In a recent customer satisfaction survey, 2000 customers of a certain

Question

In a recent customer satisfaction survey, 2000 customers of a certain bank that had recently switched from live tellers to automated banking expressed dissatisfaction with their bank. They said that they felt alienated and insignificant, and that they believed their bank no longer cared for its customers. Many felt that the services offered were inadequate and that the banking options they desired were not present. Analysts of the banking industry have used the evidence gathered in this survey in their reports to warn banks that automation of banking procedures, while cost-efficient, leads to dissatisfaction among customers.

Which one of the following statements, if true, most forcefully undermines the conclusion of the banking industry analysts described above?
 
A. The customers surveyed were chosen at random, and represent a valid cross-section of the bank’s customer base.
B. The accuracy of bank record-keeping procedures has increased dramatically in recent years with the advent of advanced computers.
C. The bank in question had turned to the use of automated banking in response to customer complaints of poor service and general dissatisfaction.
D. Since the standardization of banking procedures is now controlled by federal law, the importance of banking options had declined significantly.
E. According to another survey, computerization and automation of certain other financial-services industries have led to increased client satisfaction.

Please explain the answer with reasoning?

Senthil7 · Accepted Answer

Premise :-  In a recent customer satisfaction survey, 2000 customers of a certain bank that had recently switched from live tellers to automated banking expressed dissatisfaction with their bank. They said that they felt alienated and insignificant, and that they believed their bank no longer cared for its customers. Many felt that the services offered were inadequate and that the banking options they desired were not present. 
 Conclusion:-  Analysts of the banking industry have used the evidence gathered in this survey in their reports to warn banks that automation of banking procedures, while cost-efficient, leads to dissatisfaction among customers.
.
The conclusion in short is that automation of banking procedure is the actual cause of customer dissatisfaction of customers. This is a "survey error" type of question.

A. The customers surveyed were chosen at random, and represent a valid cross-section of the bank’s customer base  - this is an opposite answer and will strengthen the argument by adding on that the survey samples are valid and not weaken it. hence eliminate this choice. 
B. The accuracy of bank record-keeping procedures has increased dramatically in recent years with the advent of advanced computers -  This does not address the issues conveyed by the customer survey as record keeping is not an issue here. Out of Scope Answer hence eliminate. 
C. The bank in question had turned to the use of automated banking in response to customer complaints of poor service and general dissatisfaction.  - This is a trap answer. Read this together with the survey report in argument. This would imply that customers were not happy due to which the bank chose automated systems. Now the survey concludes this alternative automated banking system too has failed leading to further customer dissatisfaction!. This would strengthen the argument while at the outset looks like a weakener. Wrong Answer. 
D. Since the standardization of banking procedures is now controlled by federal law, the importance of banking options had declined significantly  - Irrelevant answer as the argument does not base its conclusion on "importance" of banking options rather limitations. hence eliminate. 
E. According to another survey, computerization and automation of certain other financial-services industries have led to increased client satisfaction  - You are here handling a thorn by another thorn. As i pointed out before the question falling under "Survey Error" category, the argument is the suspect and all the answer choices are true but only one will weaken the conclusion. In statement is true by virtue of the question. This will challenge the survey result mentioned in the argument. basically an established Survey that is considered true vs a suspect survey in argument. This is the right answer in my view. 
.
 
Correct answer choice is E in my view. Give kudos if that helped you.

aniketm.87@gmail.com · Answer

I would go with :JonathanSchneider
ManhattanGMAT Staff

Quoting him

"I would choose C as well. We are asked to weaken the conclusion. This can be done in two ways: by adding a new counter-premise, or by undermining an assumption in the argument. (Undermining an assumption is more difficult and more common.) There is an assumption in this argument, which is that the 2000 customers were unhappy BECAUSE of the new, automated system. We might not see this as an assumption because of the subtle sleight of hand in the argument. We are told that the customers feel insignificant, and that they think the bank no longer cares about them. It seems as though this is because of the new automated system; however, we cannot know that for sure - it could certainly be that these customers dislike the bank for other reasons. Choice C best negates the assumption - it shows us that the customers were already unhappy with this bank. As a result, the new survey might not be very worthwhile.

E is a good option, but second-best. A actually supports the conclusion - it makes the survey even more valid."

Can someone please confirm the OA and provide a better sound reasoning behind it?
Thanks

LXVE · Answer

I tried Googling this question too and the Manhattan forum you got this from seems to be the only other place that has discussed this question. I think at the end of the day though, E is still better than C. 
C says the bank switched to automated banking in response to dissatisfied customers. This could explain why the survey expressed so much hate, the bank sucks either way, so automated system might not be that bad after all. But this doesn't undermine the analysts conclusion that automated banking WILL lead to customer dissatisfaction. Under C, it is possible the bank was terrible, and automated banking made it EVEN MORE terrible. E directly destroys the analyst's conclusion- he has one survey as evidence, and from that he claims automation for sure will be bad, but why should we believe him when there is conflicting data that shows the exact opposite- automation in similar industries have had an increase in success.

I agree though, E is still quite sketchy. The "other financial-services industries" prevents E from being a clear pick. What does that even mean, other financial-services industries? If E had said other banks or other financial services then it would be fine, but entire other industries?? That's a bit off-putting, because we have no idea what the dynamics of these other industries are, and whether they are even similar to the bank in question. However, I still believe E to be "more correct" than C for the reasons presented, and the addition of "financial-services" is likely enough to bridge the relationship between the bank and the other sources of data.

atuladeupes · Answer

Option C correctly defines the customer satisfaction is not result of automated banking. bank customers are already unsatisfied.
Option E is doubting th survey conducted ?? somebody can explain

Harley1980 · Answer

I think that C is incorrect because in argument we have such structure:
bank provide automation -> select users with experience from that automation -> and ask them about this automation -> users complain about the automated system

But it is not clear stated that users complain about the automated system and this creates confusion. For eliminating this confusion we should pay an attention on all information in the argument: it can not be started from the telling about the automated system and then just switch on the survey about bank situation in common. So the survey was about the automated system and customer's feelings about bank before implementation of this system are out of scope.

E is correct because it weakens the argument by saying that there is another survey in the similar industry that shows satisfaction of clients.

In weaken type of question correct answer should not completely destroy an argument. Completely enough if it creates some hesitations about the conclusion of an argument.

LogicGuru1 · Answer

E is a typo error or a deliberate prank to hoodwink people. The correct answer is Definitely C E cannot be the answer at all First :- Banking and certain other financial services are two different sectors. There is no logic to compare them. Banking is for common man {rich, poor, middle class} Whereas certain financial sector industries such as share market and gold trading or forex is for other strata of society. If a American share trader can get the correct trend of the share market in Asia , it would be advantageous to him. Therefore he will be happy and satisfied. Whereas an old lady in rural texas who has been coming to the bank for 40 years might be confused with all that shining ATM machines and check collecting machines and all. E is talking about a strata that the argument is not at all concerned with.THEREFORE E IS WRONG. E's comparison has nothing to do with satisfaction of bank customers. E is irrelevant. {Imagine the argument is about sharks and analyst is talking about aliens} C is correct. Because earlier customers were unhappy with live tellers and the way services was provided to them given by bank employees. Customers complained, cringed and whined to the bank to make things automatic. SO the bank has done automation as per customer's demand. This weakens, destroys, and annihilates the analyst conclusion because Automation is done as per peoples wish and peoples want automation. C IS THE CORRECT ANSWER p.s:- I am backing C with my personal credentials as the correct answer.

A. The customers surveyed were chosen at random, and represent a valid cross-section of the bank’s customer base. B. The accuracy of bank record-keeping procedures has increased dramatically in recent years with the advent of advanced computers. C. The bank in question had turned to the use of automated banking in response to customer complaints of poor service and general dissatisfaction. D. Since the standardization of banking procedures is now controlled by federal law, the importance of banking options had declined significantly. E. According to another survey, computerization and automation of certain other financial-services industries have led to increased client satisfaction.

gthrb22 · Answer

According to banking analysts based on a survey from one bank they concluded that automation leads to dissatisfaction among customers.To weaken the conclusion we need to prove that its not the cause which lead to dissatisfaction or its just a mere coincidence.

A.It strengthens the argument because it proves the analysts where right.
B.Bank record- keeping procedures are out of scope to the argument.
C.This is again strengthening the analysts point.
D.Federal law is irrelevant.
E.This actually weakens the analysts point and proves that based on a single survey they generalised that automation leads to client dissatisfaction whereas another survey results are opposite.

SVaidyaraman · Answer

To me, C does not seem to be the best answer. Customers were dissatisfied with the bank's service and so the bank turned to automation. If the customers feel automation is lacking personal touch, there is no way to set it right unlike in the earlier case where the services of the bank can be improved. So it argues against automation.

E though better is still not very forceful. But it is definitely the best of the lot.

E though better is still not very forceful. But it is definitely the best of the lot.

arvind910619 · Answer

The answer is E

This is weakening question so one way to arrive at the answer is to disprove the survey and the second way is to give some other reason for the conclusion or effects .
This choice sates that inspite of the automation the services rendered by the bank are poor .They may have a very bad software with many bottlenecks .

C on the other hand does not give us any information regarding the satisfaction after automation.

abrakadabra21 · Answer

E shouldn't be the correct answer.

automation of banking procedures ____________ automation of certain other financial-services industries procedures'
How Bank and financial service are similar to each other in their work requirement, we don't know that. We don't know if it is telling machine in other financial-services industries has been automated or some other procedures - we don't know that.

Although C is poor but it says that customer complaints of poor service and general dissatisfaction was already there. so it can't be attributed to ATM anymore.

C - correct IMO.

darn · Answer

C is the best of the lot. Option E is irrelevant because it deals with "other" financial-service industries and not the banking industry.

gmatexam439 · Answer

In a recent customer satisfaction survey, 2000 customers of a certain bank that had recently switched from live tellers to automated banking expressed dissatisfaction with their bank. They said that they felt alienated and insignificant, and that they believed their bank no longer cared for its customers. Many felt that the services offered were inadequate and that the banking options they desired were not present. Analysts of the banking industry have used the evidence gathered in this survey in their reports to warn banks that automation of banking procedures, while cost-efficient, leads to dissatisfaction among customers.

Which one of the following statements, if true, most forcefully undermines the conclusion of the banking industry analysts described above?
 
A. The customers surveyed were chosen at random, and represent a valid cross-section of the bank’s customer base. - This would strengthen the conclusion, since the survey would have a correct sample population. 
B. The accuracy of bank record-keeping procedures has increased dramatically in recent years with the advent of advanced computers. - Okay let it increase, but it doesn't take into account the customer satisfaction. 
C. The bank in question had turned to the use of automated banking in response to customer complaints of poor service and general dissatisfaction. - We are not worried about the reason behind bank's action. We just know that the customers are dissatisfied and this option doesn't take into account the analysis of analysts. 
D. Since the standardization of banking procedures is now controlled by federal law, the importance of banking options had declined significantly. - We are not worried about the importance of banking options. 
E. According to another survey, computerization and automation of certain other financial-services industries have led to increased client satisfaction. - Correct. This directly attacks the survey's credibility.

PriyankaPalit7 · Answer

GMATNinja  @veritasprepkarishma  GMATNinja two  mikemcgarry

Can any of you please explain the solution?

ruchik · Answer

GMATNinja  @veritasprepkarishma  GMATNinja two  mikemcgarry   gmatexam439   Harley1980 
Option E talks about "Other Financial Institutions" which according to my understanding might or might not be similar to banking. Where do we draw the line between an option becoming out of scope due to the option talking about something which is not relevant.
How did we conclude that findings about financial institutions are relevant to the bank in question?

Pari28 · Answer

Neither options seem correct....

If E talked about another survery about the same bank, then yes it weakens the argument... But that's not the case...

Hovkial · Answer

Some of the answer choices are ambiguous and could equally apply.

Example: B, C and E (the official answer).

B is also possible as an answer. It states that the accuracy of certain banking procedures has dramatically improved. Although this does not directly relate to customer satisfaction measured in the survey, it could potentially lead to improved satisfaction later on. Therefore, this could undermine the analysts' conclusion that automation could lead to lower customer satisfaction.

C is also possible as an answer. It states that the bank implemented certain automated procedures due to customer complaints of bad service and dissatisfaction. This could imply that the bank attempted to improve customer satisfaction through new procedures. Therefore, this could undermine the analysts conclusion that automation could lead to lower customer satisfaction.

E is possible, but it is less preferable to the former choices. This talks about another survey that that showed that automation improved satisfaction. However, the question stem talks of a different survey that showed opposite results (decreased satisfaction). Both surveys are valid. There is no reason to doubt the analysts conclusion which is based on this different survey that showed decreased satisfaction.

The actual GMAT will not have such ambiguous questions. GMAC throroughly tests all questions on multiple fronts.

gvij2017 · Answer

Here I have to assume that other financial industries are quite close to banking industry. Then only I can weaken the conclusion by by using option E.

Jenny677 · Answer

According to me , C does not seem to be the best answer. Customers were dissatisfied with the bank's service that is why the bank has changed the process.

This is the customer satisfaction survey same like https://erasurvey.org/www-kohlsfeedback-com/ survey for just having the feedback from the customer . where you can provide your valuable feedback to the company.

I think the E is the best answer for it.

Thanks
Jenny

Mavisdu1017 · Answer

My two cents: with all due respect, I don’t think this one is watertight to be a real GMAT question since both C and E have a flaw.
In C, the bank turned to use automated banking because of customer complaints of poor service, but there still is a possibility that the services became much worse and brought more customer complaints after using automated banking. If it were the case, what the analyst said is correct and C can’t weaken.

In E, it says a situation in other financial-services industries (eg:insurance), but the analyst’s conclusion is for banks. The case in other financial-services industries might not be same as the case in banks. So E is not well either.

In a recent customer satisfaction survey, 2000 customers of a certain

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In a recent customer satisfaction survey, 2000 customers of a certain

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