Banking Update

We are now able to provide you new information regarding the ACH/EFT downtime. We are still waiting for complete information from our bank RBC (Royal Bank of Canada) regarding this issue. Their initial explanation to us last Friday January 16th, 2009 was that they had a system upgrade and this is why we were unable to access our accounts last week. We also understand that they were also reviewing our accounts. Unfortunately, at this time we are still in the dark as to what is truly going on.

We contacted every aspect of the bank from Account Manager, Branch Manager, Ombudsman (supposedly an independent mediator), and Legal Department to get an explanation. Only after much maneuvering, were we able to get in contact with our Account Manager who simply avoided any explanation. Our legal team contacted RBC’s legal team who responded on Tuesday stating that they need time to review our case and will respond back by Friday. Till this moment, our legal team has not heard anything from RBC’s legal team.

On a brighter note, we were already in the process of moving to another banking provider who will be providing us with better services and faster processing time. We were 2 weeks away before this RBC issue came about. We will be up and running with new EFT/ACH services shortly.

We apologize for the inconvenience, as this issue was beyond our control and took us by surprise.

If you wish to have more information, we encourage you to call RBC directly at:

Hanane El-Makhad (Account Manager) at her direct line of 450-923-6115.

Additionally, if you are unable to contact her, then please contact Diane Belanger (Branch Manager) at the Main Branch number 450-923-5130