diff --git a/lib/OpenLayers/Tile/WFS.js b/lib/OpenLayers/Tile/WFS.js
index 217ab3518f..e59e228624 100644
--- a/lib/OpenLayers/Tile/WFS.js
+++ b/lib/OpenLayers/Tile/WFS.js
@@ -133,13 +133,17 @@ OpenLayers.Tile.WFS = OpenLayers.Class(OpenLayers.Tile, {
         if (this.features) {
             var doc = request.responseXML;
             if (!doc || !doc.documentElement) {
-                doc = OpenLayers.Format.XML.prototype.read(request.responseText);
+                doc = request.responseText; 
             }
             if (this.layer.vectorMode) {
                 this.layer.addFeatures(this.layer.formatObject.read(doc));
             } else {
-                var resultFeatures = OpenLayers.Ajax.getElementsByTagNameNS(
-                    doc, "http://www.opengis.net/gml", "gml", "featureMember"
+                var xml = new OpenLayers.Format.XML();
+                if (typeof doc == "string") {
+                    doc = xml.read(doc);
+                }
+                var resultFeatures = xml.getElementsByTagNameNS(
+                    doc, "http://www.opengis.net/gml", "featureMember"
                 );
                 this.addResults(resultFeatures);
             }
diff --git a/tests/Tile/WFS.html b/tests/Tile/WFS.html
index f6f7df75c8..c0b57c9fae 100644
--- a/tests/Tile/WFS.html
+++ b/tests/Tile/WFS.html
@@ -128,7 +128,43 @@
         tile.requestSuccess({'requestText': '<xml><foo /></xml>'});
         t.ok(true, "Didn't fail after calling requestSuccess on destroyed tile.");
     }
-
+    function test_nonxml_format(t) {
+        t.plan(1);
+        var data = '{"type":"Feature", "id":"OpenLayers.Feature.Vector_135", "properties":{}, "geometry":{"type":"Point", "coordinates":[118.125, -18.6328125]}, "crs":{"type":"OGC", "properties":{"urn":"urn:ogc:def:crs:OGC:1.3:CRS84"}}}'
+        var position = new OpenLayers.Pixel(10,20);
+        var bounds = new OpenLayers.Bounds(1,2,3,4);
+        var url = "bobob";
+        var size = new OpenLayers.Size(5,6);
+        
+        var tile = new OpenLayers.Tile.WFS({
+            vectorMode: true, 
+            formatObject: new OpenLayers.Format.GeoJSON(), 
+            addFeatures: function(features) { 
+                t.eq(features.length, 1, "GeoJSON format returned a single feature which was added.")
+            }
+        }, position, bounds, url, size);
+        tile.requestSuccess({responseText: data});
+    }  
+     
+    function test_xml_string_and_dom(t) {
+        t.plan(2);
+        var data = '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" ?><wfs:FeatureCollection   xmlns:bsc="http://www.bsc-eoc.org/bsc"   xmlns:wfs="http://www.opengis.net/wfs"   xmlns:gml="http://www.opengis.net/gml"   xmlns:ogc="http://www.opengis.net/ogc"   xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"   xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.opengis.net/wfs http://schemas.opengeospatial.net//wfs/1.0.0/WFS-basic.xsd                        http://www.bsc-eoc.org/bsc http://www.bsc-eoc.org/cgi-bin/bsc_ows.asp?SERVICE=WFS&amp;VERSION=1.0.0&amp;REQUEST=DescribeFeatureType&amp;TYPENAME=OWLS&amp;OUTPUTFORMAT=XMLSCHEMA">      <gml:boundedBy>        <gml:Box srsName="EPSG:4326">            <gml:coordinates>-94.989723,43.285833 -74.755001,51.709520</gml:coordinates>        </gml:Box>      </gml:boundedBy>    <gml:featureMember>      <bsc:OWLS>        <gml:boundedBy>            <gml:Box srsName="EPSG:4326">                <gml:coordinates>-94.142500,50.992777 -94.142500,50.992777</gml:coordinates>            </gml:Box>        </gml:boundedBy>        <bsc:msGeometry>        <gml:Point srsName="EPSG:4326">          <gml:coordinates>-94.142500,50.992777</gml:coordinates>        </gml:Point>        </bsc:msGeometry>        <bsc:ROUTEID>ON_2</bsc:ROUTEID>        <bsc:ROUTE_NAME>Suffel Road</bsc:ROUTE_NAME>        <bsc:LATITUDE>50.9927770</bsc:LATITUDE>        <bsc:LONGITUDE>-94.1425000</bsc:LONGITUDE>      </bsc:OWLS>    </gml:featureMember></wfs:FeatureCollection>';
+        var position = new OpenLayers.Pixel(10,20);
+        var bounds = new OpenLayers.Bounds(1,2,3,4);
+        var url = "bobob";
+        var size = new OpenLayers.Size(5,6);
+        var tile = new OpenLayers.Tile.WFS({
+        }, position, bounds, url, size);
+        tile.addResults = function(results) {
+            t.eq(results.length, 1, "results count is correct when passing in XML as a string into non-vectormode");
+        } 
+        tile.requestSuccess({responseText: data});
+        
+        tile.addResults = function(results) {
+            t.eq(results.length, 1, "results count is correct when passing in XML as DOM into non-vectormode");
+        } 
+        tile.requestSuccess({responseXML: OpenLayers.Format.XML.prototype.read(data)}); 
+    }         
   </script>
 </head>
 <body>