diff --git a/services/settings/RemoteSettingsClient.jsm b/services/settings/RemoteSettingsClient.jsm
index ae0297438247..222619c8420c 100644
--- a/services/settings/RemoteSettingsClient.jsm
+++ b/services/settings/RemoteSettingsClient.jsm
@@ -348,9 +348,45 @@ class RemoteSettingsClient extends EventEmitter {
     } = options;
     let { verifySignature = false } = options;
 
-    let hasLocalData;
+    let data;
     try {
-      hasLocalData = await Utils.hasLocalData(this);
+      let hasLocalData = await Utils.hasLocalData(this);
+
+      if (syncIfEmpty && !hasLocalData) {
+        // .get() was called before we had the chance to synchronize the local database.
+        // We'll try to avoid returning an empty list.
+        if (!this._importingPromise) {
+          // Prevent parallel loading when .get() is called multiple times.
+          this._importingPromise = (async () => {
+            const importedFromDump = gLoadDump
+              ? await this._importJSONDump()
+              : -1;
+            if (importedFromDump < 0) {
+              // There is no JSON dump to load, force a synchronization from the server.
+              console.debug(
+                `${this.identifier} Local DB is empty, pull data from server`
+              );
+              await this.sync({ loadDump: false });
+            }
+          })();
+        }
+        try {
+          await this._importingPromise;
+        } catch (e) {
+          // Report error, but continue because there could have been data
+          // loaded from a parrallel call.
+          Cu.reportError(e);
+        } finally {
+          // then delete this promise again, as now we should have local data:
+          delete this._importingPromise;
+        }
+        // No need to verify signature, because either we've just load a trusted
+        // dump (here or in a parallel call), or it was verified during sync.
+        verifySignature = false;
+      }
+
+      // Read from the local DB.
+      data = await this.db.list({ filters, order });
     } catch (e) {
       // If the local DB cannot be read (for unknown reasons, Bug 1649393)
       // We fallback to the packaged data, and filter/sort in memory.
@@ -380,41 +416,6 @@ class RemoteSettingsClient extends EventEmitter {
       return this._filterEntries(data);
     }
 
-    if (syncIfEmpty && !hasLocalData) {
-      // .get() was called before we had the chance to synchronize the local database.
-      // We'll try to avoid returning an empty list.
-      if (!this._importingPromise) {
-        // Prevent parallel loading when .get() is called multiple times.
-        this._importingPromise = (async () => {
-          const importedFromDump = gLoadDump
-            ? await this._importJSONDump()
-            : -1;
-          if (importedFromDump < 0) {
-            // There is no JSON dump to load, force a synchronization from the server.
-            console.debug(
-              `${this.identifier} Local DB is empty, pull data from server`
-            );
-            await this.sync({ loadDump: false });
-          }
-        })();
-      }
-      try {
-        await this._importingPromise;
-      } catch (e) {
-        // Report error, but continue because there could have been data
-        // loaded from a parrallel call.
-        Cu.reportError(e);
-      } finally {
-        // then delete this promise again, as now we should have local data:
-        delete this._importingPromise;
-      }
-      // No need to verify signature, because either we've just load a trusted
-      // dump (here or in a parallel call), or it was verified during sync.
-      verifySignature = false;
-    }
-
-    // Read from the local DB.
-    const data = await this.db.list({ filters, order });
     console.debug(
       `${this.identifier} ${data.length} records before filtering.`
     );
diff --git a/services/settings/test/unit/test_remote_settings.js b/services/settings/test/unit/test_remote_settings.js
index 9b9524111b48..c29673e5196c 100644
--- a/services/settings/test/unit/test_remote_settings.js
+++ b/services/settings/test/unit/test_remote_settings.js
@@ -286,7 +286,7 @@ add_task(async function test_get_falls_back_to_dump_if_db_fails() {
     throw new Error("Unknown error");
   };
 
-  const records = await clientWithDump.get();
+  const records = await clientWithDump.get({ dumpFallback: true });
   ok(records.length > 0, "dump content is returned");
 
   // If fallback is disabled, error is thrown.
@@ -302,6 +302,32 @@ add_task(async function test_get_falls_back_to_dump_if_db_fails() {
 });
 add_task(clear_state);
 
+add_task(async function test_get_falls_back_to_dump_if_db_fails_later() {
+  if (IS_ANDROID) {
+    // Skip test: we don't ship remote settings dumps on Android (see package-manifest).
+    return;
+  }
+  const backup = clientWithDump.db.list;
+  clientWithDump.db.list = () => {
+    throw new Error("Unknown error");
+  };
+
+  const records = await clientWithDump.get({ dumpFallback: true });
+  ok(records.length > 0, "dump content is returned");
+
+  // If fallback is disabled, error is thrown.
+  let error;
+  try {
+    await clientWithDump.get({ dumpFallback: false });
+  } catch (e) {
+    error = e;
+  }
+  equal(error.message, "Unknown error");
+
+  clientWithDump.db.list = backup;
+});
+add_task(clear_state);
+
 add_task(async function test_get_does_not_sync_if_empty_dump_is_provided() {
   if (IS_ANDROID) {
     // Skip test: we don't ship remote settings dumps on Android (see package-manifest).