Well, after a fairly bad lightning storm a few days ago my Sharp Microwave/Convection Oven's digital display suddenly had missing segments (possibly a coincidence) on the first digit from the left. See demo pic below.
This in not my LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) but mine has missing segments similar to what is shown in the picture.
So, I called around and found repair could be accomplished by someone local. Very expensive to say the least. Also priced a new R820BK like mine and it would have been about $280.00 delivered.
I remembered reading a post of some RV related forum about a guy that could actually fix the display for about $39.95 if you pulled the control panel and mailed it to him in Indiana.
Name of the business is
Microwave Display Repair.
Armed with knowledge gleaned from Microwave Display Repair's website, I got my Phillips head screwdriver out and pulled the Sharp from the wall mounting box and opened the microwave up. (not that hard). I easily removed the control panel and overnighted it via USPS Overnight mail to William at Microwave Display Repair. The panel got to Indiana the next day and about 24 hrs. later I received an email from the business saying the unit was fixed and on the way back to me via Express Overnite Mail. (I paid $16.00 for Overnite Express) I originally/upfront had authorized PayPal to give William $110.00 to cover parts if he could not fix the unit and needed to buy new parts. (i.e. CPU) Without my asking, William immediately refunded most of that money when he determined he could fix the unit and not have to replace it. How's that for honesty! Actual repair of my display ended being about $50.00. Turn around time was very fast!
I will post here in the next day or so and let you know if indeed the display is back to normal/repaired. I'm confident it will be.
I will also add that William was good about keeping me updated in regard to repair status. He spoke with me on the phone and via an Instant Message button on his website. Very refreshing to do business with a business/fellow like this.
Thank You, William.
For the record.. I used PayPal and used my MasterCard for a funding source. IF there had been an issue I would have told MC to do a "charge back". In todays day and age I don't just send
cash to someone/ some business.
.