A certain credit-card company awards its customers bonus points for us

there is a question with the same topic about credit and the bonus points, but it has a different pattern. The assumption of that question is that customers must not purchase at stores without credit card.

Here, the assumption is about the amount spent by customers.

Can someone explain why C is wrong?

'The credit-card company does not require its customers to accumulate a large number of bonus points before becoming eligible to order merchandise at prices lower than the manufacturers‘ suggested retail price.'


If the company does require the customers to accumulate a large number of bonus (by spending more) then technically the customer is spending more money to buy the product compared to the retail store....

Can someone explain where any reasoning is wrong

Hi pra1785 ,

Here I go:

Notice that the conclusion is about getting a product via mail using points and getting a product from retail stores.

Even if the company is saying "hey guys lets accumulate the points first", then also once accumulated the product bought will be lower than the product bought from retail stores.

Notice that your scope here is just related to the product and not the spending.

The customer is actually not spending more to buy that product. The spending on the card is his usual spending and once the points are present, he is good to go.

One thing you need to consider here is that Premise says he accumulates the points first and then go for the product.

So, by saying that accumulate more, you are somehow trying to break the premise.

Let me know if you wanna discuss why D is correct.

Hi,

I am a little confused. The conclusion doesn't state getting a product via mail.... Are we taking this for granted here?

Hi pra1785 ,

The below premise stats they can buy with points by mail. Since this is a premise, we cannot break it.

Customers can use accumulated points in the purchase of brand name merchandise by mail at prices lower than the manufacturers‘ suggested retail prices.

Thus, the conclusion about buying with points has to be via mail.

Does that make sense?

Yes! That makes sense. I completed disregarded the premise and focused only on the conclusion. My bad. Thank you so much

@Asac123

Option A takes a comparison of this CC company with other CC companies whereas the entire argument revolves around comparison of this CC company with Retail stores.
So,A is out of scope.

D is the OA as on Negation,ths conclusion fails.

Sent from my CP8676_I02 using GMAT Club Forum mobile app

this question is from LSAT and it has appeared in both powerscore and manhattan forums.
Nevertheless, the pattern in D does look like a pattern in a gmat question.

For E, is the thinking that the merchandise doesn't have to necessarily be HIGHER? e.g. We can say that the merchandise is, say, sold at the manufacturer's suggested retail price and the argument still stands (because the bonus points would allow the customer to purchase the product at a LOWER price).

Yup CEdward, that is exactly why E is not the answer. Even if the merchandise is sold at the suggested retail price, the argument still stands.

A certain credit-card company awards its customers bonus points for using its credit card. Customers can use accumulated points in the purchase of brand name merchandise by mail at prices lower than the manufacturers‘ suggested retail prices. At any given time, therefore, customers who purchase merchandise using the bonus points spend less than they would spend if they purchased the same merchandise in retail stores.

Summary: CC company awards bonus points. Customers purchase products online(by mail) at lower price compare to retail stores and hence spend less.
On which statement the argument depends?
If customer is spending more while ordering by mail then argument will fall apart.

(A) The merchandise that can be ordered by mail using the bonus points is not offered at lower prices by other credit-card companies that award bonus points.
Whether other companies offer at lower price or not doesn't affect the argument

(B) The bonus points cannot be used by the credit-card customers in the purchase of brand name merchandise that is not available for purchase in retail stores.
Doesn't matter

(C) The credit-card company does not require its customers to accumulate a large number of bonus points before becoming eligible to order merchandise at prices lower than the manufacturers‘ suggested retail price.
Doesn't matter

(D) The amount credit-card customers pay for shipping the merchandise ordered by mail does not increase the amount customers spend to an amount greater than they would spend if they purchased the same merchandise in retail stores.
Yes, if shipping is high then overall price is still higher than retail price and it gets costly to order online then retail.

(E) The merchandise available to the company's credit-card customers using the bonus points is frequently sold in retail stores at prices that are higher than the manufacturers‘ suggested retail prices?
argument doesn't talk about merchandise getting sold at higher prices than MRP