No they're not the worst of airlines, it's just that sometimes they and some of their customers seem to think they can do no wrong. Ever! In this case they let you down quite badly and I think you're quite right to feel hard done by and that you deserve a response at least, although I think expectations of $7,000 are wholly unrealistic.

I'll contrast that with my experience with AA. On a trip back from Rio my Samsonite case was broken and I encountered a 3 hour delay in JFK.
Outcome : I left my case with AA and it was repaired and ready within 2 hours and delivered to where I was staying in London the same day. I also received unsolicited 8,000 miles to say sorry for the delay.

Did they have to do this under the Warsaw Convention? No. Did they do the right thing to keep a customer happy? I thought it was an appropriate response to what had happened. My inconvenience was minor compared to what you went through so search the BA board (when it's back up), use the advice on here and hopefully you'll get some satisfaction.

P.S. You may have more joy using the word "reimburse" than "compensation". The term "compensation" tends to throw up images of litigious Americans.