diff --git a/mem0/vector_stores/pinecone.py b/mem0/vector_stores/pinecone.py
index 91be9efdb..733db6ca8 100644
--- a/mem0/vector_stores/pinecone.py
+++ b/mem0/vector_stores/pinecone.py
@@ -391,7 +391,7 @@ class PineconeDB(VectorStoreBase):
             return [results]
         except Exception as e:
             logger.error(f"Error listing vectors: {e}")
-            return {"points": [], "next_page_token": None}
+            return [[]]
 
     def count(self) -> int:
         """
diff --git a/tests/vector_stores/test_pinecone.py b/tests/vector_stores/test_pinecone.py
index 89194aea1..06980fe82 100644
--- a/tests/vector_stores/test_pinecone.py
+++ b/tests/vector_stores/test_pinecone.py
@@ -188,3 +188,11 @@ def test_count_with_none_vector_count(pinecone_db):
     count = pinecone_db.count()
     assert count == 0
     pinecone_db.index.describe_index_stats.assert_called_once()
+
+
+def test_list_error_returns_list_not_dict(pinecone_db):
+    """list() error path must return [[]] so callers can do result[0]."""
+    pinecone_db.index.query.side_effect = Exception("connection error")
+    result = pinecone_db.list(filters={"user_id": "alice"}, top_k=10)
+    assert isinstance(result, list)
+    assert result == [[]]