diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/date/internal/DateUtils.java b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/date/internal/DateUtils.java
index 0135d86c5a..02220e6379 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/date/internal/DateUtils.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/date/internal/DateUtils.java
@@ -27,14 +27,15 @@ import java.util.regex.Pattern;
  */
 public class DateUtils {
 
-   public static final Pattern MILLIS_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("(.*\\.[0-9][0-9][0-9])[0-9]*Z?");
+   public static final Pattern MILLIS_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("(.*\\.[0-9][0-9][0-9])[0-9]*");
 
-   public static final Pattern TZ_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("(.*)[+-][0-9][0-9]:?[0-9][0-9]Z?");
+   // This regexp will match all TZ forms that are valid is ISO 8601
+   public static final Pattern TZ_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("(.*)([+-][0-9][0-9](:?[0-9][0-9])?|Z)");
 
    public static String trimToMillis(String toParse) {
        Matcher matcher = MILLIS_PATTERN.matcher(toParse);
        if (matcher.find()) {
-          toParse = matcher.group(1) + 'Z';
+          toParse = matcher.group(1);
        }
       return toParse;
    }
@@ -44,11 +45,25 @@ public class DateUtils {
    public static String trimTZ(String toParse) {
       Matcher matcher = TZ_PATTERN.matcher(toParse);
       if (matcher.find()) {
-         toParse = matcher.group(1) + 'Z';
+         toParse = matcher.group(1);
       }
+      // TODO explain why this check is here
       if (toParse.length() == 25 && SECOND_PATTERN.matcher(toParse).matches())
-         toParse = toParse.substring(0, toParse.length() - 6) + 'Z';
+         toParse = toParse.substring(0, toParse.length() - 6);
       return toParse;
    }
 
+   public static String findTZ(String toParse) {
+      Matcher matcher = TZ_PATTERN.matcher(toParse);
+      if (matcher.find()) {
+         // Remove ':' from the TZ string, as SimpleDateFormat can't handle it
+         String tz = matcher.group(2).replace(":", "");
+         // Append '00; if we only have a two digit TZ, as SimpleDateFormat
+         if (tz.length() == 2) tz += "00";
+         return tz;
+      } else {
+         return "";
+      }
+   }
+
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/date/internal/SimpleDateFormatDateService.java b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/date/internal/SimpleDateFormatDateService.java
index 1b3ac583ca..69d0f62fc0 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/date/internal/SimpleDateFormatDateService.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/date/internal/SimpleDateFormatDateService.java
@@ -17,8 +17,7 @@
  * under the License.
  */
 package org.jclouds.date.internal;
-import static org.jclouds.date.internal.DateUtils.trimToMillis;
-import static org.jclouds.date.internal.DateUtils.trimTZ;
+import static org.jclouds.date.internal.DateUtils.*;
 
 import java.text.ParseException;
 import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
@@ -42,20 +41,16 @@ public class SimpleDateFormatDateService implements DateService {
     * guard against the lack of thread safety.
     */
    // @GuardedBy("this")
-   private static final SimpleDateFormat iso8601SecondsSimpleDateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat(
-            "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss'Z'", Locale.US);
+   private static final SimpleDateFormat iso8601SecondsSimpleDateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ssZ", Locale.US);
 
    // @GuardedBy("this")
-   private static final SimpleDateFormat iso8601SimpleDateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSS'Z'",
-            Locale.US);
+   private static final SimpleDateFormat iso8601SimpleDateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSZ", Locale.US);
 
    // @GuardedBy("this")
-   private static final SimpleDateFormat rfc822SimpleDateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("EEE, dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss z",
-            Locale.US);
+   private static final SimpleDateFormat rfc822SimpleDateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("EEE, dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss z", Locale.US);
 
    // @GuardedBy("this")
-   private static final SimpleDateFormat cSimpleDateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("EEE MMM dd HH:mm:ss '+0000' yyyy",
-            Locale.US);
+   private static final SimpleDateFormat cSimpleDateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("EEE MMM dd HH:mm:ss '+0000' yyyy", Locale.US);
 
    static {
       iso8601SimpleDateFormat.setTimeZone(new SimpleTimeZone(0, "GMT"));
@@ -64,83 +59,99 @@ public class SimpleDateFormatDateService implements DateService {
       cSimpleDateFormat.setTimeZone(new SimpleTimeZone(0, "GMT"));
    }
 
+   @Override
    public final Date fromSeconds(long seconds) {
       return new Date(seconds * 1000);
    }
 
+   @Override
    public final String cDateFormat(Date date) {
       synchronized (cSimpleDateFormat) {
          return cSimpleDateFormat.format(date);
       }
    }
 
+   @Override
    public final String cDateFormat() {
       return cDateFormat(new Date());
    }
 
+   @Override
    public final Date cDateParse(String toParse) {
       synchronized (cSimpleDateFormat) {
          try {
             return cSimpleDateFormat.parse(toParse);
-         } catch (ParseException e) {
-            throw new RuntimeException(e);
+         } catch (ParseException pe) {
+            throw new RuntimeException("Error parsing data at " + pe.getErrorOffset(), pe);
          }
       }
    }
 
+   @Override
    public final String rfc822DateFormat(Date date) {
       synchronized (rfc822SimpleDateFormat) {
          return rfc822SimpleDateFormat.format(date);
       }
    }
 
+   @Override
    public final String rfc822DateFormat() {
       return rfc822DateFormat(new Date());
    }
 
+   @Override
    public final Date rfc822DateParse(String toParse) {
       synchronized (rfc822SimpleDateFormat) {
          try {
             return rfc822SimpleDateFormat.parse(toParse);
-         } catch (ParseException e) {
-            throw new RuntimeException(e);
+         } catch (ParseException pe) {
+            throw new RuntimeException("Error parsing data at " + pe.getErrorOffset(), pe);
          }
       }
    }
 
+   @Override
    public final String iso8601SecondsDateFormat() {
       return iso8601SecondsDateFormat(new Date());
    }
 
+   @Override
    public final String iso8601DateFormat(Date date) {
       synchronized (iso8601SimpleDateFormat) {
          return iso8601SimpleDateFormat.format(date);
       }
    }
 
+   @Override
    public final String iso8601DateFormat() {
       return iso8601DateFormat(new Date());
    }
 
+   @Override
    public final Date iso8601DateParse(String toParse) {
+      String tz = findTZ(toParse);
       toParse = trimTZ(toParse);
       toParse = trimToMillis(toParse);
+      toParse += tz; // Usable TZ added back
       synchronized (iso8601SimpleDateFormat) {
          try {
             return iso8601SimpleDateFormat.parse(toParse);
-         } catch (ParseException e) {
-            throw new RuntimeException(e);
+         } catch (ParseException pe) {
+            throw new RuntimeException("Error parsing data at " + pe.getErrorOffset(), pe);
          }
       }
    }
 
+   @Override
    public final Date iso8601SecondsDateParse(String toParse) {
+      String tz = findTZ(toParse);
       toParse = trimTZ(toParse);
+      toParse += tz; // Usable TZ added back
       synchronized (iso8601SecondsSimpleDateFormat) {
          try {
             return iso8601SecondsSimpleDateFormat.parse(toParse);
-         } catch (ParseException e) {
-            throw new RuntimeException(e);
+         } catch (ParseException pe) {
+            throw new RuntimeException("Error parsing data at " + pe.getErrorOffset(), pe);
          }
       }
    }