diff --git a/lib/pact_broker/client/hal/http_client.rb b/lib/pact_broker/client/hal/http_client.rb
index 42440af0..732ddf2d 100644
--- a/lib/pact_broker/client/hal/http_client.rb
+++ b/lib/pact_broker/client/hal/http_client.rb
@@ -4,11 +4,12 @@ module PactBroker
   module Client
     module Hal
       class HttpClient
-        attr_accessor :username, :password
+        attr_reader :username, :password, :verbose
 
         def initialize options
           @username = options[:username]
           @password = options[:password]
+          @verbose = options[:verbose]
         end
 
         def get href, params = {}, headers = {}
@@ -44,7 +45,9 @@ def create_request uri, http_method, body = nil, headers = {}
         def perform_request request, uri
           options = {:use_ssl => uri.scheme == 'https'}
           response = Retry.until_true do
-            Net::HTTP.start(uri.host, uri.port, :ENV, options) do |http|
+            http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port, :ENV, options)
+            http.set_debug_output($stderr) if verbose
+            http.start do |http|
               http.request request
             end
           end
diff --git a/spec/lib/pact_broker/client/hal/http_client_spec.rb b/spec/lib/pact_broker/client/hal/http_client_spec.rb
index 9f7840d1..50d0554f 100644
--- a/spec/lib/pact_broker/client/hal/http_client_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/lib/pact_broker/client/hal/http_client_spec.rb
@@ -3,12 +3,11 @@
 module PactBroker::Client
   module Hal
     describe HttpClient do
-
       before do
         allow(Retry).to receive(:until_true) { |&block| block.call }
       end
 
-      subject { HttpClient.new(username: 'foo', password: 'bar' ) }
+      subject { HttpClient.new(username: 'foo', password: 'bar') }
 
       describe "get" do
         let!(:request) do