diff --git a/kafka_exporter.go b/kafka_exporter.go
index 36021149..95a70a2d 100644
--- a/kafka_exporter.go
+++ b/kafka_exporter.go
@@ -569,6 +569,10 @@ func (e *Exporter) collect(ch chan<- prometheus.Metric) {
 			return
 		}
 		for _, group := range describeGroups.Groups {
+			if group.Err != 0 {
+				klog.Errorf("Cannot describe for the group %s with error code %d", group.GroupId, group.Err)
+				continue
+			}
 			offsetFetchRequest := sarama.OffsetFetchRequest{ConsumerGroup: group.GroupId, Version: 1}
 			if e.offsetShowAll {
 				for topic, partitions := range offset {