What do you mean by ridging? Is it at the top of the cylinder or is it scratches going down the side walls from some possible fuel wash.
What spacer was replaced? What was their theory behind the intake gasket? Were the spark plugs wet with oil? Cylinder heads new or old? Did you do a compression test or leak down on the motor?
any time you have 2 people working on the same product one is going to want to blame the other.
it sucks but very few people stand behind there product these days! there are very few people id trust to build a short block and stand behind, Rick is one of them... some of these big name shops you see in MMFF and all that are ones i wouldnt trust. you just dont get the service out of them as you would out of a smaller shop.
x2. The only people I would ever trust to build a motor for me would be a local guy that I can go see in person who's quality I can expect, or someone like Woody or Rick who are not assembly line cookie cutter shops, where you don't know what the hell you are getting.