diff --git a/pkg/apis/deployment/v1alpha/deployment_status.go b/pkg/apis/deployment/v1alpha/deployment_status.go
index ad175eab4..632a41658 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/deployment/v1alpha/deployment_status.go
+++ b/pkg/apis/deployment/v1alpha/deployment_status.go
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@
 
 package v1alpha
 
+import "github.com/arangodb/kube-arangodb/pkg/util"
+
 // DeploymentStatus contains the status part of a Cluster resource.
 type DeploymentStatus struct {
 	// Phase holds the current lifetime phase of the deployment
@@ -56,6 +58,9 @@ type DeploymentStatus struct {
 	// SecretHashes keeps a sha256 hash of secret values, so we can
 	// detect changes in secret values.
 	SecretHashes *SecretHashes `json:"secret-hashes,omitempty"`
+
+	// ForceStatusReload if set to true forces a reload of the status from the custom resource.
+	ForceStatusReload *bool `json:"force-status-reload,omitempty"`
 }
 
 // Equal checks for equality
@@ -72,3 +77,8 @@ func (ds *DeploymentStatus) Equal(other DeploymentStatus) bool {
 		ds.AcceptedSpec.Equal(other.AcceptedSpec) &&
 		ds.SecretHashes.Equal(other.SecretHashes)
 }
+
+// IsForceReload returns true if ForceStatusReload is set to true
+func (ds *DeploymentStatus) IsForceReload() bool {
+	return util.BoolOrDefault(ds.ForceStatusReload, false)
+}
diff --git a/pkg/apis/deployment/v1alpha/zz_generated.deepcopy.go b/pkg/apis/deployment/v1alpha/zz_generated.deepcopy.go
index 7b7ef7234..6e1f42609 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/deployment/v1alpha/zz_generated.deepcopy.go
+++ b/pkg/apis/deployment/v1alpha/zz_generated.deepcopy.go
@@ -308,6 +308,11 @@ func (in *DeploymentStatus) DeepCopyInto(out *DeploymentStatus) {
 		*out = new(SecretHashes)
 		**out = **in
 	}
+	if in.ForceStatusReload != nil {
+		in, out := &in.ForceStatusReload, &out.ForceStatusReload
+		*out = new(bool)
+		**out = **in
+	}
 	return
 }
 
diff --git a/pkg/deployment/deployment.go b/pkg/deployment/deployment.go
index 20329edba..a01866ed1 100644
--- a/pkg/deployment/deployment.go
+++ b/pkg/deployment/deployment.go
@@ -289,7 +289,7 @@ func (d *Deployment) handleArangoDeploymentUpdatedEvent() error {
 	newAPIObject := current.DeepCopy()
 	newAPIObject.Spec.SetDefaultsFrom(specBefore)
 	newAPIObject.Spec.SetDefaults(d.apiObject.GetName())
-	newAPIObject.Status = status
+
 	resetFields := specBefore.ResetImmutableFields(&newAPIObject.Spec)
 	if len(resetFields) > 0 {
 		log.Debug().Strs("fields", resetFields).Msg("Found modified immutable fields")
@@ -318,6 +318,11 @@ func (d *Deployment) handleArangoDeploymentUpdatedEvent() error {
 	// Save updated accepted spec
 	{
 		status, lastVersion := d.GetStatus()
+		if newAPIObject.Status.IsForceReload() {
+			log.Warn().Msg("Forced status reload!")
+			status = newAPIObject.Status
+			status.ForceStatusReload = nil
+		}
 		status.AcceptedSpec = newAPIObject.Spec.DeepCopy()
 		if err := d.UpdateStatus(status, lastVersion); err != nil {
 			return maskAny(fmt.Errorf("failed to update ArangoDeployment status: %v", err))
diff --git a/pkg/deployment/reconcile/action_remove_member.go b/pkg/deployment/reconcile/action_remove_member.go
index 8824d373c..613bc4fbe 100644
--- a/pkg/deployment/reconcile/action_remove_member.go
+++ b/pkg/deployment/reconcile/action_remove_member.go
@@ -70,6 +70,8 @@ func (a *actionRemoveMember) Start(ctx context.Context) (bool, error) {
 		if err := arangod.RemoveServerFromCluster(ctx, client.Connection(), driver.ServerID(m.ID)); err != nil {
 			if !driver.IsNotFound(err) && !driver.IsPreconditionFailed(err) {
 				return false, maskAny(errors.Wrapf(err, "Failed to remove server from cluster: %#v", err))
+			} else {
+				a.log.Warn().Msgf("ignoring error: %s", err.Error())
 			}
 		}
 	}