,30 @@ class LanguagesTestCase(utils.TestCase):
 
                 self.assertEquals('svn', self.patched['wakatime.offlinequeue.Queue.push'].call_args[0][0]['project'])
 
+    def test_svn_exception_handled(self):
+        response = Response()
+        response.status_code = 0
+        self.patched['wakatime.packages.requests.adapters.HTTPAdapter.send'].return_value = response
+
+        with utils.mock.patch('wakatime.projects.git.Git.process') as mock_git:
+            mock_git.return_value = False
+
+            with utils.mock.patch('wakatime.projects.subversion.Popen') as mock_popen:
+                mock_popen.side_effect = OSError('')
+
+                with utils.mock.patch('wakatime.projects.subversion.Popen.communicate') as mock_communicate:
+                    mock_communicate.side_effect = OSError('')
+
+                    now = u(int(time.time()))
+                    entity = 'tests/samples/projects/svn/emptyfile.txt'
+                    config = 'tests/samples/sample.cfg'
+
+                    args = ['--file', entity, '--config', config, '--time', now]
+
+                    execute(args)
+
+                    self.assertNotIn('project', self.patched['wakatime.offlinequeue.Queue.push'].call_args[0][0])
+
     def test_project_map(self):
         response = Response()
         response.status_code = 0
diff --git a/wakatime/compat.py b/wakatime/compat.py
index 5dbcfaa..cbd3946 100644
--- a/wakatime/compat.py
+++ b/wakatime/compat.py
@@ -26,9 +26,12 @@ if is_py2:  # pragma: nocover
             return text.decode('utf-8')
         except:
             try:
-                return unicode(text)
+                return text.decode(sys.getdefaultencoding())
             except:
-                return text
+                try:
+                    return unicode(text)
+                except:
+                    return text
     open = codecs.open
     basestring = basestring
 
@@ -39,8 +42,17 @@ elif is_py3:  # pragma: nocover
         if text is None:
             return None
         if isinstance(text, bytes):
-            return text.decode('utf-8')
-        return str(text)
+            try:
+                return text.decode('utf-8')
+            except:
+                try:
+                    return text.decode(sys.getdefaultencoding())
+                except:
+                    pass
+        try:
+            return str(text)
+        except:
+            return text
     open = open
     basestring = (str, bytes)
 
diff --git a/wakatime/projects/subversion.py b/wakatime/projects/subversion.py
index cfc8233..5fd5e25 100644
--- a/wakatime/projects/subversion.py
+++ b/wakatime/projects/subversion.py
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ from ..compat import u, open
 try:
     from collections import OrderedDict
 except ImportError:
-    from ..packages.ordereddict import OrderedDict
+    from ..packages.ordereddict import OrderedDict  # pragma: nocover
 
 
 log = logging.getLogger('WakaTime')
@@ -69,8 +69,7 @@ class Subversion(BaseProject):
         else:
             if stdout:
                 for line in stdout.splitlines():
-                    if isinstance(line, bytes):
-                        line = bytes.decode(line)
+                    line = u(line)
                     line = line.split(': ', 1)
                     if len(line) == 2:
                         info[line[0]] = line[1]
@@ -78,7 +77,7 @@ class Subversion(BaseProject):
 
     def _find_project_base(self, path, found=False):
         if platform.system() == 'Windows':
-            return False
+            return False  # pragma: nocover
         path = os.path.realpath(path)
         if os.path.isfile(path):
             path = os.path.split(path)[0]