diff --git a/packages/local-sync/spec/message-factory-spec.js b/packages/local-sync/spec/message-factory-spec.js
index c5776242c..36d85f47c 100644
--- a/packages/local-sync/spec/message-factory-spec.js
+++ b/packages/local-sync/spec/message-factory-spec.js
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 const LocalDatabaseConnector = require('../src/shared/local-database-connector');
-const {parseFromImap, extractSnippet} = require('../src/shared/message-factory');
+const {parseFromImap, extractSnippet, extractContacts} = require('../src/shared/message-factory');
 const {forEachJSONFixture, forEachHTMLAndTXTFixture, ACCOUNT_ID} = require('./helpers');
 
 xdescribe('MessageFactory', function MessageFactorySpecs() {
@@ -85,6 +85,21 @@ const snippetTestCases = [{
 },
 ]
 
+const contactsTestCases = [{
+  purpose: "not erroneously split contact names on commas",
+  // NOTE: inputs must be in same format as output by mimelib.parseHeader
+  input: ['"Little Bo Peep, The Hill" <bopeep@example.com>'],
+  output: [{name: "Little Bo Peep, The Hill", email: "bopeep@example.com"}],
+}, {
+  purpose: "extract two separate contacts, removing quotes properly & respecing unicode",
+  input: ['AppleBees Zé <a@example.com>, "Tiger Zen" b@example.com'],
+  output: [
+    {name: 'AppleBees Zé', email: 'a@example.com'},
+    {name: 'Tiger Zen', email: 'b@example.com'},
+  ],
+},
+]
+
 describe('MessageFactoryHelpers', function MessageFactoryHelperSpecs() {
   describe('extractSnippet (basic)', () => {
     snippetTestCases.forEach(({purpose, plainBody, htmlBody, snippet}) => {
@@ -102,4 +117,12 @@ describe('MessageFactoryHelpers', function MessageFactoryHelperSpecs() {
       });
     });
   });
+  describe('extractContacts (basic)', () => {
+    contactsTestCases.forEach(({purpose, input, output}) => {
+      it(`should ${purpose}`, () => {
+        const parsedContacts = extractContacts(input);
+        expect(parsedContacts).toEqual(output);
+      });
+    });
+  });
 });
diff --git a/packages/local-sync/src/shared/message-factory.js b/packages/local-sync/src/shared/message-factory.js
index fad9553e6..a407592fc 100644
--- a/packages/local-sync/src/shared/message-factory.js
+++ b/packages/local-sync/src/shared/message-factory.js
@@ -23,14 +23,20 @@ function extractContacts(input) {
   if (!input || input.length === 0 || !input[0]) {
     return [];
   }
-  const s = `["${input[0].replace(/"/g, '\\"').replace(/, /g, '", "')}"]`;
-  const values = JSON.parse(s);
+  const values = mimelib.parseAddresses(input[0]);
+  if (!values || values.length === 0 || !input[0]) {
+    return [];
+  }
   return values.map(v => {
-    const parsed = mimelib.parseAddresses(v)
-    if (!parsed || parsed.length === 0) {
+    if (!v || v.length === 0) {
       return null
     }
-    const {name, address: email} = parsed.pop()
+    const {name, address: email} = v;
+    // contacts without an email address are worthless, especially when
+    // extracted from emails
+    if (!email) {
+      return null;
+    }
     return {name, email}
   })
   .filter(c => c != null)
@@ -319,6 +325,7 @@ module.exports = {
   buildForSend,
   parseFromImap,
   extractSnippet,
+  extractContacts,
   stripTrackingLinksFromBody,
   buildTrackingBodyForRecipient,
   replaceMessageIdInBodyTrackingLinks,