diff --git a/lib/email_builder.rb b/lib/email_builder.rb
index 2249865c4ba..dabd9ef2a9d 100644
--- a/lib/email_builder.rb
+++ b/lib/email_builder.rb
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ module EmailBuilder
       body: body
     }
     mail_args[:from] = params[:from] || SiteSetting.notification_email
+    mail_args[:charset] = 'UTF-8'
     mail(mail_args)
   end
 
diff --git a/lib/email_sender.rb b/lib/email_sender.rb
index 2265a13c787..495542b1805 100644
--- a/lib/email_sender.rb
+++ b/lib/email_sender.rb
@@ -19,7 +19,8 @@ class EmailSender
     return if @message.to.blank?
     return if @message.body.blank?
 
-    plain_body = @message.body.to_s
+    @message.charset = 'UTF-8'
+    plain_body = @message.body.to_s.force_encoding('UTF-8')
 
     @message.html_part = Mail::Part.new do
       content_type 'text/html; charset=UTF-8'
diff --git a/spec/components/system_message_spec.rb b/spec/components/system_message_spec.rb
index 2a976f55095..c326568166c 100644
--- a/spec/components/system_message_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/components/system_message_spec.rb
@@ -13,22 +13,12 @@ describe SystemMessage do
     let(:post) { system_message.create(:welcome_invite) }
     let(:topic) { post.topic }
 
-    it 'should create a post' do
+    it 'should create a post correctly' do
       post.should be_present
-    end
-
-    it 'should be a private message' do
       topic.should be_private_message
-    end
-
-    it 'should have the correct topic subtype' do
       topic.subtype.should == TopicSubtype.system_message
-    end
-
-    it 'should be visible by the user' do
       topic.allowed_users.include?(user).should be_true
     end
-
   end
 
   context '#system_user' do