diff --git a/retrieval/manager.go b/retrieval/manager.go
index 9b83ce24..9495b892 100644
--- a/retrieval/manager.go
+++ b/retrieval/manager.go
@@ -166,7 +166,10 @@ func (r *PrometheusReader) Run(ctx context.Context, startOffset int) error {
 	)
 	go seriesCache.run(ctx)
 
-	builder := &sampleBuilder{series: seriesCache}
+	builder := &sampleBuilder{
+		logger: r.logger,
+		series: seriesCache,
+	}
 
 	// NOTE(fabxc): wrap the tailer into a buffered reader once we become concerned
 	// with performance. The WAL reader will do a lot of tiny reads otherwise.
@@ -221,7 +224,6 @@ Outer:
 				level.Error(r.logger).Log("error", err)
 				continue
 			}
-			backoff := time.Duration(0)
 			// Do not increment the metric for produced samples each time but rather
 			// once at the end.
 			// Otherwise it will increase CPU usage by ~10%.
@@ -233,19 +235,11 @@ Outer:
 					break Outer
 				default:
 				}
-				// We intentionally don't use time.After in the select statement above
-				// since we'd unnecessarily spawn a new goroutine for each sample
-				// we process even when there are no errors.
-				if backoff > 0 {
-					time.Sleep(backoff)
-				}
-
 				var outputSample *monitoring_pb.TimeSeries
 				var hash uint64
 				outputSample, hash, samples, err = builder.next(ctx, samples)
 				if err != nil {
 					level.Warn(r.logger).Log("msg", "Failed to build sample", "err", err)
-					backoff = exponential(backoff)
 					continue
 				}
 				if outputSample == nil {
@@ -343,18 +337,3 @@ func hashSeries(s *monitoring_pb.TimeSeries) uint64 {
 	}
 	return h
 }
-
-func exponential(d time.Duration) time.Duration {
-	const (
-		min = 10 * time.Millisecond
-		max = 2 * time.Second
-	)
-	d *= 2
-	if d < min {
-		d = min
-	}
-	if d > max {
-		d = max
-	}
-	return d
-}
diff --git a/retrieval/series_cache.go b/retrieval/series_cache.go
index d09f7045..f74474d1 100644
--- a/retrieval/series_cache.go
+++ b/retrieval/series_cache.go
@@ -43,6 +43,18 @@ var (
 	keyReason, _ = tag.NewKey("reason")
 )
 
+type recoverableError struct {
+	e &error
+}
+
+func (r *recoverableError) Cause() error {
+	return r.e
+}
+
+func (r *recoverableError) Error() string {
+	return r.e.Error()
+}
+
 func init() {
 	if err := view.Register(&view.View{
 		Name:        "prometheus_sidecar/dropped_series",
@@ -345,7 +357,7 @@ func (c *seriesCache) refresh(ctx context.Context, ref uint64) error {
 	// If either of those pieces of data is missing, the series will be skipped.
 	target, err := c.targets.Get(ctx, pkgLabels(entry.lset))
 	if err != nil {
-		return errors.Wrap(err, "retrieving target failed")
+		return recoverableError{e: errors.Wrap(err, "retrieving target failed")}
 	}
 	if target == nil {
 		ctx, _ = tag.New(ctx, tag.Insert(keyReason, "target_not_found"))
@@ -388,7 +400,7 @@ func (c *seriesCache) refresh(ctx context.Context, ref uint64) error {
 	)
 	metadata, err := c.metadata.Get(ctx, job, instance, metricName)
 	if err != nil {
-		return errors.Wrap(err, "get metadata")
+		return recoverableError{Error: errors.Wrap(err, "get metadata")}
 	}
 	if metadata == nil {
 		// The full name didn't turn anything up. Check again in case it's a summary,
@@ -397,7 +409,7 @@ func (c *seriesCache) refresh(ctx context.Context, ref uint64) error {
 		if baseMetricName, suffix, ok = stripComplexMetricSuffix(metricName); ok {
 			metadata, err = c.metadata.Get(ctx, job, instance, baseMetricName)
 			if err != nil {
-				return errors.Wrap(err, "get metadata")
+				return recoverableError{Error: errors.Wrap(err, "get metadata")}
 			}
 		}
 		if metadata == nil {
diff --git a/retrieval/transform.go b/retrieval/transform.go
index 2a1c5cae..75a36698 100644
--- a/retrieval/transform.go
+++ b/retrieval/transform.go
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 
+	"github.com/go-kit/kit/log"
+	"github.com/go-kit/kit/log/level"
 	timestamp_pb "github.com/golang/protobuf/ptypes/timestamp"
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 	"github.com/prometheus/prometheus/pkg/textparse"
@@ -31,6 +33,7 @@ import (
 )
 
 type sampleBuilder struct {
+	logger log.Logger
 	series seriesGetter
 }
 
@@ -39,9 +42,9 @@ type sampleBuilder struct {
 func (b *sampleBuilder) next(ctx context.Context, samples []tsdb.RefSample) (*monitoring_pb.TimeSeries, uint64, []tsdb.RefSample, error) {
 	sample := samples[0]
 
-	entry, ok, err := b.series.get(ctx, sample.Ref)
+	entry, ok, err := b.getSeriesWithRetry(ctx, sample)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, 0, samples, errors.Wrap(err, "get series information")
+		return nil, 0, samples, err
 	}
 	if !ok {
 		return nil, 0, samples[1:], nil
@@ -128,6 +131,28 @@ func (b *sampleBuilder) next(ctx context.Context, samples []tsdb.RefSample) (*mo
 	return &ts, entry.hash, samples[1:], nil
 }
 
+func (b *sampleBuilder) getSeriesWithRetry(ctx context.Context, sample tsdb.RefSample) (entry *seriesCacheEntry, ok bool, err error) {
+	backoff := time.Duration(0)
+	for {
+		select {
+		case <-ctx.Done():
+			return nil, false, ctx.Err()
+		default:
+		}
+		entry, ok, err = b.series.get(ctx, sample.Ref)
+		if err == nil {
+			break
+		}
+		if _, ok := err.(recoverableError); !ok {
+			return nil, false, err
+		}
+		level.Warn(b.logger).Log("msg", "failed to get seriesCacheEntry", "err", err)
+		backoff = exponential(backoff)
+		time.Sleep(backoff)
+	}
+	return entry, ok, nil
+}
+
 const (
 	metricSuffixBucket = "_bucket"
 	metricSuffixSum    = "_sum"
@@ -210,7 +235,7 @@ func (b *sampleBuilder) buildDistribution(
 	// until we hit a new metric.
 Loop:
 	for i, s := range samples {
-		e, ok, err := b.series.get(ctx, s.Ref)
+		e, ok, err := b.getSeriesWithRetry(ctx, s)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, 0, samples, err
 		}
@@ -349,3 +374,18 @@ func histogramLabelsEqual(a, b tsdbLabels.Labels) bool {
 	// If one label set still has labels left, they are not equal.
 	return i == len(a) && j == len(b)
 }
+
+func exponential(d time.Duration) time.Duration {
+	const (
+		min = 10 * time.Millisecond
+		max = 2 * time.Second
+	)
+	d *= 2
+	if d < min {
+		d = min
+	}
+	if d > max {
+		d = max
+	}
+	return d
+}