diff --git a/R/fetch.R b/R/fetch.R
index 766eaaa..7eb00cc 100644
--- a/R/fetch.R
+++ b/R/fetch.R
@@ -30,17 +30,50 @@ fetch_batch <- function(offset, download_dir) {
 # TODO: error handling
 # - what if: page not reachable
 # - wrong format, etc.
-fetch_all <- function(download_dir="records/") {
+
+#' Download available records
+#'
+#' This fetches all available records of the 19th legislative period of the german Bundestag.
+#'
+#' @param download_dir character
+#'
+#' @export
+fetch_all <- function(download_dir="records/", create=FALSE) {
+    # check if download_dir path is a directory path
+    if (str_sub(download_dir, -1) != .Platform$file.sep)
+        download_dir <- str_c(download_dir, .Platform$file.sep)
+
+    # check if download_dir exists
+    if(file.access(download_dir, mode=0) == -1) {
+        if (create) {
+            tryCatch(dir.create(download_dir),
+                     error = stop_dir_not_creatable,
+                     warning = stop_dir_not_creatable)
+        } else {
+            stop("Directory does not exist. Use create = TRUE if you wish to create the directory.")
+        }
+    } else if (file.access(download_dir, mode=2) == -1) {
+        stop("Directory exists, but is not writeable.")
+    }
     cat("Fetching all available records from bundestag.de. This may take a while ...\n")
-    
+
     # create progress bar
     pb <<- timerProgressBar(min=0, max=250, width=40, char="+")
     progress <<- 0
     # close progress bar on exit (also on error)
     on.exit({close(pb); cat("Done.\n")})
+
     # fetch batch by batch
     offset <- 0
     while(fetch_batch(offset, download_dir)) offset <- offset + 10
+
     # if successful, set progressbar to 100%
     setTimerProgressBar(pb, 250)
 }
+
+stop_dir_not_creatable <- function(cond) {
+    # currently this has call: dir.create(download_dir)
+    # do we want to change this to fetch_all(...) ?
+    cond$message <- "Directory does not exist and can't be created. Probably because the path is not writeable."
+    stop(cond)
+}
diff --git a/R/parse.R b/R/parse.R
index bca02bc..4954302 100644
--- a/R/parse.R
+++ b/R/parse.R
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ read_all <- function(path="records/") {
         distinct() ->
         talks
 
+    if (length(available_protocols) == 0)
+        warning("The given directory is empty or does not exist.")
     list(redner = redner, reden = reden, talks = talks)
 }
 
diff --git a/R/repair.R b/R/repair.R
index 44693f6..e36f99b 100644
--- a/R/repair.R
+++ b/R/repair.R
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ collect_unique <- function(xs) xs %>% clear_na() %>% unique() %>% str_c(collapse
 
 # expects a tibble of redner and repairs
 repair_redner <- function(redner) {
+    if (nrow(redner) == 0) return(redner)
     redner %>% mutate(fraktion = Vectorize(repair_fraktion)(fraktion)) %>% # fix fraktion
         group_by(id, vorname, nachname) %>%
         summarize(fraktion = collect_unique(fraktion),
@@ -32,16 +33,18 @@ repair_redner <- function(redner) {
 }
 
 repair_reden <- function(reden) {
+    if (nrow(reden) == 0) return(reden)
     # TODO: fill with content
     reden
 }
 
 repair_talks <- function(talks) {
+    if (nrow(talks) == 0) return(talks)
     # TODO: fill with content
     talks
 }
 
-#' Repairs parsed tables
+#' Repair parsed tables
 #'
 #' @export
 repair <- function(parse_output) {