diff --git a/src/routes/test/user-test.js b/src/routes/test/user-test.js
index 55652f58a..17f1ebfdf 100644
--- a/src/routes/test/user-test.js
+++ b/src/routes/test/user-test.js
@@ -31,7 +31,11 @@ function setup(done) {
 
         mailer._clearMailQueue();
 
-        userdb._clear(done);
+        userdb._clear(function (error) {
+            expect(error).to.eql(null);
+
+            groups.create('somegroupid', done);
+        });
     });
 }
 
@@ -300,10 +304,10 @@ describe('User API', function () {
         });
     });
 
-    it('remove second user as admin succeeds', function (done) {
+    it('remove second user from admins succeeds', function (done) {
         superagent.put(SERVER_URL + '/api/v1/users/' + USERNAME_1 + '/set_groups')
                .query({ access_token: token })
-               .send({ groupIds: [] })
+               .send({ groupIds: [ 'somegroupid' ] })
                .end(function (err, res) {
             expect(res.statusCode).to.equal(204);
 
@@ -428,7 +432,7 @@ describe('User API', function () {
     });
 
     it('admin cannot remove normal user without giving a password', function (done) {
-        superagent.del(SERVER_URL + '/api/v1/users/' + USERNAME_3)
+        superagent.del(SERVER_URL + '/api/v1/users/' + USERNAME_1)
                .query({ access_token: token })
                .end(function (err, res) {
             expect(res.statusCode).to.equal(400);
@@ -437,7 +441,7 @@ describe('User API', function () {
     });
 
     it('admin cannot remove normal user with empty password', function (done) {
-        superagent.del(SERVER_URL + '/api/v1/users/' + USERNAME_3)
+        superagent.del(SERVER_URL + '/api/v1/users/' + USERNAME_1)
                .query({ access_token: token })
                .send({ password: '' })
                .end(function (err, res) {
@@ -447,7 +451,7 @@ describe('User API', function () {
     });
 
     it('admin cannot remove normal user with giving wrong password', function (done) {
-        superagent.del(SERVER_URL + '/api/v1/users/' + USERNAME_3)
+        superagent.del(SERVER_URL + '/api/v1/users/' + USERNAME_1)
                .query({ access_token: token })
                .send({ password: PASSWORD + PASSWORD })
                .end(function (err, res) {
@@ -457,7 +461,7 @@ describe('User API', function () {
     });
 
     it('admin removes normal user', function (done) {
-        superagent.del(SERVER_URL + '/api/v1/users/' + USERNAME_3)
+        superagent.del(SERVER_URL + '/api/v1/users/' + USERNAME_1)
                .query({ access_token: token })
                .send({ password: PASSWORD })
                .end(function (err, res) {
diff --git a/src/userdb.js b/src/userdb.js
index 6b0d50afd..7d487f485 100644
--- a/src/userdb.js
+++ b/src/userdb.js
@@ -137,9 +137,14 @@ function del(userId, callback) {
     assert.strictEqual(typeof userId, 'string');
     assert.strictEqual(typeof callback, 'function');
 
-    database.query('DELETE FROM users WHERE id = ?', [ userId ], function (error, result) {
+    // also cleanup the groupMembers table
+    var queries = [];
+    queries.push({ query: 'DELETE from groupMembers WHERE userId = ?', args: [ userId ] });
+    queries.push({ query: 'DELETE FROM users WHERE id = ?', args: [ userId ] });
+
+    database.transaction(queries, function (error) {
+        if (error && error.code === 'ER_NO_REFERENCED_ROW_2') return callback(new DatabaseError(DatabaseError.NOT_FOUND, error.message));
         if (error) return callback(new DatabaseError(DatabaseError.INTERNAL_ERROR, error));
-        if (result.affectedRows !== 1) return callback(new DatabaseError(DatabaseError.NOT_FOUND));
 
         callback(error);
     });