The two are tied together, paint won't adhere to chrome as well and so if the masking is not done well and or removed at the wrong time it will lift. There are etching primers that will even bite a bit into chrome but they will also bite into the areas you wish to keep clean if the masking is not done well.
While the body shop stated the problem was the chrome, it could ALSO be the masking.

This does bring me to a question that only an old Schwinn employee could answer, Paramounts were pretty well masked off AND they used electrostatic paint application, the paint gun and paint were charged one way and the frame the other so the paint would be attracted like a magnet to the frame, how was that done with the paramounts?