diff --git a/spring-cloud-kubernetes-integration-tests/spring-cloud-kubernetes-client-discovery-it/src/test/java/org/springframework/cloud/kubernetes/client/discovery/KubernetesClientDiscoveryClientIT.java b/spring-cloud-kubernetes-integration-tests/spring-cloud-kubernetes-client-discovery-it/src/test/java/org/springframework/cloud/kubernetes/client/discovery/KubernetesClientDiscoveryClientIT.java
index e5f46e4a..9e9fb101 100644
--- a/spring-cloud-kubernetes-integration-tests/spring-cloud-kubernetes-client-discovery-it/src/test/java/org/springframework/cloud/kubernetes/client/discovery/KubernetesClientDiscoveryClientIT.java
+++ b/spring-cloud-kubernetes-integration-tests/spring-cloud-kubernetes-client-discovery-it/src/test/java/org/springframework/cloud/kubernetes/client/discovery/KubernetesClientDiscoveryClientIT.java
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ import reactor.netty.http.client.HttpClient;
 import reactor.util.retry.Retry;
 import reactor.util.retry.RetryBackoffSpec;
 
+import org.springframework.cloud.client.ServiceInstance;
 import org.springframework.cloud.kubernetes.commons.discovery.DefaultKubernetesServiceInstance;
 import org.springframework.cloud.kubernetes.integration.tests.commons.Commons;
 import org.springframework.cloud.kubernetes.integration.tests.commons.Phase;
@@ -133,6 +134,17 @@ class KubernetesClientDiscoveryClientIT {
 
 		Assertions.assertEquals(busyBoxServiceInstances.size(), 2);
 
+		// enforces this :
+		// https://github.com/spring-cloud/spring-cloud-kubernetes/issues/1286
+		WebClient clientForNonExistentService = builder().baseUrl("http://localhost/service-instances/non-existent")
+			.build();
+		List<ServiceInstance> resultForNonExistentService = clientForNonExistentService.method(HttpMethod.GET)
+			.retrieve().bodyToMono(new ParameterizedTypeReference<List<ServiceInstance>>() {
+
+			}).retryWhen(retrySpec()).block();
+
+		Assertions.assertEquals(resultForNonExistentService.size(), 0);
+
 		// clean-up
 		util.busybox(NAMESPACE, Phase.DELETE);
 		manifests(false, null, Phase.DELETE);
@@ -169,6 +181,17 @@ class KubernetesClientDiscoveryClientIT {
 		Assertions.assertTrue(servicesResult.contains("busybox-service"));
 		Assertions.assertTrue(servicesResult.contains("service-wiremock"));
 
+		// enforces this :
+		// https://github.com/spring-cloud/spring-cloud-kubernetes/issues/1286
+		WebClient clientForNonExistentService = builder().baseUrl("http://localhost/service-instances/non-existent")
+				.build();
+		List<ServiceInstance> resultForNonExistentService = clientForNonExistentService.method(HttpMethod.GET)
+				.retrieve().bodyToMono(new ParameterizedTypeReference<List<ServiceInstance>>() {
+
+				}).retryWhen(retrySpec()).block();
+
+		Assertions.assertEquals(resultForNonExistentService.size(), 0);
+
 		manifests(true, null, Phase.DELETE);
 		util.wiremock(NAMESPACE_A, "/wiremock", Phase.DELETE);
 		util.busybox(NAMESPACE_B, Phase.DELETE);
@@ -220,6 +243,17 @@ class KubernetesClientDiscoveryClientIT {
 		DefaultKubernetesServiceInstance serviceInstance = wiremockInNamespaceA.get(0);
 		Assertions.assertEquals(serviceInstance.getNamespace(), "a");
 
+		// enforces this :
+		// https://github.com/spring-cloud/spring-cloud-kubernetes/issues/1286
+		WebClient clientForNonExistentService = builder().baseUrl("http://localhost/service-instances/non-existent")
+			.build();
+		List<ServiceInstance> resultForNonExistentService = clientForNonExistentService.method(HttpMethod.GET)
+			.retrieve().bodyToMono(new ParameterizedTypeReference<List<ServiceInstance>>() {
+
+			}).retryWhen(retrySpec()).block();
+
+		Assertions.assertEquals(resultForNonExistentService.size(), 0);
+
 		manifests(false, NAMESPACE_A, Phase.DELETE);
 		util.wiremock(NAMESPACE_A, "/wiremock", Phase.DELETE);
 		util.wiremock(NAMESPACE_B, "/wiremock", Phase.DELETE);
diff --git a/spring-cloud-kubernetes-integration-tests/spring-cloud-kubernetes-configuration-watcher-it/pom.xml b/spring-cloud-kubernetes-integration-tests/spring-cloud-kubernetes-configuration-watcher-it/pom.xml
index 202d5c91..32ee3d23 100644
--- a/spring-cloud-kubernetes-integration-tests/spring-cloud-kubernetes-configuration-watcher-it/pom.xml
+++ b/spring-cloud-kubernetes-integration-tests/spring-cloud-kubernetes-configuration-watcher-it/pom.xml
@@ -53,45 +53,25 @@
 			<groupId>io.kubernetes</groupId>
 			<artifactId>client-java</artifactId>
 			<scope>test</scope>
+			<exclusions>
+				<exclusion>
+					<groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
+					<artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
+				</exclusion>
+			</exclusions>
 		</dependency>
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>io.kubernetes</groupId>
 			<artifactId>client-java-extended</artifactId>
 			<scope>test</scope>
 		</dependency>
-		<dependency>
-			<groupId>com.github.docker-java</groupId>
-			<artifactId>docker-java-core</artifactId>
-			<scope>test</scope>
-		</dependency>
-		<dependency>
-			<groupId>com.github.docker-java</groupId>
-			<artifactId>docker-java-transport-httpclient5</artifactId>
-			<scope>test</scope>
-		</dependency>
 
-		<dependency>
-			<groupId>org.testcontainers</groupId>
-			<artifactId>testcontainers</artifactId>
-			<scope>test</scope>
-		</dependency>
-		<dependency>
-			<groupId>org.testcontainers</groupId>
-			<artifactId>junit-jupiter</artifactId>
-			<scope>test</scope>
-		</dependency>
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>org.testcontainers</groupId>
 			<artifactId>k3s</artifactId>
 			<scope>test</scope>
 		</dependency>
 
-		<dependency>
-			<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
-			<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-webflux</artifactId>
-			<scope>test</scope>
-		</dependency>
-
 	</dependencies>
 
 	<build>
diff --git a/spring-cloud-kubernetes-test-support/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/kubernetes/integration/tests/commons/native_client/Util.java b/spring-cloud-kubernetes-test-support/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/kubernetes/integration/tests/commons/native_client/Util.java
index b15fddc3..f058fc44 100644
--- a/spring-cloud-kubernetes-test-support/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/kubernetes/integration/tests/commons/native_client/Util.java
+++ b/spring-cloud-kubernetes-test-support/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/kubernetes/integration/tests/commons/native_client/Util.java
@@ -455,7 +455,7 @@ public final class Util {
 
 	private void waitForDeployment(String namespace, V1Deployment deployment) {
 		String deploymentName = deploymentName(deployment);
-		await().pollInterval(Duration.ofSeconds(1)).atMost(900, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
+		await().pollDelay(Duration.ofSeconds(5)).pollInterval(Duration.ofSeconds(5)).atMost(900, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
 				.until(() -> isDeploymentReady(deploymentName, namespace));
 	}