diff --git a/cinderclient/shell.py b/cinderclient/shell.py
index 1f174db80..423db58a3 100644
--- a/cinderclient/shell.py
+++ b/cinderclient/shell.py
@@ -489,7 +489,7 @@ def main():
 
     except Exception, e:
         logger.debug(e, exc_info=1)
-        print >> sys.stderr, "ERROR: %s" % str(e)
+        print >> sys.stderr, "ERROR: %s" % e.message
         sys.exit(1)