[Held for Ransom]

I would have contacted M&H to find out how much they would have charged to fix it.

As someone who has to cut/strip TFE, PTFE, ETFE and Kapton insulated silver plated and nickel plated copper wires all day long, a single splicing would be a treat.
Also what solder type are you using? As a J-STD-001 solder certified person, it sounds like you haven't been using flux to help with the solder flow or you're using RoHS compliant solder (no lead). They also have solder filled butt connectors nowadays.