SME 312S arm pulling into the center too much.

I have an SME 201/12 with 312S arm.
It has been a great system for several years.
Recently I did not use it for over a year and when I did get back to it I have found that the arm is pulling to the center way too much.
Even when i set anti skating at maximum it still sends the arm to the middle way too fast on a blank record.
Obviously the sound is out of balance to the right.
I called SME England the the guy told me that the groove forces would send the arm outwards and that the anti skate acted in the opposite direction!!!!
I was stunned to say the least.

It is made worse by the fact that the new US distributors do not even publish a phone number let alone answering it when you call.

Before i pack up the arm and return it to the UK just wondered if anyone had similar experience with SME anti skating.

Aloha!