diff --git a/clients/typescript/src/consumer.ts b/clients/typescript/src/consumer.ts
index fee27aaa..6b6a4605 100644
--- a/clients/typescript/src/consumer.ts
+++ b/clients/typescript/src/consumer.ts
@@ -131,11 +131,14 @@ export class Consumer {
       if (batchId !== null) {
         if (anyNackFailed) {
           // At least one required nack failed. Skip ack so PgQ redelivers
-          // the batch on the next poll instead of advancing the consumer
-          // past messages we couldn't route.
+          // the batch instead of advancing the consumer past messages we
+          // couldn't route. The batch is unfinished, so `next_batch` would
+          // return it again immediately — sleep one poll interval before
+          // re-polling to avoid a hot loop that re-runs every handler.
           this.logger.error(
             `pgque: skipping ack for batch ${batchId}; one or more nacks failed and the batch will be redelivered`,
           );
+          await sleep(this.pollIntervalMs, signal);
         } else {
           try {
             const n = await this.client.ack(batchId);
@@ -145,7 +148,10 @@ export class Consumer {
               );
             }
           } catch (err) {
+            // Unfinished batch: same redelivery situation as the failed-nack
+            // path above, so back off one poll interval before re-polling.
             this.logger.error(`pgque: ack error: ${formatErr(err)}`);
+            await sleep(this.pollIntervalMs, signal);
           }
         }
       }
diff --git a/clients/typescript/src/producer_bench.ts b/clients/typescript/src/producer_bench.ts
index f97acbad..5913039a 100644
--- a/clients/typescript/src/producer_bench.ts
+++ b/clients/typescript/src/producer_bench.ts
@@ -6,8 +6,11 @@
 
 import { randomBytes } from 'node:crypto';
 import { performance } from 'node:perf_hooks';
+import pg from 'pg';
 import { connect, type Client } from './client.js';
 
+const { escapeIdentifier } = pg;
+
 const dsn = process.env.PGQUE_TEST_DSN;
 const batchSizes = [1, 100, 1000] as const;
 const repeats = Number.parseInt(process.env.PGQUE_BENCH_REPEATS ?? '3', 10);
@@ -112,13 +115,25 @@ async function verifyCount(client: Client, queue: string, expected: number): Pro
   );
   const table = tableResult.rows[0]?.current_event_table;
   if (!table) throw new Error(`current_event_table returned no row for ${queue}`);
-  const countResult = await client.rawPool.query<{ count: string }>(`select count(*) from ${table}`);
-  const got = Number.parseInt(countResult.rows[0]?.count ?? 'NaN', 10);
-  if (got !== expected) {
-    throw new Error(`${queue}: expected ${expected} events, got ${got}`);
+  // count(*) is int8, which the pgque pool parses to BigInt (OID 20).
+  const countResult = await client.rawPool.query<{ count: bigint }>(
+    `select count(*) from ${quoteQualifiedIdent(table)}`,
+  );
+  const got = countResult.rows[0]?.count;
+  if (got !== BigInt(expected)) {
+    throw new Error(`${queue}: expected ${expected} events, got ${got ?? 'no row'}`);
   }
 }
 
+// Quote a possibly schema-qualified relation name (e.g. "pgque.event_1_0")
+// part by part so it is safe to splice into SQL as an identifier.
+function quoteQualifiedIdent(name: string): string {
+  return name
+    .split('.')
+    .map((part) => escapeIdentifier(part))
+    .join('.');
+}
+
 function median(values: number[]): number {
   const sorted = [...values].sort((a, b) => a - b);
   const mid = Math.floor(sorted.length / 2);
diff --git a/clients/typescript/test/consumer.test.ts b/clients/typescript/test/consumer.test.ts
index 294bb98f..0e687cc4 100644
--- a/clients/typescript/test/consumer.test.ts
+++ b/clients/typescript/test/consumer.test.ts
@@ -456,6 +456,104 @@ describe('Consumer (in-memory mocks)', () => {
     ).toThrow(/retryAfter/);
   });
 
+  it('sleeps pollInterval before re-polling after a nack failure', async () => {
+    const msg: Message = {
+      msgId: 4n,
+      batchId: 102n,
+      type: 'will_fail',
+      payload: '{}',
+      retryCount: null,
+      createdAt: new Date(),
+      extra1: null,
+      extra2: null,
+      extra3: null,
+      extra4: null,
+    };
+
+    // receive always returns the same batch (PgQ redelivers an unfinished
+    // batch instantly) and nack always fails, so an unfixed loop re-polls
+    // at full speed. With a 60s pollInterval, a backoff-respecting loop
+    // must call receive exactly once within the observation window.
+    const fakeClient = {
+      receive: vi.fn(async () => [msg]),
+      ack: vi.fn(async () => undefined),
+      nack: vi.fn(async () => {
+        throw new Error('synthetic persistent nack failure');
+      }),
+    };
+
+    const consumer = new Consumer(fakeClient as unknown as Client, 'q', 'c', {
+      pollInterval: 60_000,
+      logger: { warn: () => undefined, error: () => undefined },
+    });
+    consumer.handle('will_fail', async () => {
+      throw new Error('handler boom');
+    });
+
+    const ac = new AbortController();
+    const startPromise = consumer.start(ac.signal);
+    const deadline = Date.now() + 4000;
+    while (Date.now() < deadline && fakeClient.nack.mock.calls.length === 0) {
+      await sleep(10);
+    }
+    // Give an unfixed (hot-looping) consumer time to re-poll.
+    await sleep(300);
+    ac.abort();
+    await startPromise;
+
+    expect(fakeClient.receive).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(fakeClient.nack).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(fakeClient.ack).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(0);
+  });
+
+  it('sleeps pollInterval before re-polling after an ack error', async () => {
+    const msg: Message = {
+      msgId: 5n,
+      batchId: 103n,
+      type: 'fine',
+      payload: '{}',
+      retryCount: null,
+      createdAt: new Date(),
+      extra1: null,
+      extra2: null,
+      extra3: null,
+      extra4: null,
+    };
+
+    let handlerCalls = 0;
+    const fakeClient = {
+      receive: vi.fn(async () => [msg]),
+      ack: vi.fn(async () => {
+        throw new Error('synthetic ack failure');
+      }),
+      nack: vi.fn(async () => undefined),
+    };
+
+    const consumer = new Consumer(fakeClient as unknown as Client, 'q', 'c', {
+      pollInterval: 60_000,
+      logger: { warn: () => undefined, error: () => undefined },
+    });
+    consumer.handle('fine', async () => {
+      handlerCalls += 1;
+    });
+
+    const ac = new AbortController();
+    const startPromise = consumer.start(ac.signal);
+    const deadline = Date.now() + 4000;
+    while (Date.now() < deadline && fakeClient.ack.mock.calls.length === 0) {
+      await sleep(10);
+    }
+    // Give an unfixed (hot-looping) consumer time to re-poll and re-run
+    // the handler with duplicate side effects.
+    await sleep(300);
+    ac.abort();
+    await startPromise;
+
+    expect(fakeClient.receive).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(fakeClient.ack).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(handlerCalls).toBe(1);
+  });
+
   it('does not call ack when nack fails for an unknown event type', async () => {
     const msg: Message = {
       msgId: 2n,