diff --git a/addon/mixins/ajax-request.js b/addon/mixins/ajax-request.js
index 851400a7..e0d08ab1 100644
--- a/addon/mixins/ajax-request.js
+++ b/addon/mixins/ajax-request.js
@@ -504,7 +504,7 @@ export default Mixin.create({
    * @return {Object | AjaxError} response
    */
   handleResponse(status, headers, payload, requestData) {
-    payload = payload || {};
+    payload = (payload === null || payload === undefined) ? {} : payload;
     const errors = this.normalizeErrorResponse(status, headers, payload);
 
     if (this.isSuccess(status, headers, payload)) {
diff --git a/tests/integration/components/ajax-get-test.js b/tests/integration/components/ajax-get-test.js
index 24cd1911..4ac1788f 100644
--- a/tests/integration/components/ajax-get-test.js
+++ b/tests/integration/components/ajax-get-test.js
@@ -50,5 +50,83 @@ describeComponent(
         expect(this.$('.ajax-get li:eq(2)').text()).to.equal('Baz');
       });
     });
+
+    it('clicking Load Data loads data', function() {
+      const PAYLOAD = [{ title: 'Foo' }, { title: 'Bar' }, { title: 'Baz' }];
+
+      this.server.get('/foo', json(200, PAYLOAD), 300);
+
+      this.render(hbs`
+        {{#ajax-get url="/foo" as |data isLoaded|}}
+          {{#if isLoaded}}
+            <ul>
+            {{#each data as |post|}}
+              <li>{{post.title}}</li>
+            {{/each}}
+            </ul>
+          {{else}}
+            <button {{action data}}>Load Data</button>
+          {{/if}}
+        {{/ajax-get}}
+      `);
+
+      this.$(`.ajax-get button`).click();
+
+      return wait().then(() => {
+        expect(this.$('.ajax-get li:eq(0)').text()).to.equal('Foo');
+        expect(this.$('.ajax-get li:eq(1)').text()).to.equal('Bar');
+        expect(this.$('.ajax-get li:eq(2)').text()).to.equal('Baz');
+      });
+    });
+
+    it('a payload that evaluates falsey but is not null or undefined loads as expected', function() {
+      const PAYLOAD = 0;
+
+      this.server.get('/foo', json(200, PAYLOAD), 300);
+
+      this.render(hbs`
+        {{#ajax-get url="/foo" as |data isLoaded|}}
+          {{#if isLoaded}}
+            <p>{{data}}</p>
+          {{else}}
+            <button {{action data}}>Load Data</button>
+          {{/if}}
+        {{/ajax-get}}
+      `);
+
+      this.$(`.ajax-get button`).click();
+
+      return wait().then(() => {
+        expect(this.$('.ajax-get p').text()).to.equal('0');
+      });
+    });
+
+    it('clicking Load Data loads data', function() {
+      const PAYLOAD = [{ title: 'Foo' }, { title: 'Bar' }, { title: 'Baz' }];
+
+      this.server.get('/foo', json(200, PAYLOAD), 300);
+
+      this.render(hbs`
+        {{#ajax-get url="/foo" as |data isLoaded|}}
+          {{#if isLoaded}}
+            <ul>
+            {{#each data as |post|}}
+              <li>{{post.title}}</li>
+            {{/each}}
+            </ul>
+          {{else}}
+            <button {{action data}}>Load Data</button>
+          {{/if}}
+        {{/ajax-get}}
+      `);
+
+      this.$(`.ajax-get button`).click();
+
+      return wait().then(() => {
+        expect(this.$('.ajax-get li:eq(0)').text()).to.equal('Foo');
+        expect(this.$('.ajax-get li:eq(1)').text()).to.equal('Bar');
+        expect(this.$('.ajax-get li:eq(2)').text()).to.equal('Baz');
+      });
+    });
   }
 );
diff --git a/tests/unit/mixins/ajax-request-test.js b/tests/unit/mixins/ajax-request-test.js
index 68646795..199675f8 100644
--- a/tests/unit/mixins/ajax-request-test.js
+++ b/tests/unit/mixins/ajax-request-test.js
@@ -790,6 +790,25 @@ describe('Unit | Mixin | ajax request', function() {
     expect(req._buildURL('/baz')).to.equal('/baz');
   });
 
+  it('it doesn\'t reassign payloads which evaluate falsey but are not null or undefined', function() {
+    const service = new AjaxRequest();
+
+    const payloadWithFalseyString = service.handleResponse(200, {}, '');
+    expect(payloadWithFalseyString).to.be.empty;
+
+    const payloadWithFalseyNumber = service.handleResponse(200, {}, 0);
+    expect(payloadWithFalseyNumber).to.equal(0);
+
+    const payloadWithNaN = service.handleResponse(200, {}, NaN);
+    expect(isNaN(payloadWithNaN)).to.be.ok;
+
+    const payloadWithNull = service.handleResponse(200, {}, null);
+    expect(payloadWithNull).to.be.deep.equal({});
+
+    const payloadWithUndefined = service.handleResponse(200, {}, undefined);
+    expect(payloadWithUndefined).to.be.deep.equal({});
+  });
+
   describe('JSONP Requests', function() {
     it('should make JSONP requests', function() {
       this.server.get('/jsonp', function(req) {