Most shoe stores offer their customers guarantee of replacement of pro

Question

Most shoe stores offer their customers guarantee of replacement of product if any problems related to stitching or pasting arise within a period of six months. In order to avail of such a guarantee, customers are to pay a small membership fee. However, the fee is a total waste of money for the customers since____________.

Which of the following most logically completes the paragraph?

A. The membership allows the customer to avail of discounts on further buys from the same store
B. The stitching and pasting cause problems only if the products have been exposed to harsh conditions or overuse
C. Many customers change their shoes long before six months are up even if the shoes are in good condition
D. The cost borne by the customer for repairing the shoes is not higher than the cost of the membership
E. Most customers readily trade the inconvenience of visiting the stores for product replacement for the services of the local cobblers

Mavisdu1017 · Answer

can't be convinced by the OA.
In E, MOST customers will not go back to the store for repair, but there still is SOME customers back to. So can't say membership fee is waste of money for those customers who go back.
Anybody can tell?

jatin093 · Answer

Though I chose D.
but now I get it why E is correct.

Firstly, in D "The cost borne by the customer for repairing the shoes is not higher than the cost of the membership", Even if the cost borne = cost of membership, then also cost of membership is not a waste of money

In E, if most people dont even use the services offered by membership, then it is waste of money

AndreMarchan · Answer

GMATNinja , could you help us with this question, please?

parampreet1997 · Answer

Answer: E

A. The membership allows the customer to avail of discounts on further buys from the same store  
- This does not tell anything about replacement. Maybe customers are replacing shoes, may be not.

B. The stitching and pasting cause problems only if the products have been exposed to harsh conditions or overuse 
- This also does not tell anything about replacement. Maybe customers are replacing shoes, may be not.

C. Many customers change their shoes long before six months are up even if the shoes are in good condition 
- This also leaves a doubt whether doing what the customers are doing here was actually due to the membership, thereby membership might be useful. They might be changing shoes even if they are in good condition because the membership provides them higher discounts.

D. The cost borne by the customer for repairing the shoes is not higher than the cost of the membership 
- This also leaves a doubt whether doing what the customers are doing here was actually due to the membership, thereby membership might be useful. The cost of repair is lower or equal to cost of membership only for members. For non-members, the cost of repairing may be more than the cost of membership, in which case had they bought the membership, then would have saved money.

E. Most customers readily trade the inconvenience of visiting the stores for product replacement for the services of the local cobblers 
- This tells atleast 50% of members get their shoes repaired from the cobbler and thus for these customers the membership was waste.

I know the options C, D, and E may be tricky. But the key here is to pick the least incorrect option. According to me, that is E. Some people might argue that in E option, membership is a waste for some customers. Agreed. But atleast we surely know that for some it isn't. In both C and D, we don't even know whether what they are doing was only due to them being members, which would leave the membership as useful.

ohmphanurut · Answer

Why is option C incorrect here? If customers don't have a chance to get their shoes fixed because they always buy new ones, that means the membership fee they paid is rendered useless. Could anyone shed some light on this?

Raman109 · Answer

Understanding the argument -
Most shoe stores offer their customers guarantee of replacement of product if any problems related to stitching or pasting arise within a period of six months. - Fact.
In order to avail of such a guarantee, customers are to pay a small membership fee. - Fact.
However, the fee is a total waste of money for the customers (Conclusion) since____________.

Option Elimination - Strengthen

Prethink - There can be a few scenarios. What if
1. The shoes are of very good quality and don't require any replacements in six months.
2. The store is 50 miles away, and a reliable local cobbler is within a mile and can help repair them ASAP.

A. The membership allows the customer to avail of discounts on further buys from the same store - Weakener.

B. The stitching and pasting cause problems only if the products have been exposed to harsh conditions or overuse - defining a minimum condition for stitching and pasting is not the scope of the argument. The scope of the argument is to strengthen the conclusion that "the fee is a total waste of money for the customers."

C. Many customers change their shoes long before six months are up even if the shoes are in good condition - The argument establishes the sufficient condition by saying that "any problems related to stitching or pasting arise within a period of six months" is a sufficient condition or enough or 100% guarantee that "shoe stores offer their customers guarantee of replacement."

"if the shoes are in good condition" doesn't meet this sufficient condition, and we don't know if they'll get a replacement. This is out of scope. Our scope is limited to the shoes that have any problems.

D. The cost borne by the customer for repairing the shoes is not higher than the cost of the membership - "not higher" can mean two things.
Cost is the same - the customer may or may not take it - ambiguous.
Cost higher - definitely an issue.

So the ambiguous effect. No.

E. Most customers readily trade the inconvenience of visiting the stores for product replacement for the services of the local cobblers - It means most never use it. On a lighter note, if we take the best gym membership and never use it or use minimum services, then what's the point in draining the hard-earned money? Sounds familiar?

Most shoe stores offer their customers guarantee of replacement of pro

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