3ds max skin modifier distorting and/or re-translating mesh.

[video=youtube_share;UZPJqb7pC-E]http://youtu.be/UZPJqb7pC-E

In the video above the mesh's translation and scale is messed up after adding bones.

The issue seems to be the pivot point. In order to have the animations sync spatially w/ the character after import into Unity, their mesh pivot points need to be the same (0,0). The problem is that (in max) any change to the mesh's pivot point creates an offset once the skin modifier is applied (my troubleshooting was thwarted by the fact that the offset re-occurs even after you delete the modifier, re-center the pivot point, and reapply the modifier!).

I need a way to ensure that the mesh won't be offset after applying the skin modifier and adding bones.