diff --git a/pearl/utils/scripts/cb_benchmark/run_cb_benchmarks.py b/pearl/utils/scripts/cb_benchmark/run_cb_benchmarks.py
index 74f11a4a..de9c1207 100644
--- a/pearl/utils/scripts/cb_benchmark/run_cb_benchmarks.py
+++ b/pearl/utils/scripts/cb_benchmark/run_cb_benchmarks.py
@@ -271,18 +271,20 @@ def run_cb_benchmarks(
     run_config: dictionary with config files of the run parameters.
     """
 
-    # Download uci datasets if dont exist
+    # Create UCI data directory if it does not already exist
     uci_data_path = "./utils/instantiations/environments/uci_datasets"
     if not os.path.exists(uci_data_path):
         os.makedirs(uci_data_path)
-        download_uci_data(data_path=uci_data_path)
 
-    # Path to save results
+    # Download UCI data
+    download_uci_data(data_path=uci_data_path)
+
+    # Create folder for result if it does not already exist
     save_results_path: str = "./utils/scripts/cb_benchmark/experiments_results"
     if not os.path.exists(save_results_path):
         os.makedirs(save_results_path)
 
-    # run all CB algorithms on all benchmarks
+    # Run all CB algorithms on all benchmarks
     for algorithm in cb_algorithms_config.keys():
         for dataset_name in test_environments_config.keys():
             env = SLCBEnvironment(**test_environments_config[dataset_name])
diff --git a/pearl/utils/uci_data.py b/pearl/utils/uci_data.py
index 0c8bd6ed..03074218 100644
--- a/pearl/utils/uci_data.py
+++ b/pearl/utils/uci_data.py
@@ -29,19 +29,27 @@ def download_uci_data(data_path: str) -> None:
     """
 
     for dataset_name in uci_urls.keys():
-        url = os.path.join(
-            uci_urls[dataset_name]["url"], uci_urls[dataset_name]["file_name"]
-        )
+        url = uci_urls[dataset_name]["url"] + "/" + uci_urls[dataset_name]["file_name"]
         filename = os.path.join(data_path, uci_urls[dataset_name]["file_name"])
 
         # Download the zip file
+        response = requests_get(url)
+        if response.status_code != 200:
+            raise Exception(f"Failed to download {dataset_name} dataset from {url}.")
+
+        # Locally save the zip file
         with open(filename, "wb") as f:
-            f.write(requests_get(url).content)
+            f.write(response.content)
 
         # Unzip the file
         unzip_filepath = os.path.join(data_path, dataset_name)
-        with zipfile.ZipFile(filename, "r") as z:
-            z.extractall(unzip_filepath)
+        try:
+            with zipfile.ZipFile(filename, "r") as z:
+                z.extractall(unzip_filepath)
+        except zipfile.BadZipFile:
+            raise zipfile.BadZipFile(
+                f"Bad zip file: {filename}. Please delete corrupt file and run again."
+            )
 
         # Delete the zip file
         os.remove(filename)