diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 67ba9a1..edee8f6 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@
     "linkinator": "^1.5.0",
     "mocha": "^6.1.4",
     "mockery": "^2.1.0",
-    "nock": "^10.0.0",
+    "nock": "^11.0.0",
     "sinon": "^7.3.2",
     "source-map-support": "^0.5.6",
     "typescript": "~3.5.0"
diff --git a/src/index.ts b/src/index.ts
index 770fa09..0ddf074 100644
--- a/src/index.ts
+++ b/src/index.ts
@@ -137,6 +137,9 @@ export interface UploadConfig {
 }
 
 export interface ConfigMetadata {
+  // tslint:disable-next-line no-any
+  [key: string]: any;
+
   /**
    * Set the length of the file being uploaded.
    */
@@ -505,21 +508,18 @@ export class Upload extends Pumpify {
       reqOpts.params = reqOpts.params || {};
       reqOpts.params.userProject = this.userProject;
     }
-    reqOpts.validateStatus = () => true;
+    // Let gaxios know we will handle a 308 error code ourselves.
+    reqOpts.validateStatus = (status: number) => {
+      return (
+        (status >= 200 && status < 300) ||
+        status === RESUMABLE_INCOMPLETE_STATUS_CODE
+      );
+    };
 
     const res = await this.authClient.request(reqOpts);
     if (res.data && res.data.error) {
       throw res.data.error;
     }
-    // If no error was returned, but the response had an invalid status
-    // code, create a new error to be passed to the callback.
-    if (
-      (res.status < 200 || res.status >= 300) &&
-      res.status !== RESUMABLE_INCOMPLETE_STATUS_CODE
-    ) {
-      const e = new Error(`The request failed with a ${res.status}.`);
-      (e as ErrorWithCode).code = res.status;
-    }
     return res;
   }
 
diff --git a/system-test/kitchen.ts b/system-test/kitchen.ts
index 0692c03..c7d5d5a 100644
--- a/system-test/kitchen.ts
+++ b/system-test/kitchen.ts
@@ -8,19 +8,24 @@
 import * as assert from 'assert';
 import * as fs from 'fs';
 import {Readable} from 'stream';
-import {createURI, upload} from '../src';
+import {createURI, ErrorWithCode, upload} from '../src';
 
 const bucketName = process.env.BUCKET_NAME || 'gcs-resumable-upload-test';
+const fileName = 'daw.jpg';
 
 describe('end to end', () => {
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    upload({bucket: bucketName, file: fileName}).deleteConfig();
+  });
+
   it('should work', done => {
     let uploadSucceeded = false;
-    fs.createReadStream('daw.jpg')
+    fs.createReadStream(fileName)
       .on('error', done)
       .pipe(
         upload({
           bucket: bucketName,
-          file: 'daw.jpg',
+          file: fileName,
           metadata: {contentType: 'image/jpg'},
         })
       )
@@ -35,7 +40,7 @@ describe('end to end', () => {
   });
 
   it('should resume an interrupted upload', done => {
-    fs.stat('daw.jpg', (err, fd) => {
+    fs.stat(fileName, (err, fd) => {
       assert.ifError(err);
 
       const size = fd.size;
@@ -51,11 +56,11 @@ describe('end to end', () => {
 
         const ws = upload({
           bucket: bucketName,
-          file: 'daw.jpg',
+          file: fileName,
           metadata: {contentType: 'image/jpg'},
         });
 
-        fs.createReadStream('daw.jpg')
+        fs.createReadStream(fileName)
           .on('error', callback)
           .on('data', function(this: Readable, chunk) {
             sizeStreamed += chunk.length;
@@ -88,10 +93,30 @@ describe('end to end', () => {
     createURI(
       {
         bucket: bucketName,
-        file: 'daw.jpg',
+        file: fileName,
         metadata: {contentType: 'image/jpg'},
       },
       done
     );
   });
+
+  it('should return a non-resumable failed upload', done => {
+    const metadata = {
+      metadata: {largeString: 'a'.repeat(2.1e6)},
+    };
+
+    fs.createReadStream(fileName)
+      .on('error', done)
+      .pipe(
+        upload({
+          bucket: bucketName,
+          file: fileName,
+          metadata,
+        })
+      )
+      .on('error', (err: ErrorWithCode) => {
+        assert.strictEqual(err.code, '400');
+        done();
+      });
+  });
 });
diff --git a/test/test.ts b/test/test.ts
index 2aefab3..d6f2b6f 100644
--- a/test/test.ts
+++ b/test/test.ts
@@ -841,13 +841,25 @@ describe('gcs-resumable-upload', () => {
       scopes.forEach(x => x.done());
     });
 
-    it('should execute the callback with error & response if one occurred', async () => {
-      const scope = mockAuthorizeRequest(500, ':(');
-      await assertRejects(
-        up.makeRequest({}),
-        /Request failed with status code 500/
-      );
-      scope.done();
+    it('should set validate status', done => {
+      up.authClient = {
+        request: (reqOpts: GaxiosOptions) => {
+          assert.strictEqual(reqOpts.validateStatus!(100), false);
+          assert.strictEqual(reqOpts.validateStatus!(199), false);
+          assert.strictEqual(reqOpts.validateStatus!(300), false);
+          assert.strictEqual(reqOpts.validateStatus!(400), false);
+          assert.strictEqual(reqOpts.validateStatus!(500), false);
+
+          assert.strictEqual(reqOpts.validateStatus!(200), true);
+          assert.strictEqual(reqOpts.validateStatus!(299), true);
+          assert.strictEqual(reqOpts.validateStatus!(308), true);
+
+          done();
+
+          return {};
+        },
+      };
+      up.makeRequest(REQ_OPTS);
     });
 
     it('should make the correct request', async () => {
@@ -863,17 +875,6 @@ describe('gcs-resumable-upload', () => {
       assert.deepStrictEqual(res.headers, {});
     });
 
-    it('should execute the callback with error & response', async () => {
-      const response = {body: 'wooo'};
-      mockAuthorizeRequest();
-      const scope = nock(REQ_OPTS.url!)
-        .get(queryPath)
-        .reply(500, response.body);
-      const resp = await up.makeRequest(REQ_OPTS);
-      assert.strictEqual(resp.data, response.body);
-      scope.done();
-    });
-
     it('should execute the callback with a body error & response', async () => {
       const error = new GaxiosError(
         'Error message',