Good point Paul
I wouldn't normally create the xlApp in the same line as the declaration of the variable. Could that be the issue?
This thread
http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.p...ice-pack-error seems to encounter a similar error and potentially relates to an upgraded version of Excel causing confusion with the one line declaration and creation of the application object.
I've also encountered a problem recently whereby the Dir command fails if the file is present BUT has the Hidden attribute set. For that one I had to use FileSystemObject instead to test for the file. I'm not saying that is the problem in this case.