Replace()

I've got a function that I use to replace ' marks so the page will insert properly into a database - typically I use .Code:

whatever= request.form("whatever")
whatever = replace(whatever,"'", "''")
However, I've got some code that I unfortunately inherited from someone else that I can't get the replace to work:Code:

call buildquery (colq,valq,retq,"whatever")
colq = "(" & colq & ")"
valq = "(" & valq & ")"
ssql = "insert into table_name " & colq & " values " & valq
I was trying to do something in the call buildquery line to add a replace, but that doesn't seem to work.