Here it is for all that asked and some that need encouragement. 

A GREAT BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED ME OUT WITH THE INFORMATION AND 
TO THOSE WHO LET ME USE THEIR STORIES TO HELP PROVE MY CASE.

The Facts of my case:

I purchased my van used from a Pontiac dealership. The van was approximately 
six months old with 12000km on it .

I had the remaining warranty transferred at the time.  It was the three year 
warranty and not the seven. The dealership and Chrysler Canada differ as to 
how long the paint is covered. The dealership says one year and CC said three. 
(I do not feel that it makes any difference as this problem is a defect in 
the paint and because of this defect all vehicles that are affected by it 
should be recalled.)

Some time later I noticed I had a lot of chips in the paint on the front, 
odd as I had never driven on a gravel road.  While I had it in for something 
different I asked about them as they seemed to be getting bigger. The service 
man said they were just normal rock chips. They got bigger and a friend who 
does body work looked at it and said rock chips don't grow.

The next time my van was in for a service I mentioned this fact and was told 
that they can get bigger with time. I had never had this happen but I took his 
word for it as he was the expert. Then after a friend borrowed the van and 
washed it for me I noticed a patch on the fender was bare. I asked him what 
he ran into and he said nothing. We checked it over and there was no dent just 
a bare patch. I washed the van the next week at the carat with the hand held 
wand and the "rock chips" grew.

I took it back to the dealership and they said they had never seen this 
happen before and it could be caused by the brushes in those drive though 
car washes. I explained that I had never taken it to this kind of car wash 
because I either washed it at home or at the hand held wand type of wash. 
They then said maybe the car wash had the pressure set too high. I was mad 
and I just left.

When I took it to the auto body shop the guy said "oh yes another one of 
those peeling Chryslers". He was very familiar with them and advised me to 
wait until it got worse, which he promised it would. He explained that 
Chrysler would: 
1) Deny knowing anything
2) Blame it on something I did to it, acid rain, carwashes, or chemical 
   fall-out from the mill
3) Say they were sorry but it was out of warranty
4) If I was still persistent he said they would send a rep to look at it 
   and then offer a 50/50 split

I left there believing that he just hated the dealership for his own reasons 
and that he was bitter. He did however tell me that these spots could not be 
repaired but the whole vehicle would have to be stripped to bare metal and 
that included taking off all the trim, moldings, removing all windows etc. 
or else the paint under these places would let go in time. I still trusted 
the dealership and so silly me,  I thought he was just trying to up his bill. 
So off I went to the next body-shop and they came right out and said they 
would fix it for 1/2 his price but they would not give a guarantee on the 
paint because they had done this and they ended up paying the whole shot for 
a few new strip down and re-paints. They explained that it was about 11/2-2 
weeks work and they could not afford to do this.  This dealership had worked 
steady for two years repairing the peeling Ford that were recalled and they 
said it was an awfully big job and the profit was not great. Two body shops 
later I was a believer.

This time I went back to the dealership a little more informed and low and 
behold they took pictures and said to wait for them to get a response from 
head office. Three months later and several phone calls they said the rep 
would be here next month and he would look at it. They stalled with the rep 
story for six months and then said he would be at least another three. 

I faithfully washed the van all winter at the hand wand car wash because I 
was told that the primer would rust quickly if it was left exposed with the 
salt and ice build up.  Every time I washed it a little more paint would come 
off. One day while washing it my sister was with me and she was in so shocked 
she asked me to stop so she could go home and get the video camera. There were 
six bays in the car wash and everyone was over watching in disbelief as I 
washed the paint away. A man driving a Mercedes got on his cell phone and 
called all the people he knew trying to get a reporter to come and see for 
themselves. He stressed that unless you saw it happen you would not believe 
it. It was a holiday Monday and not one of them would come.  A few days later 
while driving down the road with my sister and a car full of daycare children 
I stopped at a light and the snow slid down off the roof on to the windshield. 
You had to see it to believe it but all the paint on the roof right back to 
the windshield came off with the snow. My sister just sat there in shock as 
I put it in park and go out to remove it so we could drive. No kidding you 
could not see through the paint. It would have made a great funniest home 
video had I not been thinking about the $6000.00 my new van was going to cost 
to re-paint.

The next trip to the dealership was to show them that there was no paint on 
the hood or front fenders and the roof as well as the hatch were starting to 
go. They took more pictures and sent them off. I was furious and when I got 
home I called the 1 800# 

Four days later and several phone calls where I will admit I got very rude I 
got a call from the dealership saying CC would take their word for the bad 
paint and they would go for a 50/50 split.  The service manager started out 
by saying he was embarrassed to even make this offer but he had to. I said 
"TELL THEM TO SHOVE IT"  He agreed that he would have said the same but his 
hands were tied.

I was wild and while talking to my mom she advised posting it on the internet.
I was new to the internet but I sat down and tried to find a site for consumers
to post when I typed in Chrysler peeling paint boy was I shocked.  I just read 
and saved the stories at first and then got brave and started posting to ask 
questions. Once I got into it I found it was a full time job just keeping up. 
The list of people now stands at around 500 and those are only the ones on 
the internet who have thought to look it up. We see these vehicles everyday 
so we know how quickly this could turn to thousands.

I spoke to Phil Edmonston who is the author of the book Lemonade. He said to 
call a few consumer advocates and see if they would do stories on the problem. 
He gave me some names and numbers but most importantly he stressed filing in 
court and told me they would settle before court. I didn't realize until 
recently why they do this but it is clear now.  

They know most people will give up. Those who don't will be intimidated by 
the story they say about Chrysler being a big company with good lawyers. I 
was told flat out by a person on the 1 800 line that if I pushed it this far 
they would win because they had more power and money.  I took this on as a 
challenge instead of deterring me this just pushed me on. 

Chrysler has very good reasons for doing things this way. If they just pay for 
it then more folks would get their vehicles painted which would be costly but 
these people would also be free to talk about the problem and the settlement.  
If they get to small claims court then before the trial there is a settlement 
conference where everything is very informal but strictly confidential.  
Trust me this is where they want to settle.  If they don't settle here then 
the case goes to trial and it is made public record. Win or lose this puts 
them in a very bad position because then the reporters and consumer advocates 
get to know the story and the public will be aware there is a problem. I 
couldn't figure out why the papers and reporters just kept calling for 
information but never did the story.  One reporter spent the day with me and 
watched the video of the paint flying off in the car wash as well as went to 
the car wash and asked the attendant on duty what he saw.  He said he would 
do the story but called back later and said the editor pulled it because 
they were worried about getting sued. He did say to call him near the trial 
date and then he would be free to do a great story on it.

While waiting for court I spent my time getting information and then several 
folks suggested putting a sign on the van about original paint. I decided if 
we all worked together at this we had enough people to really make an impact. 
A lemonade parade would be something for the media to really sink their teeth 
into and would bring the paint defect out in the open where Chrysler would 
have to deal with it.  I am sure they would be pressured into doing a recall.  
The idea would be to get a yellow grease pencil and write the year of the 
vehicle as well as what Chrysler offered on the windows. We could also give 
the explanation from CC about the car wash, acid rain etc. Whatever theory 
the owner was given because it would not be slander but the whole truth. With 
yellow balloons and yellow ribbons to symbolize the lemons tied to the 
antennas of our vehicles it would be hard to miss us driving all around town 
for a day or so. The final stop would be close to a dealership where we would 
talk to onlookers as well as reporters about the defect.  The greatest 
exposure would be this happening in cities all over Canada and the US on the 
same day.  The media could then cover it in a big way and each person would 
not be fighting on their own. UNITED WE STAND If this were to happen then we 
would only need the facts and the media to be a much larger force than 
Chrysler.  Maybe one alone cannot fight City Hall but when the whole town 
fights just watch the big guys fall. Isn't the internet the greatest tool 
ever!!!!!

I have not given up on this yet and even if I win my case I still believe 
that this is a fight that is worth fighting.  I went to court September 
2/97  and you guessed it I am not able to talk about the settlement but I 
will say that they were very agreeable to all the facts. We are still 
working out the last few details but it looks good and I think by next week 
I will have my van re-painted at their expense.

I will keep in touch
Kim

-----------------------------------------------


UPDATE :

I am sorry I can't write to each of you individually but I just got my computer back and I currently have about 3000 emails to answer.  I will post to the newsgroups and I will count on all of you to pass the word on.

For those who would like to know all the details before this let me know and I will reply.
dkim@computime.bc.ca

FOF THOSE WHO KNOW MY STORY:
How I won the battle  !!!
When I last spoke to you people I had just came from the first conference settlement, this is just an informal meeting between the judge, you and Chrysler. I took my sister for support and they showed up with their big shot lawyer , the dealership owner and their service manager. After the Judge explained all the procedure we started.  I went in armed with all your stories and some pictures as well. I set these on the table and the judge asked me if these were all pertaining to my van. I said no and explained that they were my proof that there was a defect in the paint. I showed them photos of my van and after the Judge and the Lawyer looked at them the Judge asked if the other two would like to see them. I laughed and they replied "no, we have seen the vehicle."   I started showing the other pictures and the list of names and  The dealership owner put up his hands and said they were not denying that they knew it was a defect.  ( You can imagine how riled I got ) They had told me all along it was not defective and they were unaware there was a problem with their paint. 

I soon figured out that if we settled that day then I would not be allowed to allowed to disclose any of the information about my case. This made me so angry to think it would all be covered up that when they offered to pay $3700.00 and no more I closed my book and replied "we will see you at the trial."  Everyone got a little panicky then including the judge and they then decided to talk. The judge explained that between the dealership and Chrysler they should pay for the whole shot $4800.00. The judge then went on to explain that this would not look good for Chrysler if they went to court and lost. CC said they had received a quote from a body-shop that was $1000.00 less than mine. This quote was from a body shop they had sent me to but was not the one I chose to do the job. I happened to have a copy of my quote there and I showed them that when I approached this body shop when they sent me there the quote they gave me was about $100.00 more than where I wanted to have the job done.  I explained to the judge that every place I took the van for an estimate said that they could not go down on the price at all without compromising quality and therefore would not guarantee anything less than a complete strip down with all glass and moldings removed. The judge strongly suggested to them once again that they should settle and it looked like it was over. Due to my mistrust of this company the judge gave them until October 31/97 to come to an agreement with me and he set a tentative date for us to return for another conference if it was not settled. I THOUGHT I HAD WON. WRONG!!!

PS:  I must tell you on the way out of the court I offered them all a hed and said I was a tough one and as I obviously had my mind made up and nothing was going to change that he said he would talk to his client and get back to me.

One hour later he called and said "they will pay the whole shot at the body shop you chose, will that make you happy?"  I answered that plus the court costs and he agreed. 

THEY PAID FOR THEIR NON DEFECT TO THE TUNE OF $5000.00

I will help you all in any way I can.

Steve Cosio sent this to me today and I encourage everyone to do it. I'd be interested in hearing about your case.  I started a national
campaign last week -- perhaps you received my email -- suggesting everyone
affected with peeling paint file a small claims suit against Chrysler on
Monday, March 2, 1998.
scosio@adnc.com


 It is not hard to win when you hold all the cards. The hours I spent fighting with CC were of no importance until they realized I was going to court and then all it took was one hour in court and another on the phone.  Don't let them win. A BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED ME GET THE INFORMATION I NEEDED TO WIN.


"In the struggle between the stream and rock, the stream always wins.
        Not through strength, but through perseverance."

Keep in touch
Kim