I have to disagree, most carriers require that a person fill out the claim forms at the airport, or as LA posted bring the bag back.

I can tell you I know that some former bag repair centers in NYC area would work with the passenger no different then auto body shops work with the owner of a car to make sure theres enough damage to cover the persons deductable. here they made sure your bag was damaged in a way that the Carrier would pay for it to be repaired, needless to say the more damage the more they made and it was a way to make sure either the bag would be declared garbage and of cause youd have to get a new one from them or they made sure to cover even those things that werent, either way Passenger- 1 CO -0

I too am at a loss why the OP didnt take care of things when he was still at EWR, an out station might not have CO employees around but EWR sure does