diff --git a/recommenderghost.admin.inc b/recommenderghost.admin.inc
index 807c7c60f0cd2c6cd0c6c5cfa3e627e24b537541..7c7c4ec0420b4efdf4becad91919c80f06db3a9e 100644
--- a/recommenderghost.admin.inc
+++ b/recommenderghost.admin.inc
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ function recommenderghost_admin_settings_form($form_state) {
 
   if (variable_get('recommenderghost_apikey', '')) {
     $item_obj = recommenderghost_call_api("itemtypes", array());
-    if (!isset($item_obj->error) && $item_obj->itemTypes->itemType != "ITEM") {
+    if ($item_obj != FALSE && $item_obj->itemTypes->itemType != "ITEM") {
       $items = $item_obj->itemTypes->itemType;
       $item_array = array();
       foreach ($items as $item) {
diff --git a/recommenderghost.module b/recommenderghost.module
index fee1cff1754e62fe595ee292e8efe1a2c26f3bc8..bd6c09006219fdf1bdf9b43d2607f6f478e6ed62 100644
--- a/recommenderghost.module
+++ b/recommenderghost.module
@@ -347,13 +347,18 @@ function _recommenderghost_visibility_user($account) {
 function recommenderghost_call_api($function, $parameters) {
   $apikey = variable_get('recommenderghost_apikey', '');
   $websiteid = variable_get('recommenderghost_websiteid', '');
-  $url = RECOMMENDERGHOST_API_URL . "/api/1.0/json/" . $function;
+  $url = "http://" . RECOMMENDERGHOST_API_URL . "/api/1.0/json/" . $function;
   $url .= "?apikey=$apikey&tenantid=$websiteid&";
   $url .= http_build_query($parameters);
   $response = drupal_http_request(($url), array(
                                           "timeout" => 1,
                                           ));
-  return json_decode($response->data);
+  if (!isset($response->error)) {
+    return json_decode($response->data);
+  }
+  else {
+    return FALSE;
+  }
 }
 
 /**
@@ -482,7 +487,7 @@ function recommenderghost_block_view($delta = '') {
         } else {
          document.getElementById('block-recommenderghost-$delta_block').style.display='none';
         }
-      }  
+      } 
     ";
     $js .= "
     easyrec_getRecommendations('$recommendationtype', {