Spreadsheet Formula Errors: Common Causes and Fix Costs

Most formula problems are a specific, fixable mistake rather than a broken spreadsheet. A simple formula repair starts from £19; larger data cleanup is scoped separately.

The usual causes

• Broken references — a formula pointing at a cell, sheet or file that moved or was deleted.
• Relative vs absolute references — a formula that behaves differently when copied because the reference was not locked.
• Lookup errors — VLOOKUP, XLOOKUP or INDEX/MATCH returning the wrong value or #N/A.
• Data-type problems — numbers stored as text, or text being treated as numbers.
• Locale and date issues — day/month order, or a different decimal separator.
• Copied formulas — a formula pasted across a range that was never adjusted.
• Circular references — a formula that refers to its own result.

Reading common errors

• #REF! — a reference no longer exists.
• #VALUE! — the wrong type of value is in the formula.
• #N/A — a lookup could not find a match.
• #DIV/0! — division by zero or an empty cell.
• #NAME? — a misspelled function or named range.

What a repair covers

A simple repair means: identify the broken formula, fix the reference or logic, confirm it returns the right result, and leave the sheet in a working state. We can also add a short note so the same mistake is easier to spot next time.

Cost and scope

• £19 — a clearly bounded repair such as one or two broken formulas.
• £29 or quoted — several related formulas, lookup restructuring, or a sheet that also needs data cleaned.

What to send us