diff --git a/src/memcached_stats.py b/src/memcached_stats.py
index 4fcf83d..4a2d843 100644
--- a/src/memcached_stats.py
+++ b/src/memcached_stats.py
@@ -21,8 +21,8 @@ def client(self):
 
     def command(self, cmd):
         ' Write a command to telnet and return the response '
-        self.client.write(("%s\n" % cmd).encode('ascii'))
-        return self.client.read_until(b'END').decode('ascii')
+        self.client.write(("%s\n" % cmd).encode('utf-8'))
+        return self.client.read_until(b'END').decode('utf-8')
 
     def key_details(self, sort=True, limit=100):
         ' Return a list of tuples containing keys and details '