diff --git a/codespell_lib/_codespell.py b/codespell_lib/_codespell.py
index c7cc63bcfe..22af663ff5 100644
--- a/codespell_lib/_codespell.py
+++ b/codespell_lib/_codespell.py
@@ -227,12 +227,12 @@ def init_chardet(self) -> None:
 
         self.encdetector = UniversalDetector()
 
-    def open(self, filename: str) -> Tuple[List[str], str]:
+    def open(self, filename: str) -> Tuple[List[str], Optional[str]]:
         if self.use_chardet:
             return self.open_with_chardet(filename)
         return self.open_with_internal(filename)
 
-    def open_with_chardet(self, filename: str) -> Tuple[List[str], str]:
+    def open_with_chardet(self, filename: str) -> Tuple[List[str], Optional[str]]:
         self.encdetector.reset()
         with open(filename, "rb") as fb:
             for line in fb:
@@ -241,26 +241,26 @@ def open_with_chardet(self, filename: str) -> Tuple[List[str], str]:
                     break
         self.encdetector.close()
         encoding = self.encdetector.result["encoding"]
-
-        try:
-            f = open(filename, encoding=encoding, newline="")
-        except UnicodeDecodeError:
-            print(f"ERROR: Could not detect encoding: {filename}", file=sys.stderr)
-            raise
-        except LookupError:
+        if not encoding:
             print(
-                f"ERROR: Don't know how to handle encoding {encoding}: {filename}",
+                f"WARNING: Chardet failed to detect encoding for file {filename}.",
                 file=sys.stderr,
             )
+        try:
+            with open(filename, encoding=encoding, newline="") as f:
+                lines = self.get_lines(f)
+        except LookupError:  # Raised by open() if encoding is unknown
+            error_msg = f"ERROR: Chardet returned unknown encoding for: {filename}."
+            print(error_msg, file=sys.stderr)
+            raise
+        except UnicodeDecodeError:  # Raised by self.get_lines() if decoding fails
+            error_msg = f"ERROR: Failed decoding file: {filename}"
+            print(error_msg, file=sys.stderr)
             raise
-        else:
-            lines = self.get_lines(f)
-            f.close()
 
-        return lines, f.encoding
+        return lines, encoding
 
     def open_with_internal(self, filename: str) -> Tuple[List[str], str]:
-        encoding = None
         first_try = True
         for encoding in ("utf-8", "iso-8859-1"):
             if first_try:
@@ -869,7 +869,7 @@ def apply_uri_ignore_words(
     return check_matches
 
 
-def parse_file(
+def parse_file(  # noqa: PLR0915
     filename: str,
     colors: TermColors,
     summary: Optional[Summary],
@@ -887,6 +887,7 @@ def parse_file(
     bad_count = 0
     lines = None
     changed = False
+    encoding: Optional[str]
 
     if filename == "-":
         f = sys.stdin
diff --git a/codespell_lib/tests/test_basic.py b/codespell_lib/tests/test_basic.py
index 74e10404e1..eace30ab62 100644
--- a/codespell_lib/tests/test_basic.py
+++ b/codespell_lib/tests/test_basic.py
@@ -569,14 +569,51 @@ def test_encoding(
     assert "WARNING: Binary file" in stderr
 
 
-def test_unknown_encoding_chardet(
+def test_chardet_exceptions(
     tmp_path: Path,
     capsys: pytest.CaptureFixture[str],
 ) -> None:
-    """Test opening a file with unknown encoding using chardet"""
+    """Test encoding handling with chardet exceptions."""
     fname = tmp_path / "tmp"
-    fname.touch()
-    assert cs.main("--hard-encoding-detection", fname) == 0
+    fname.write_bytes("naïve\n".encode())
+    with mock.patch(
+        "chardet.universaldetector.UniversalDetector"
+    ) as mock_detector_class:
+        # Configure the mock to simulate an incorrect encoding detection
+        mock_detector = mock.MagicMock()
+        mock_detector.result = {"encoding": None}
+        mock_detector.done = True
+        mock_detector_class.return_value = mock_detector
+
+        # Simulate chardet not detecting any encoding
+        result = cs.main("-e", fname, std=True, count=False)
+        assert isinstance(result, tuple)
+        code, stdout, stderr = result
+        assert code == 0
+        assert not stdout
+        assert "WARNING: Chardet failed to detect encoding" in stderr
+        assert str(fname) in stderr
+
+        # Simulate chardet falsely detecting utf-8, instead of the correct iso-8859-1
+        mock_detector.result = {"encoding": "utf-8"}  # Simulate wrong encoding detected
+        mock_detector_class.return_value = mock_detector
+        fname.write_bytes(b"Speling error, non-ASCII: h\xe9t\xe9rog\xe9n\xe9it\xe9\n")
+        with pytest.raises(UnicodeDecodeError) as exc_info_unicode:
+            cs.main("-e", fname, std=True, count=False)
+        stderr = capsys.readouterr().err
+        assert "ERROR: Failed decoding file:" in stderr
+        assert str(fname) in stderr
+        assert "utf-8" in str(exc_info_unicode.value)
+
+        # Simulate chardet detecting non-existent encoding
+        mock_detector.result = {"encoding": "UTF-doesnotexist"}
+        mock_detector_class.return_value = mock_detector
+        with pytest.raises(LookupError) as exc_info_lookup:
+            cs.main("-e", fname, std=True, count=False)
+        stderr = capsys.readouterr().err
+        assert "ERROR: Chardet returned unknown encoding" in stderr
+        assert str(fname) in stderr
+        assert "UTF-doesnotexist" in str(exc_info_lookup.value)
 
 
 def test_ignore(