diff --git a/lib/ftp.c b/lib/ftp.c
index a7c20cbe8..1a699de59 100644
--- a/lib/ftp.c
+++ b/lib/ftp.c
@@ -3644,8 +3644,13 @@ static CURLcode ftp_do_more(struct Curl_easy *data, int *completep)
         return result;
 
       result = ftp_multi_statemach(data, &complete);
-      /* ftpc->wait_data_conn is always false here */
-      *completep = (int)complete;
+      if(ftpc->wait_data_conn)
+        /* if we reach the end of the FTP state machine here, *complete will be
+           TRUE but so is ftpc->wait_data_conn, which says we need to wait for
+           the data connection and therefore we're not actually complete */
+        *completep = 0;
+      else
+        *completep = (int)complete;
     }
     else {
       /* download */