diff --git a/src/main/java/caosdb/server/query/POV.java b/src/main/java/caosdb/server/query/POV.java
index a50be918da30d6cb69b457ef4b7801ea3019d58d..924c1293bfea78ef15f1b6ab10e5d9d91a2a98cc 100644
--- a/src/main/java/caosdb/server/query/POV.java
+++ b/src/main/java/caosdb/server/query/POV.java
@@ -167,6 +167,9 @@ public class POV implements EntityFilterInterface {
       } catch (final ClassCastException e) {
         this.vDatetime = null;
       } catch (final IllegalArgumentException e) {
+        if (this.operator.contains("(")) {
+          throw new Query.ParsingException("the value is expected to be a date time");
+        }
         this.vDatetime = null;
       }
     } else {