Chrysler Extended Warranty / Service Contracts

[Kautious]

QUESTION: Is Freon for Air-Conditioning (i.e the Freon gas itself and the process of re-filling) covered by Chrysler in the Extended Warranty (called "Service Contract" by Chrysler) if the Extended Warranty covers the Air-Conditioning System (“AC” for short in this forum doc).

MY ARGUMENT: It should.

REASONS:
(a) The Service Contract document specifically states the coverage of the AC.
(b) The "Exclusions" paragraph in the Service Contract contains a long list of items which are not covered by the Service Contract, such as spark plugs, batteries, filters, fluids, lubrications, brake shoes, tires, lamps, [in other words 'consumables' or items subject to wear and tear] and it does not specifically state that Freon (or any gas [as in vapor] for the AC is to be excluded.
The legal principles : in Latin: "inclusio unius est exclusio alterius"; it means in plain English: "If you specify something but not everything
in the same category the reader may infer that the unspecified item(s) have been deliberately omitted".
(c) Freon (or whatever refrigerant gas) is not a consumable, it is recycled inside the AC, and always stays [although it changes from a gaseous state to a liquid state and back again] inside the AC (not just in cars, it could be in your home, your office, or in your manufacturing plant, etc.) Freon cannot just disappear or be contaminated, unless there is a leak or a malfunction in an AC. In the process of filling any AC, Freon is in a gaseous state (and not in a liquid state), if you want to be very explicit because this could be interpreted differently in an argument.
(d) "Contract Of Adhesion" - since the contracts for Extended Warranties, etc. (for that matter, any legal documents you signed or entered into with your stockbrokers, banks, insurance companies, phone/cable/internet service companies, and the like) which you signed or entered into WITH NO OPPORTUNITY GRANTED TO YOU TO NEGOTIATE FOR A CHANGE IN THE TERMS OR CONDITIONS - i.e. pre-printed legal documents which fall into the "take it or leave it" category – are usually interpreted in the law courts in a consumer's favor if there is any dispute arising out of any confusion or unclear stipulations in the documents.

ANCILLIARY INFORMATION: In some Extended Warranties offered by non-car manufacturer companies, Freon, the material, and the process of re-filling are specifically included in their contracts in the repair of AC.

HOW DOES IT AFFECT CONSUMERS LIKE YOU AND ME:
A Chrysler dealership had refused to cover the cost of the Freon (the material) and the process of re-filling, even the AC is leaking and the car is under warranty. The reason is that Chrysler does not reimburse the dealership for the costs of Freon and the process of re-filling. This seems to be the case for all Chrysler dealerships here (or for that matter, other American car companies in Canada). If we, as consumers can prevail in the case, Chrysler will be in for a class action suit from all its customers with Warranty or Extended Warranty (the payment would be for the costs charged to their customers over the years), since many consumers had been denied the coverage of a free re-fill in the same incident as mine as detailed below.

DETAILS OF MY INCIDENT:

My Neon 2001 is still under warranty (even on this day), and in the last weekend in May (which was very hot in Montreal) I have noticed that there was no cold air coming out of the Air Conditioner System ("AC"). Since it was a weekend, all Chrysler dealerships in the entire Province of Quebec was closed (as usual), I took my car to a Shell station with a mechanic shop (where I usually do my gas fill-ups) to check the AC.

The mechanic was helpful to tell me that there was no Freon in my car, and that is the cause of hot air coming out when I turned the AC on. He said that there could a leak in the AC, and he then filled up the Freon, plus some tint to detect the leaks. He asked me to go back there in a week's time so that he could find where the leak was and do the required repair. He charged me $79.99 (plus the sales taxes).

I told him that my car was still under Chrysler warranty. He was helpful to tell me that Chrysler should fix all the problems free of charge.

And about 10 days after the repair, I encountered the same 'hot air' problem again.

So the Monday after that, I tried to make an appointment at a Montreal Chrysler dealership. They could not give me an appointment in the morning (so that I can have my car back on the same day) until July 6.

When I explained the problem to the service rep at the Chrysler dealership, he told me that there were 3 scenarios for charging:
(A) Completely free of charge : if there was a malfunction or leak found in the AC, since my car was still under warrranty.
(B) Charge for checking the AC - $79.99 plus taxes : if my complaint about the 'hot air' was ill-founded (meaning I was just making a nuisance to them).
(C) Charges for checking the AC and for re-filling the Freon - $179.99 : if they could not find any fault with the AC (he also explained that the leak could be so small that cannot be detected at all - after I told him that I had a Freon fill-up not too long ago). He explained to me in that case, I did not have to pay for anything provided that my car was under extended warranty.

I was also told by the service rep that my car could be ready by 5 p.m. the same day (when the dealership closed for business – their usual business hours).

Around 4:30 p.m. on July 6, the service rep called to tell me that the car could not be ready because they have found a leak which need some replacement parts to be installed. He told me that in any event, the car could be ready by noon the day after (July 7).

Then on July 7, around noon time, I received a call from the same service rep telling me that my car would have to stay for one more day because there were some more parts awaiting to be replaced.

Then at 3 p.m. on Friday July 8, I got a call to tell me that my car would be ready, and if I do not pick it up by 5 p.m., I will have to wait until the Monday after.

When I arrived at the Chrysler dealership, I was told by another service rep to pay $179.99 (plus tax) totallying $207.03 for the car to be released to me. The original service rep was not available, and that the manager of customer service also was not available to discusss anything about my case. I paid and took the car.

About a week later, I made an appointment with the customer service manager of the Chrysler dealership. Her attitude was straight forward : NO WAY THAT THE DEALERSHIP WOULD PAY. THE COST OF ANY REPAIR SHOULD COME EITHER FROM CHRYSLER OR FROM THE CUSTOMER. IF YOU HAVE A BEEF, CONTACT CHRYSLER DIRECTLY, although she said : "I wish I can help you as much as I can to keep you happy, but I have to follow the Chrsyler policy".

On the warranty: Since I purchased my car in Toronto, and every time I went to a Chrysler dealer other than the same one in Toronto, I got a blank look from their service reps telling me that I did not have any warranty coverage, or mine had expired, until I showed them the warranty card that original Chrysler dealer (who sold me the car) gave me. Mind you: that card is definitely a Chrysler document - not one just made out by the dealership. Then their excuse: in Chrysler, there are so many warranty policies in place, they have to verify carefully because some of them are not valid anymore. To me, it is a simple excuse for extra money-grab from unsuspecting customers.


=== My Plea: ===============================
Please tell us your experience in you have a similar one.

I am not going to feed the legal community by starting a lawsuit like this until there are enough incidents out there to build a strong one in winning.

P L E A S E H E L P, A L L Y O U N I C E P E O P L E
O U T T H E R E ! ! !

T H A N K S

[Kautious]

My apologies:

I forgot to add the following in my initial write-up :

The repair done to my car at the Chrysler dealership in Montreal was to replace the Evaporator (which they found a leak) and something in the front panel of my dashboard. That was the reason for the length two-and half days of repair. And that the replacement part and labor were covered by the warranty {except that the Freon and the re-filling were charged to me}.

Also, the response from the receptionist/cashier at the Chrysler dealership when I complained about that I had to pay ... etc. was that I was lucky to have the warranty coverage for those already, otherwise, I could have been pay over $1,000 to have my car back.