diff --git a/commands.rb b/commands.rb
index f5b71b1..a2f54a9 100644
--- a/commands.rb
+++ b/commands.rb
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ def process_command_srvstatus(message, command, adm)
         telnet = @conf['telnet']
         print 'Checking connectivity to Empyrion service... '
         STDOUT.flush
-        if `nc -zvw3 #{telnet['host']} #{telnet['port']} >/dev/null 2>&1`
+        if system("nc -zvw3 #{telnet['host']} #{telnet['port']} >/dev/null 2>&1")
             print "Server responded!\nSending message receipt... "
             STDOUT.flush
             if `./scripts/srvstatus.receipt #{@conf['token']} #{message.chat.id}`
@@ -81,11 +81,12 @@ def process_command_srvstatus(message, command, adm)
             else
                 print "Receipt FAILED to send (non-zero exit code on scripts/srvstatus.receipt) !!!\nContinuing to fetch details anyway...\n"
             end
+            reply = `./scripts/srvstatus #{telnet['host']} #{telnet['port']} #{telnet['pass']}`
         else
-            print "Server did not respond! Passing to scripts/srvstatus for sending the failure message (revisit this for code efficiency review\n)"
+            print "Server did not respond!\nSending failure message...\n"
+            reply = "Server is not responding!"
         end
         STDOUT.flush
-        reply = `./scripts/srvstatus #{telnet['host']} #{telnet['port']} #{telnet['pass']}`
     else
         reply = "Refusal: I am not authorized to provide this information here."
     end