diff --git a/lib/config/presets.js b/lib/config/presets.js
index 0e58b7aeb6efd31bb8e99ea838cf43372e03bce4..1c33e6563a44490ba9225a87cae9e7a1c422c6d8 100644
--- a/lib/config/presets.js
+++ b/lib/config/presets.js
@@ -28,28 +28,27 @@ async function resolveConfigPresets(inputConfig, existingPresets = []) {
         try {
           fetchedPreset = await getPreset(preset);
         } catch (err) {
-          // istanbul ignore else
-          if (existingPresets.length === 0) {
-            const error = new Error('config-validation');
-            if (err.message === 'dep not found') {
-              error.validationError = `Cannot find preset's package (${preset})`;
-            } else if (err.message === 'preset renovate-config not found') {
-              // istanbul ignore next
-              error.validationError = `Preset package is missing a renovate-config entry (${preset})`;
-            } else if (err.message === 'preset not found') {
-              error.validationError = `Preset name not found within published preset config (${preset})`;
-            } else {
-              /* istanbul ignore next */ // eslint-disable-next-line
-              if (err.message === 'registry-failure') {
-                throw err;
-              }
-            }
-            logger.info('Throwing preset error');
-            throw error;
+          const error = new Error('config-validation');
+          if (err.message === 'dep not found') {
+            error.validationError = `Cannot find preset's package (${preset})`;
+          } else if (err.message === 'preset renovate-config not found') {
+            // istanbul ignore next
+            error.validationError = `Preset package is missing a renovate-config entry (${preset})`;
+          } else if (err.message === 'preset not found') {
+            error.validationError = `Preset name not found within published preset config (${preset})`;
           } else {
-            logger.warn({ preset }, `Cannot find nested preset`);
-            fetchedPreset = {};
+            /* istanbul ignore next */ // eslint-disable-next-line
+            if (err.message === 'registry-failure') {
+              throw err;
+            }
+          }
+          // istanbul ignore if
+          if (existingPresets.length) {
+            error.validationError +=
+              '. Note: this is a *nested* preset so please contact the preset author if you are unable to fix it yourself.';
           }
+          logger.info('Throwing preset error');
+          throw error;
         }
         const presetConfig = await resolveConfigPresets(
           fetchedPreset,