VLOOKUP (Or Similar) with Wildcards in Both Lookup Value and Range

[LarryLegend]

I'm trying to match up scanned data that often has missing digits from one list to another. I'm open to a VBA solution, but if possible preference would be to have a formula based solution.

Each list is currently on a separate tab and has 3 columns:

Column A: The value to be matched, often contains wildcards due to unreadable characters
Column B: Time of Checkout/Return
Column C: Checkout/Return Location

Basically, I'm try to identify a match in Column A and then use that to populate Columns D-F on my first sheet from the corresponding data from Columns A-C on my second sheet.

Rules

* Values are always 7 characters and the characters can be both letters and numbers
* In order to be successful there must be a minimum of 3 characters that match and no characters that don't match. (My ideal would have the ability to set a mininum number of matches and then look for the best match. i.e. If one record matches 5 and another record matches 6, it grabs the one with 6 character matches)

Ex.

ABC???? - A?CDEFG (No Match - Only 2 Characters matched up, the first digit and the third digit)
ABCDEF? - ABCDEG? (No Match - 5 Characters matched, but the sixth digit was different)
ABCDE?? - ??CDEF? (Successful Match - The third, fourth, and fifth digits were a match)

[Melvinrobb]

What do you want returned if there are multiple records that have an equal # of matches?