My personal experience with Soundsmith has been nothing but stellar and this has been over a period of 7 years and 9 carts rebuilt and or retipped, as a matter of fact they have my Universe as we speak, in for a suspension adjustment. Something certainly went wrong in your case though and probably falls into the shit happens catagory but I certainly wouldn't jump to the conclusion that the finished job was anything but top notch. Enjoy your cart, by now it will be like a lost jewel just found.
Questionable service at Soundsmith
I sent my Benz Micro for a re-tipping. After they received my cartridge I get an email on how to check status of the job. Their website tells you retipping takes 8 - 14 weeks. Well that came and went, I did not hear anything. I checked the status now and then, nada. I started to worry because it's been about a year now. Finally, I decided to give them a call and find out what is going on. In my mind, I'm thinking, have they lost my cartridge? Did they misplace it? What? I couldn't get through, goes straight to voicemail every time. So I decided to email an address I got from their website to ask for help. I got a response that it will be done soon, they are really back logged. An hour later, I get another email from another person saying it was done and ready to ship. What?! Did they just do a rush job on my cartridge? Because I started to complain? That they've had my cartridge laying around for about a year! And here's the kicker, please pay $450 for the retipping. Nice.