>>I can't test this right now (I install some SP here)
>>but what if you change declarations of the variables from CHAR() to VARCHAR()?
>
>Changing to varchar will find the records.
>
>But, why?

declare @x char(20)
set @x = 'test%'
select @x + '<'

declare @y varchar(20)
set @y = 'test%'
select @y + '<'

there's a big difference between those two as far as the LIKE operation is concerned