Apple Education Store live chat service discovered

The Apple Education Store has a new, but hidden live chat service for helping its customers. A reader sent in a link
which opened a text chat with an Apple representative in LivePerson chat.

According to the rep, the service is less than a month old. There is no direct Web link to initiate a chat, at least for now. You may be invited to chat if you meet an internal rule while ordering through the Apple Education Store, like entering the wrong credit card number or staying on certain pages too long. The rep said the service is only available to education customers (including college, but not high school students) at this time, but promised that
"we will expand as we get to know our customers and their specific needs."

This apparently is not a service for answering tech support questions. The rep said, "We try and steer those to the tech support experts as this avoids any possible incorrect information. . . [the live chat service] is for help with computer questions and order issues, credit card, best choices, education discount, etc."

I think this is a terrific idea.
The Apple rep was courteous and gave me immediate, helpful replies. I found it more efficient than wading through phone menus. I also like the idea of having answers in writing. Apple–if you're listening, here's my vote for expanding this service to the entire Apple Store, using it to offer tech support, and making it more accessible. Has anyone else run into this service?

[Thanks Shrimp]