diff --git a/doc/changelog.rst b/doc/changelog.rst
index df7d1ca90..6400f5c24 100644
--- a/doc/changelog.rst
+++ b/doc/changelog.rst
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ now accepts an `address` parameter.
 :mod:`~pymongo.errors` Changes
 ..............................
 
-The exception class ``UnsupportedOption`` is deleted.
+The exception classes ``UnsupportedOption`` and ``TimeoutError`` are deleted.
 
 :mod:`~gridfs` Changes
 ......................
diff --git a/pymongo/errors.py b/pymongo/errors.py
index 6e95130fd..5a23040c4 100644
--- a/pymongo/errors.py
+++ b/pymongo/errors.py
@@ -126,12 +126,21 @@ class ExecutionTimeout(OperationFailure):
     """
 
 
-class TimeoutError(OperationFailure):
-    """DEPRECATED - will be removed in PyMongo 3.0. See WTimeoutError instead.
+class WriteConcernError(OperationFailure):
+    """Base exception type for errors raised due to write concern.
+
+    .. versionadded:: 3.0
     """
 
 
-class WTimeoutError(TimeoutError):
+class WriteError(OperationFailure):
+    """Base exception type for errors raised during write operations.
+
+    .. versionadded:: 3.0
+    """
+
+
+class WTimeoutError(WriteConcernError):
     """Raised when a database operation times out (i.e. wtimeout expires)
     before replication completes.
 
@@ -142,7 +151,7 @@ class WTimeoutError(TimeoutError):
     """
 
 
-class DuplicateKeyError(OperationFailure):
+class DuplicateKeyError(WriteError):
     """Raised when an insert or update fails due to a duplicate key error."""
 
 
diff --git a/pymongo/helpers.py b/pymongo/helpers.py
index 3915bb66c..26ffc5ec8 100644
--- a/pymongo/helpers.py
+++ b/pymongo/helpers.py
@@ -24,10 +24,12 @@ from bson.py3compat import itervalues, string_type, iteritems
 from bson.son import SON
 from pymongo.errors import (CursorNotFound,
                             DuplicateKeyError,
-                            OperationFailure,
                             ExecutionTimeout,
-                            WTimeoutError,
-                            NotMasterError)
+                            NotMasterError,
+                            OperationFailure,
+                            WriteError,
+                            WriteConcernError,
+                            WTimeoutError)
 from pymongo.message import query
 
 
@@ -244,13 +246,15 @@ def _check_write_command_response(results):
             error["index"] += offset
             if error.get("code") == 11000:
                 raise DuplicateKeyError(error.get("errmsg"), 11000, error)
+            raise WriteError(error.get("errmsg"), error.get("code"), error)
         else:
             error = result["writeConcernError"]
             if "errInfo" in error and error["errInfo"].get('wtimeout'):
                 # Make sure we raise WTimeoutError
-                raise WTimeoutError(error.get("errmsg"),
-                                    error.get("code"), error)
-        raise OperationFailure(error.get("errmsg"), error.get("code"), error)
+                raise WTimeoutError(
+                    error.get("errmsg"), error.get("code"), error)
+            raise WriteConcernError(
+                error.get("errmsg"), error.get("code"), error)
 
 
 def _fields_list_to_dict(fields, option_name):