Well just to let you know, i emailed the seller and it turns out that the only problem after all that was the voltage applied to the contrast pin Vop (or Vo in many cases). According to the appropriate powertip 2004A datasheet it states that this should be 4.2 - 4.8 volts. when i applied this i could not see it.
when i applied 0.5 volts to it, bingo! it works fine.

thanks a lot.
phil