ot: BIG UPS PROBLEM!!, need (legal?) advice badly- Options

[914ghost]

Okay-
Sold a set of 17" Porsche Cup wheels for a friend of mine. Just trying to be nice.
The price was $600 Delivered.
I wrapped the wheels in corrugated cardboard/tape thoroughly, then wrapped each pair of wheels together with more cardboard/tape.
Used 1600 Inches of tape (2 brand new rolls) total on the packing- 800' for each pair.
The wheels travelled from Washington to San Diego and were DEMOLISHED in transit.
One wheel never even showed up- the box was destroyed there were just the remains of the packing. The wheels that made it are scratched badly.
1st BIG problem:
I used the website and entered the info for the 1st box insured for $400, then hit "duplicate package" which duplicated all but the insurance info- so they say the 2nd box is not insured.
2nd BIG problem: They called me and said cardboard DOES NOT qualify as a packing item- therefore my claim is DENIED.

I said kindly, NO IT IS NOT- YOU WILL PAY ME. And explained the situation calmly to teh person on the phone- she replied they would get back to me and I haven't heard from them.

I feel fairly powerless.
Any advice? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)
-Bob O

[914ghost]

Okay-
So I have two packages each wrapped cardboard and secured with 800 inches of packing tape.
1 package makes it intact thus I would consider the packing sufficient to at least make the journey- since both were packed indentical then they both must have been packed sufficiently at least to get the contents top the destination.
The second box though gets torn in half- and NOBODY FUCKING NOTICES? ahem* sorry.
Did it just friggen explode when noone was looking?
I'm sorry, I'll gladly admit its possible there could be some scuffing or a ding or two from the LACK of cushion- I'd eat that cost and send the buyer some money or a refund- but I will not (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mad.gif) allow them to arbitrarily tell me AFTER the fact that the packing is good enough for them to accept into transit and they'll take my insurance money but IF something happens they'll judge the packing different? And it wasn't good enough after all?
Somebody needs to find and QUOTE UPS guidelines where it says ONLY items packaged by and approved for transit by UPS will be insured.
I'll keep you posted.
-Bob O

p.s. I recieved a set of Fuchs from a guy in Indiana a month or two ago, they had ONE thin piece of cardboard between a pair of wheels (got 5 wheels) and were taped together. The 5th wheel had cardboard over the top.
The showed up here in PERFECT condition all at the same time.
Not a scratch.