diff --git a/swh/deposit/cli/client.py b/swh/deposit/cli/client.py
--- a/swh/deposit/cli/client.py
+++ b/swh/deposit/cli/client.py
@@ -142,7 +142,8 @@
     # retrieve user's collection
     sd_content = client.service_document()
     if "error" in sd_content:
-        raise InputError("Service document retrieval: %s" % (sd_content["error"],))
+        msg = sd_content["error"]
+        raise InputError(f"Service document retrieval: {msg}")
     collection = sd_content["app:service"]["app:workspace"]["app:collection"][
         "sword:name"
     ]
diff --git a/swh/deposit/client.py b/swh/deposit/client.py
--- a/swh/deposit/client.py
+++ b/swh/deposit/client.py
@@ -286,7 +286,7 @@
         """
         return {}
 
-    def parse_result_error(self, xml_content):
+    def parse_result_error(self, xml_content: bytes) -> Dict:
         """Given an error response in xml, parse it into a dict.
 
         Returns:
@@ -385,6 +385,10 @@
         """
         return parse_xml(xml_content)
 
+    def parse_result_error(self, xml_content: bytes) -> Dict:
+        result = super().parse_result_error(xml_content)
+        return {"error": result["summary"]}
+
 
 class StatusDepositClient(BaseDepositClient):
     """Status information on a deposit.
diff --git a/swh/deposit/tests/cli/test_client.py b/swh/deposit/tests/cli/test_client.py
--- a/swh/deposit/tests/cli/test_client.py
+++ b/swh/deposit/tests/cli/test_client.py
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
     BaseDepositClient,
     MaintenanceError,
     PublicApiDepositClient,
+    ServiceDocumentDepositClient,
 )
 from swh.deposit.parsers import parse_xml
 from swh.model.exceptions import ValidationError
@@ -941,3 +942,17 @@
         "detail": "",
         "sword:verboseDescription": verbose_description,
     }
+
+
+def test_cli_service_document_failure(atom_dataset, mocker):
+    """Ensure service document failures are properly served
+
+    """
+    summary = "Invalid user credentials"
+    error_xml = atom_dataset["error-cli"].format(summary=summary, verboseDescription="")
+
+    api_call = ServiceDocumentDepositClient(url="https://somewhere.org/")
+
+    actual_error = api_call.parse_result_error(error_xml)
+
+    assert actual_error == {"error": summary}