access crosstab query - analysis in excel

[mekon]

hello all

I'm having trouble analysing the output from an access 2000 crosstab query in excel 2000. the sql is below.

the query returns customer details, and several columns relating to customer orders on the given dates. I need to analyse the data in these columns using various excel formulas (SUM, COUNTIF etc), but all formulas seem to be behaving like there is no numeric data.

for example, if I SUM the column figures for a particular customer, a '0' is returned, despite there being data in the cells, and the cells being changed to a numeric format.
If I overwrite any of the data by entering the exact same value, the formulas then work.

this is highly infuriating. are the sales columns created by the crosstab query not numeric? has anyone come across this problem?

thanks in advance for any help. the sql is below


TRANSFORM IIf(Sum([total_this_cycle]) Is Null,'0',Sum([total_this_cycle])) AS Total
SELECT cust_totals.customer_id, customers.first_name, customers.surname, customers.store_name.....
FROM customers INNER JOIN cust_totals ON customers.customer_id = cust_totals.customer_id
GROUP BY cust_totals.customer_id....
PIVOT cust_totals.our_date In ('08/02/2002','07/02/2002','04/02/2002'...);