diff --git a/RELEASE_NOTES.md b/RELEASE_NOTES.md
index 068bc7f..29193b8 100644
--- a/RELEASE_NOTES.md
+++ b/RELEASE_NOTES.md
@@ -1,13 +1,4 @@
-#### 0.8.0 April 16 2021 ####
+#### 0.8.1 April 20 2021 ####
 **Release of Akka.Persistence.Azure**
 
-- [Problem with implimentation of akka persistence contract](https://github.com/petabridge/Akka.Persistence.Azure/pull/143)
-- [Limiting batch size for table storage](https://github.com/petabridge/Akka.Persistence.Azure/pull/145)
-- [Bump AkkaVersion from 1.4.14 to 1.4.18](https://github.com/petabridge/Akka.Persistence.Azure/pull/148)
-- [Added settings for auto-initialize](https://github.com/petabridge/Akka.Persistence.Azure/pull/150)
-- [Upgrade WindowsAzure.Storage to Microsoft.Azure.Cosmos.Table and Azure.Storage.Blobs](https://github.com/petabridge/Akka.Persistence.Azure/pull/151)
-- [Added support to configure blob container public access level](https://github.com/petabridge/Akka.Persistence.Azure/pull/152) 
-- [Change the default public access type of auto-init containers to None](https://github.com/petabridge/Akka.Persistence.Azure/pull/154)
-- [Add DefaultAzureIdentity support for snapshot Azure Blob Storage](https://github.com/petabridge/Akka.Persistence.Azure/pull/155)
-
-See the README for documentation on how to use the latest features in Akka.Persistence.Azure: https://github.com/petabridge/Akka.Persistence.Azure#akkapersistenceazure
+- [Fix BlobContainerClient.CreateIfNotExists() returns null if container already exists](https://github.com/petabridge/Akka.Persistence.Azure/pull/160)
diff --git a/src/Akka.Persistence.Azure.Tests/Issue159Spec.cs b/src/Akka.Persistence.Azure.Tests/Issue159Spec.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1fbe926
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Akka.Persistence.Azure.Tests/Issue159Spec.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+using System;
+using Akka.Configuration;
+using Akka.Persistence.Azure.TestHelpers;
+using Akka.Persistence.TCK.Snapshot;
+using Azure.Storage.Blobs;
+using Xunit.Abstractions;
+
+namespace Akka.Persistence.Azure.Tests
+{
+    public class Issue159Spec: SnapshotStoreSpec
+    {
+        private static Config Config()
+        {
+            var connectionString = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("AZURE_CONNECTION_STR");
+            if(string.IsNullOrEmpty(connectionString))
+                connectionString = WindowsAzureStorageEmulatorFixture.GenerateConnStr();
+
+            return ConfigurationFactory.ParseString(@"
+akka {
+    loglevel = DEBUG
+    log-config-on-start = off
+    test.single-expect-default = 30s
+
+    persistence {
+        publish-plugin-commands = on
+
+        journal {
+            plugin = ""akka.persistence.journal.azure-table""
+
+            azure-table {
+                connection-string = """ + connectionString + @"""
+                connect-timeout = 3s
+                request-timeout = 3s
+                verbose-logging = on
+            }
+        }
+
+        query {
+            journal {
+                azure-table {
+                    write-plugin = ""akka.persistence.journal.azure-table""
+                    refresh-interval = 1s
+		            max-buffer-size = 150
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        snapshot-store {
+            plugin = ""akka.persistence.snapshot-store.azure-blob-store""
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+akka.persistence.snapshot-store.azure-blob-store {
+    class = ""Akka.Persistence.Azure.Snapshot.AzureBlobSnapshotStore, Akka.Persistence.Azure""
+    connection-string = """ + connectionString + @"""
+    container-name = ""default""
+    connect-timeout = 3s
+    request-timeout = 3s
+    verbose-logging = on
+    plugin-dispatcher = ""akka.actor.default-dispatcher""
+}");
+        }
+
+        public Issue159Spec(ITestOutputHelper output)
+            : base(Config(), nameof(Issue159Spec), output)
+        {
+            var extension = AzurePersistence.Get(Sys);
+
+            var service = new BlobServiceClient(extension.BlobSettings.ConnectionString);
+            var containerClient = service.GetBlobContainerClient(extension.BlobSettings.ContainerName);
+
+            // The thing we're testing, the container already exist on the account
+            if (!containerClient.Exists())
+                containerClient.Create(extension.BlobSettings.ContainerPublicAccessType);
+
+            // empty the container, possible junk from previous tests
+            foreach (var blob in containerClient.GetBlobs())
+            {
+                containerClient.GetBlobClient(blob.Name).Delete();
+            }
+
+            Initialize();
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/Akka.Persistence.Azure/Snapshot/AzureBlobSnapshotStore.cs b/src/Akka.Persistence.Azure/Snapshot/AzureBlobSnapshotStore.cs
index a18c295..2afe505 100644
--- a/src/Akka.Persistence.Azure/Snapshot/AzureBlobSnapshotStore.cs
+++ b/src/Akka.Persistence.Azure/Snapshot/AzureBlobSnapshotStore.cs
@@ -102,15 +102,24 @@ private async Task<BlobContainerClient> InitCloudStorage(int remainingTries)
                         
                     return blobClient;
                 }
-
-                var response = await blobClient.CreateIfNotExistsAsync(
-                    _settings.ContainerPublicAccessType,
-                    cancellationToken: cts.Token);
-
-                if (response.GetRawResponse().Status == (int)HttpStatusCode.Created)
-                    _log.Info("Created Azure Blob Container {0}", _settings.ContainerName);
-                else
+                
+                if (await blobClient.ExistsAsync(cts.Token))
+                {
                     _log.Info("Successfully connected to existing container {0}", _settings.ContainerName);
+                }
+                else
+                {
+                    try
+                    {
+                        await blobClient.CreateAsync(_settings.ContainerPublicAccessType,
+                            cancellationToken: cts.Token);
+                        _log.Info("Created Azure Blob Container {0}", _settings.ContainerName);
+                    }
+                    catch (Exception e)
+                    {
+                        throw new Exception($"Failed to create Azure Blob Container {_settings.ContainerName}", e);
+                    }
+                }
 
                 return blobClient;
             }