In the end, after making calls to both places, I turned the A700 over to Camera Hospital due to the lower quoted price. The guy there said he would order the LCD from Sony for me and install it within a week for a cost of $210 (including $30 for labour). Have to wait and see what goes next then.
Just borrowed an A500 to use for the weekend shoot. Kinda irksome to "downgrade" for a while but guess I'll have to make do with it then.
