diff --git a/src/main/java/microsoft/exchange/webservices/data/core/EwsServiceXmlWriter.java b/src/main/java/microsoft/exchange/webservices/data/core/EwsServiceXmlWriter.java
index 4aeab0ba0..5fbb7af8f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/microsoft/exchange/webservices/data/core/EwsServiceXmlWriter.java
+++ b/src/main/java/microsoft/exchange/webservices/data/core/EwsServiceXmlWriter.java
@@ -98,9 +98,9 @@ public class EwsServiceXmlWriter implements IDisposable {
    */
   public EwsServiceXmlWriter(ExchangeServiceBase service, OutputStream stream) throws XMLStreamException {
     this.service = service;
-    XMLOutputFactory xmlof = XMLOutputFactory.newInstance();
+    XMLOutputFactory xmlof = XMLOutputFactory.newDefaultFactory();
+    xmlof.setProperty("escapeCharacters", false);
     xmlWriter = xmlof.createXMLStreamWriter(stream, "utf-8");
-
   }
 
   /**