diff --git a/akka-persistence/akka-persistence-memcached/src/main/scala/MemcachedStorageBackend.scala b/akka-persistence/akka-persistence-memcached/src/main/scala/MemcachedStorageBackend.scala
index c05f710e8c..a387836547 100644
--- a/akka-persistence/akka-persistence-memcached/src/main/scala/MemcachedStorageBackend.scala
+++ b/akka-persistence/akka-persistence-memcached/src/main/scala/MemcachedStorageBackend.scala
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ import net.spy.memcached.transcoders._
 import collection.JavaConversions
 import java.lang.String
 import collection.immutable.{TreeMap, Iterable}
-import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit
+import java.util.concurrent.{TimeoutException, Future, TimeUnit}
 
 private[akka] object MemcachedStorageBackend extends CommonStorageBackend {
 
@@ -57,8 +57,9 @@ private[akka] object MemcachedStorageBackend extends CommonStorageBackend {
     def drop() = client.flush()
 
     def delete(key: Array[Byte]) = {
-      val deleted = client.delete(keyStr(encodeKey(key))).get(5L, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
-      ()
+      retry(5, (1L, TimeUnit.SECONDS), false) {
+        client.delete(keyStr(encodeKey(key)))
+      }
     }
 
     def getAll(keys: Iterable[Array[Byte]]) = {
@@ -84,8 +85,30 @@ private[akka] object MemcachedStorageBackend extends CommonStorageBackend {
 
 
     def put(key: Array[Byte], value: Array[Byte]) = {
-      client.set(keyStr(encodeKey(key)), Integer.MAX_VALUE, value).get(5L, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
-      ()
+      retry(5, (1L, TimeUnit.SECONDS), true) {
+        client.set(keyStr(encodeKey(key)), Integer.MAX_VALUE, value)
+      }
+
+    }
+
+    private def retry(tries: Int, waitFor: (Long, TimeUnit), tillTrue: Boolean)(action: => Future[java.lang.Boolean]): Unit = {
+      if (tries == 0) {
+        throw new TimeoutException("Exahusted all retries performing an operation on memcached")
+      } else {
+        val future = action
+        try
+        {
+          if (future.get(waitFor._1, waitFor._2).equals(false) && tillTrue) {
+            log.debug("memcached future returned false, operation failed. retrying")
+            retry(tries - 1, waitFor, tillTrue)(action)
+          }
+        } catch {
+          case te: TimeoutException => {
+            log.debug("memcached future timed out. retrying")
+            retry(tries - 1, waitFor, tillTrue)(action)
+          }
+        }
+      }
     }
 
   }