diff --git a/paws.common/NEWS.md b/paws.common/NEWS.md
index 80f79c20a..d8363bd31 100644
--- a/paws.common/NEWS.md
+++ b/paws.common/NEWS.md
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ resp <- client$get_object(
   Key = "<key>",
   IfNoneMatch = "<etag>"
 )
-#> Error: SerializationError (HTTP 304). An error occurred (304) when calling the GetObject operation: Not Modified
+#> Error: SerializationError (HTTP 304). An error occurred when calling the GetObject operation: Not Modified
 ```
 * use s3 head_bucket operation as final resort when redirecting aws s3 call.
 
diff --git a/paws.common/R/error.R b/paws.common/R/error.R
index c8892f344..e5b310c86 100644
--- a/paws.common/R/error.R
+++ b/paws.common/R/error.R
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ Error <- struct(
   error_response = list()
 )
 
-ERROR_MSG_TEMPLATE <- "An error occurred (%s) when calling the %s operation: %s"
+ERROR_MSG_TEMPLATE <- "An error occurred when calling the %s operation%s: %s"
 
 serialization_error <- function(request) {
   error_message <- http_statuses[[
@@ -18,14 +18,23 @@ serialization_error <- function(request) {
     "SerializationError",
     sprintf(
       ERROR_MSG_TEMPLATE,
-      request$http_response$status_code,
       request$operation$name,
+      get_retry_info(request$retry_count),
       error_message
     ),
     request$http_response$status_code
   )
 }
 
+get_retry_info <- function(retry_count){
+  if (retry_count) {
+    retry_msg <- sprintf(" (reached max retries: %d)", retry_count)
+  } else {
+    retry_msg <- ""
+  }
+  return(retry_msg)
+}
+
 #' Generate a classed http error
 #'
 #' This function generates S3 error objects which are passed to
diff --git a/paws.common/R/retry.R b/paws.common/R/retry.R
index 997b85a66..0f708c727 100644
--- a/paws.common/R/retry.R
+++ b/paws.common/R/retry.R
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ standard_retry_handler <- function(request) {
   for (i in seq.int(2, exit_retries)) {
     tryCatch(
       {
+        request$retry_count <- i - 1
         request <- sign(request)
         if (!is.null(request[["error"]])) {
           stop(aws_error(request[["error"]]))
@@ -57,7 +58,6 @@ standard_retry_handler <- function(request) {
         request <- send(request)
         request <- unmarshal_meta(request)
         request <- validate_response(request)
-
         if (!is.null(request[["error"]])) {
           request <- unmarshal_error(request)
           stop(aws_error(request[["error"]]))